30 Jan
2011
30 Jan
'11
6:45 p.m.
Hi all,
I'm in the market for a USB audio interface and I thought I'd come to
the well for advice.
Right now, the main two contenders in the race, because they're
available at my local music shop, are M-Audio Fasttrack Pro and
Roland/Edirol/cakewalk (they keep rebranding it, I think) UA25EX.
Because I've seen them come up on this list, I know they work fairly
well with Linux, but I was wondering which you would recommend, or if
there is another major contender I should know about.
My needs:
- Works near flawlessly with Linux!
- 2 channels in / Stereo out
- reliable 24bit/48khz with "decent" preamps/converters
- Integrated Midi would be nice, but isn't absolutely necessary
- Phantom power on at least one input.
- $150-250 price range
The UA25EX is slightly more expensive than the M-audio, is it worth it?
Also, until recently, the Tascam US122L was in the race, but I found out
that the "MkII" is no longer class-compliant: can someone confirm this?
All advice welcome.
Thanks,
S.M.
30 Jan
30 Jan
6:57 p.m.
Hello Massy!
I have a Delta and I suspect they will use most of their elements in the USB
cards as well. I'm not sure about phantom powered input, but the preamps are
good, my 16bit/48kHz works perfectly and the converters are good.
We compared the preamps with those in a roaldn/Bos BR1180CD, which is a
harddisk-recorder. I think they will use different preamps now, but if not:
The delta mic-preamps were much better than the boss ones.
that's unfortunately all I can say and guess about it. I know, that a friend
of mine has a fasttrack and has been running it for quite some time without
hitches.
Kind regards
Julien (the Namite :-) )
--------
Music was my first love and it will be my last (John Miles)
======== FIND MY WEB-PROJECT AT: ========
http://ltsb.sourceforge.net
the Linux TextBased Studio guide
======= AND MY PERSONAL PAGES AT: =======
http://www.juliencoder.de
31 Jan
31 Jan
1:16 a.m.
Julien Claassen wrote:
Hello Massy!
I have a Delta and I suspect they will use most of their elements in
the USB cards as well. I'm not sure about phantom powered input, but the
preamps are good, my 16bit/48kHz works perfectly and the converters are
good.
We compared the preamps with those in a roaldn/Bos BR1180CD, which is
a harddisk-recorder. I think they will use different preamps now, but if
not: The delta mic-preamps were much better than the boss ones.
that's unfortunately all I can say and guess about it. I know, that a
friend of mine has a fasttrack and has been running it for quite some
time without hitches.
Kind regards
Julien (the Namite :-) )
I'm by no means an expert on this, but from what I've read you should
not make any assumptions about USB sound cards based on similar devices,
possibly based on similar chipsets, that are PCI devices. Whilst
chipsets may be the same, there can be problems relating to transmission
of data over USB when it comes to USB2.
I do have an M-Audio FastTrack Pro which I bought for use with a
netbook, but ultimately I've never actually used it as a USB soundcard
so can't comment about that. I just use it as a pair of pre-amps into
the analogue inputs of my M-Audiophile 24/96 for my synths (I use the
SPDIF inputs/outputs with offboard ADC/DAC for mic input/monitoring).
I think I recall from when I was researching USB soundcards that the
FastTrack works okay, providing you don't expect high throughput, in
other words it works fine for USB1 but not USB2: according to the ALSA
wiki the FastTrack Pro only has a reduced channel count at anything
greater than 16/48. But I'm only going by what I recollect reading, not
by experience.
From experience, I would agree with Ronald about the FastTrack Pro's
pre-amps -- they're noisy as hell (but I've never had the other one to
compare, I'm going against my Focusrite TwinTrack pre-amps). Most of my
synths are fine running through it as the S/N ratio is pretty good: but
with my string synth (a late 70s Logan String Melody II which seems to
have a pretty low output) I have to crank the gain quite a bit and the
noise is pretty bad.
I seem to recall reading that you have to be careful as there is a US122
and a US122L and they are VERY different beasts which should not be
confused.
Hope this helps.
Q
--
A musical collaborator: "Lethargy, hm really? Then it will be time for
me to get over there and just accidental idea the $h!t out of you"
3:11 a.m.
oh!
BTW those last time we tried to support Tascam it was a nightmare... have
not gone back to the nightmare.
For the record the zoom H products work and you can modify one for 4 input.
thnx
ron
On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 4:15 PM, Q <lists(a)quirq.ukfsn.org> wrote:
Julien Claassen wrote:
Hello Massy!
I have a Delta and I suspect they will use most of their elements in the
USB cards as well. I'm not sure about phantom powered input, but the preamps
are good, my 16bit/48kHz works perfectly and the converters are good.
We compared the preamps with those in a roaldn/Bos BR1180CD, which is a
harddisk-recorder. I think they will use different preamps now, but if not:
The delta mic-preamps were much better than the boss ones.
that's unfortunately all I can say and guess about it. I know, that a
friend of mine has a fasttrack and has been running it for quite some time
without hitches.
Kind regards
Julien (the Namite :-) )
I'm by no means an expert on this, but from what I've read you should not
make any assumptions about USB sound cards based on similar devices,
possibly based on similar chipsets, that are PCI devices. Whilst chipsets
may be the same, there can be problems relating to transmission of data over
USB when it comes to USB2.
I do have an M-Audio FastTrack Pro which I bought for use with a netbook,
but ultimately I've never actually used it as a USB soundcard so can't
comment about that. I just use it as a pair of pre-amps into the analogue
inputs of my M-Audiophile 24/96 for my synths (I use the SPDIF
inputs/outputs with offboard ADC/DAC for mic input/monitoring).
I think I recall from when I was researching USB soundcards that the
FastTrack works okay, providing you don't expect high throughput, in other
words it works fine for USB1 but not USB2: according to the ALSA wiki the
FastTrack Pro only has a reduced channel count at anything greater than
16/48. But I'm only going by what I recollect reading, not by experience.
From experience, I would agree with Ronald about the FastTrack Pro's
pre-amps -- they're noisy as hell (but I've never had the other one to
compare, I'm going against my Focusrite TwinTrack pre-amps). Most of my
synths are fine running through it as the S/N ratio is pretty good: but with
my string synth (a late 70s Logan String Melody II which seems to have a
pretty low output) I have to crank the gain quite a bit and the noise is
pretty bad.
I seem to recall reading that you have to be careful as there is a US122
and a US122L and they are VERY different beasts which should not be
confused.
Hope this helps.
Q
--
A musical collaborator: "Lethargy, hm really? Then it will be time for me
to get over there and just accidental idea the $h!t out of you"
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
30 Jan
30 Jan
7:49 p.m.
UA25EX made by Rollandwalk at any combo of names.
UAEX serves your bullet list best, it's the USB 2x2 that I suggest with our
line of products
but its also tiny and metal. Deal breaker is the UAEX pre amps are much
nicer
than Fast Track Pro... go listen for yourself and you will run to the
UAEX25.
You can do 24bit with it too!
Geez I might make a bundlepak with Indamixxl Rollwalkandmixx?
Thank you
Ronald Stewart
Creative Director
Trinity Audio Group Inc.
9854 National Blvd. #322
Los Angeles CA 90034
213-915-6020
ronaldjstewart(a)gmail.com
www.indamixx.com
On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 9:45 AM, S. Massy <lists(a)smassy.andropov.org> wrote:
Hi all,
I'm in the market for a USB audio interface and I thought I'd come to
the well for advice.
Right now, the main two contenders in the race, because they're
available at my local music shop, are M-Audio Fasttrack Pro and
Roland/Edirol/cakewalk (they keep rebranding it, I think) UA25EX.
Because I've seen them come up on this list, I know they work fairly
well with Linux, but I was wondering which you would recommend, or if
there is another major contender I should know about.
My needs:
- Works near flawlessly with Linux!
- 2 channels in / Stereo out
- reliable 24bit/48khz with "decent" preamps/converters
- Integrated Midi would be nice, but isn't absolutely necessary
- Phantom power on at least one input.
- $150-250 price range
The UA25EX is slightly more expensive than the M-audio, is it worth it?
Also, until recently, the Tascam US122L was in the race, but I found out
that the "MkII" is no longer class-compliant: can someone confirm this?
All advice welcome.
Thanks,
S.M.
_______________________________________________
Linux-audio-user mailing list
Linux-audio-user(a)lists.linuxaudio.org
http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
31 Jan
31 Jan
10:41 a.m.
On 01/30/2011 07:49 PM, Ronald Stewart wrote:
UA25EX made by Rollandwalk at any combo of names.
UAEX serves your bullet list best, it's the USB 2x2 that I suggest with our
line of products
but its also tiny and metal. Deal breaker is the UAEX pre amps are much
nicer
than Fast Track Pro... go listen for yourself and you will run to the
UAEX25.
You can do 24bit with it too!
Second that. Get the UA-25EX. I've got its predecessor, the Edirol
UA-25, and it's built like a tank, runs well at lower latencies, has
decent pre-amps and it has never let me down.
Best,
Jeremy
6:05 p.m.
On 2011-01-31T10:41:00, Jeremy Jongepier wrote:
Second that. Get the UA-25EX. I've got its
predecessor, the Edirol
UA-25, and it's built like a tank, runs well at lower latencies, has
decent pre-amps and it has never let me down.
You may want to consider Alesis IO|2 as well.
/Allan
--
Allan Wind
Life Integrity, LLC
<http://lifeintegrity.com>
2 Feb
2 Feb
8:55 p.m.
On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:41:00AM +0100, Jeremy Jongepier wrote:
On 01/30/2011 07:49 PM, Ronald Stewart wrote:
Strong commendations for the UA25EX.
:) Seems to be worth the extra $60.
Thanks to all who responded.
Cheers,
S.M.
UA25EX made by Rollandwalk at any combo of
names.
UAEX serves your bullet list best, it's the USB 2x2 that I suggest with our
line of products
but its also tiny and metal. Deal breaker is the UAEX pre amps are much
nicer
than Fast Track Pro... go listen for yourself and you will run to the
UAEX25.
You can do 24bit with it too!
Second that. Get the UA-25EX. I've got its predecessor, the Edirol
UA-25, and it's built like a tank, runs well at lower latencies, has
decent pre-amps and it has never let me down.
Best,
Jeremy
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7 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Allan Wind -
Jeremy Jongepier -
Julien Claassen -
Q -
Ronald Stewart -
S. Massy