Equipping The Home Studio
Contents |
Equipping The Home Studio
An Article by Todd Simpson
Introduction
This article is about my experience with different recording gear. I've owned a few different audio interfaces and thought I'd share my experience and invite others to do the same.
Tascam M-164UF
I just added a Tascam M-164UF to my home studio and I love it so far. It's a 16 channel mixer/recording interface and connects via usb 2.0. There is no perceptible lag or delay when recording which is great. This device can be had for about $300 US and is an amazing value. So far it's the best interface I"ve ever had. It's PC and Mac comptitble, works with any DAW and the Mic preamps sound great especially for the price. It's not a Pro level unit Ala ProTools HD, but the gap betwen prosumer and pro continues to narrow. Here are a couple of pix.
It will let you record 16 tracks (6 with their own mic pre-amp) at once in to whatever software you are using. So if you want to record a drum kit, or just put several mics on your guitar rig, it's no problem. My previous units had one or two XLR inputs and recorded one or two channels at a time, this one has 6 xlr inputs and does 16 tracks at once. More review to follow as I continue to record with it.
Tascam FIREONE
TASCAM FIREONE Street Price (Around $150 Online)
I used a Tascam FireOne for about a year and was very happy with it. This is a FIREWIRE audio interface with 2 XLR Jacks that are also able to take quarter inch guitar plugs (standard guitar cable) There is also a quarter inch input on the front for putting guitar cable in to the interface without needing to get behind it.
This interface can also be used as a "Control Surface" meaning that the buttons and large jog wheel can be used to control whatever software you are using. Setting it up to actually control the software was sometimes hit or miss as it didn't ship with templates and most software doesn't instantly recognize as a controller. Still, it can be "mapped" manually and can be very handy for transport control (record, play, scrub, etc.)
The audio quality of the unit was quite good and I never had any technical issues with it. It was simply rock solid and sounded great. It works on Mac or PC, and supports MIDI. You can find these now quite cheap as it's an older model but stock is still being sold. They no longer make this one at Tascam but continue to offer drivers for it. Here is a link to the tascam site with more info.
