[linux-audio-user] Request for opinions on TASCAM US-224 (and US-122)

[Rui Nuno Capela]

Björn Lindström wrote:
> I've been offered a slightly used TASCAM US-224. I see in the sound
> card matrix that it should be fully supported by ALSA.
> 
> Is anyone here using one of these with multitracking software under
> Linux, and what do you think about it? Is it stable, are all its
> features supported, and so forth?
> 
> As an alternative, I'm considering getting a new US-122. Would there
> be any reason at all to go for that one instead, or are they equally
> well supported?

I do have a US-224 pumping low-latency full-duplex 2 channel audio on 
JACK (-p128 -n2) and full MIDI I/O. I specially love its control surface 
when directing ardour via MMC (for which I've contributed some code to 
us428control in alsa-tools, btw).

It works great, but not without some attention. You have to take care 
about tunning your linux audio system accordingly i.e. using a recent 
kernel/alsa-driver (snd-usb-usx2y module). The now famous Ingo Molnar's 
  realtime-preempt kernel patch is highly recommended if not mandatory 
to get the best experience.

OTOH if you can't live without 48v phantom power, then the US-122 is the 
right choice. Otherwise the US-224 is a awesome addition to a laptop 
based studio, as I take it ;)

Cheers.
-- 
rncbc aka Rui Nuno Capela
rncbc at rncbc.org