Hi there,
I'm looking to record acoustic and electric guitars and vocals onto my Thinkpad T43 laptop, which does not have a line in jack. Rather than getting a USB interface, which has to be connected to the computer to work, I was thinking of getting an outlet-powered mixer which I could use for other purposes in addition to recording.
My question now is whether to buy a mixer with usb output, such as the Alesis Multimix 8usb:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ALEMULTIMIX8USB
or Behringer Xenyx 1204fx:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHXENYX1204FX
Or to buy a normal mixer with line level output (such as the Behringer UB802 which seems to be quite popular among GN members) and connect that to the line in on an external sound card such as Creative Sound Blaster Live:
http://tinyurl.com/2qqdzp
or Griffin iMic:
http://tinyurl.com/yqv8zq
The latter option has the advantage of being at least $20 cheaper and theoretically upgrading the sound quality on my laptop. Since the usb mixers and sound card both encode at up to 24 bit resolution, it seems like the recording quality would be about the same. Anyone have any advice before I just go for the sound card rather than the usb mixer?
~Sam
Instead of spending money on questionable mixers, consider getting a simple interface. Check out the Tascam Fire One:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FireOne
The thing with USB interfaces, mixer or not, is that you can only record a maximum of two tracks at a time. It's a limitation of USB. Even 2.0. As well, a mixer is NOT a controll surface necessarily. The output is usually wired pre-EQ, which means that nothing you do to affect the equalization will ever go to disk. So, really the mixer is pointless. You can't controll what's on screen and the eq is only good if you are mixing down to an external media (another hard drive recorder or tape deck[why?]).
The Fire One is a full on controll surface as well as a decent firewire interface. Mind you it would require the purchase of a firewire card. Another $50 but well worth it in the long run if you plan to expand to a multichannel interface like a Presonus Firepod, Mackie Onyx or MOTU 828.
If that price is too much consider any other interface(usb or otherwise) with a simple gain/phantom power/pad control panel. That's all you really need. You're going to be mixing in the box anyway. So make sure you're buying into something that comes with at the least some sort of introductory software. Cubase LE and ProTools LE are the most robust of the LE models.
The Tapco Link USB comes with a Full version of Tracktion recording software.
Thanks for the advice Hueseph. The thing is that since I am generally going to be the only one playing on my recordings, a two track limitation is not too much of a problem for me. Also, I'm not too excited about prospect of installing additional hardware in my laptop. The reason I am looking into a mixer is that I just bought an attenuator for my amplifier. I want to be able to listen on headphones and jam along to music on my iPod, so I need a device with a headphone jack that can accept two line level inputs. My line of reasoning was that the cheapest such devices go for $40, so I might as well get the additional mixer functionality and go for something like the Xenyx. The recordings I have posted on my soundclick page were made using my brother's gear: $20 microphones into Xenyx mixer into line in on his sound card, and I was satisfied with the quality, so I figured that doing a similar setup for myself (with perhaps slightly better microphones) would work well.
I appreciate all the suggestions, but I don't think they are entirely ideal for me.
~Sam
Most USB interfaces will accept two line level inputs. The Link USB does. So do many of the M-audio products. I just think that you shouldn't put money into something that has tried to cram all kinds of functionality into a cheap product. Get an interface that focuses on just that. Input and output. Most if not all interfaces have a headphone jack.
I had a Line 6 toneport. Two line level inputs. One guitar input. One XLR. One headphone jack. USB powered and has great amp emulation as well as a built in drum machine/beatmaker. $150 or less. http://www.zzounds.com/item--LINTPUX1 The only downfall is that it doesn't have Cubase LE. It comes with Ableton Live! lite.
I still think the Tapco Link USB is a good option.
I forgot to include this in my original post, but I intend to do most of my guitar practice in a different room than my computer, so I would like something that has the option of AC instead of usb power. Do you think something like the Tapco, Toneport, or the various M-Audio interfaces could be powered by a USB wall charger (like you would use for an iPod or other USB device in the absence of a computer)? Even better, are there audio interfaces that come with AC adapters?
Also, I may be wrong about this, but I assume that mixers will not have latency problems for headphone monitoring, which I've heard can be an issue with usb interfaces. Is this not the case?
Thanks for all your help. I'm calling Tapco right now to see about a wall charger.
~Sam
Unfortunately most of the newer USB interfaces are powered solely by USB. The M-Audio ones might be the exception. If you're dead set on getting the mixer, do it.
If you go the mixer route,the M-AUDIO firewire audiophile works pretty good for me. I've had mine for almost 2 years without any problem. You run your mixer into it and run the sound card into a stereo amp or receiver.
It looks like I'm buying the Behringer Xenyx 802, and the emu 0202 usb 2.0 interface:
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=15186 (manufacturer's page)
http://gearscore.com/b/boxx/knowledgebase.asp?iid=104&Cat=11 (a review)
The emu is well reviewed, low-cost ($110 on buy.com), and supports USB 2.0 (unlike the M-Audio, Line 6, Tapco, and Alesis products, which use the ~40x slower 1.1). It also comes with a lot of software, including Cubase LE. There are two disadvantage of the 0202 as an audio interface, from what I can tell:
1: Only one of the channels has xlr input
2: The unit doesn't supply phantom power
Both of these are taken care of by the mixer, which has two mic inputs and phantom power.
To start with, though, I'm just going to use a single 57, so I can either run mic-->mixer-->line in on emu or mic-->xlr in on emu.
Total package (including the mic, discounted to $89 on amazon, fyi) is $260. Hopefully I can go to GC and have them match amazon's price on the 57 (and buy.com's price on the emu, if they have it) and/or throw in a stand and cable.
~Sam
Just an odd point. Regardless of 1.0 or 2.0 There is no discernable difference when applied to audio. This is because the sustained stream with USB is very low. You will get no better latency from a USB 2.0 based system than a USB 1.0 system.
USB works on a burst delivery system which can be very quick in pulses. For audio however, sustained streaming is what counts as live capture of audio cannot be paused. That is why when using any periferals for audio, Firewire is preferred. Whether it be an audio interface or a hard drive. Firewire have a much larger bandwidth allows for larger sustained throughput.
At any rate, the emus are highly rated. It should work ver well for you.
I'm just amazed at you guys being able to buy stuff for these prices. Nothing over here is less than 3 figures Sterling :cry:
I use a Tascam US-122 which has two line inputs + two mic inputs and midi. It works off USB and came bundled with Cubasis (which I didn't need). The main thing is the mic pre-amps are great which is an issue with some budget mixers (rubbish in - rubbish out).
I ended up going for the Peavey PV6 mixer and the emu 0202 for a total cost of $200. I have the Peavey sitting on my table right now, and it looks a lot more solid than the Xenyx. It's only $30 more than it's corresponding Xenyx model, and it has 4 mic preamps instead of two and an on-off switch. I'll see whether I like the preamps on the mixer or the interface better and go from there. I suspect my non-audiophilic ears won't be able to tell the difference, but we'll see.
It's nice to have all these decisions over and done with. I'll just need to figure out if I want to upgrade to better cables. I sprung for a Monster mic cable at GC, but ordered Livewire patch cables, which are balanced and shielded, but much cheaper than mogami or monster. That's another area I'm hoping that I and others with non-audiophile grade equipment won't hear a difference.
Less than a week and I'll be able to record...
~Sam
Sounds like you made a good purchase. We will be expecting good things from you from now on.
Glad you made the decision. I have wasted years and money dithering, confused and frightened of picking the wrong horse so to speak. There are as many opinions as advisers so just go with your ears. :P
When I listen back to recordings I made on a 4 track cassette machine 15 years ago they sound great. The fact is, if it's a good song done with energy and you take care to pitching on the vocals etc. it will overcome any 'shortcomings' on the equipment.
Good luck and have fun
Finally got it all set up. I've recorded some guitar samples. Let me know what you think:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=725941&songID=5826883
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=725941&songID=5826894
~Sam
Your playing is nice. Nice travis picking. A little on the uneven side but still sounds nice. The second bit was nicely done as well.
