Best stupid toy $150 can buy: new interface day

[rfurtkamp]

Found a used Tascam US-1800 interface at a Music-Go-Round in the middle of nowhere, I desperately needed a high track count and have a digital device that could use the SPDIF in as well.

Holy mother of god I am amazed. This is literally what I've always wanted in terms of signal routing and live studio recording - there's enough tracks to take dedicated outs from each of my rack units to mix later no matter how insane I get.

From what I understand Mac may not love them, but as a PC guy, I can say preamps are solid (characterless, but low-noise and solid) and setup was as easy as any 16-in/4 out rackmount is going to be. Only complaint is that they don't use the XLR/1/4" combo inputs so if you don't need phantom/XLRs galore, you'll be buying a bunch of XLR/1/4" adapters.

They've been discontinued so watch for the sales from hell to commence - there's nothing even close in its class for number of inputs/capacity and modern PCs can handle the high track count with no issue.

The only problem I have is my rack is now full. I need to buy another one I guess! That and dust the desk, since I don't let the maid anywhere near it.

(And I may have to go for broke and see if I can chain two of these units together if a blowout sale happens)

[Chankgeez]

Glad you found what you want, rack lover.

[friendship]

Awesome! Seems like a great all purpose unit. That's a bummer about the XLR-only ins but at least it's got a couple 1/4" as well. What are you going to use with the SPDIF input? Why don't Mac users seem to like the pres?

[spacelordmother]

Score!

Glad you found what you want, rack lover.

[rfurtkamp]

Apparently the Mac drivers are iffy from what I saw on forums. May be resolved now. Just came up in my general review stuff.

The XLRs are no big deal, I have a raft of XLR to 1/4" cables (and more coming) so it's not a big deal (plus more than a few of the rack toys have XLR outs).

SPDIF is the venerable V Amp (which is what I bought it for in the first place, it's a passable amp sim even if the stuff doesn't sound like what it claims it is) and a damn fine 24/96 SPDIF converter. Basically lets me have another tap off the rack without touching the patchbay, which is never a bad thing.

I like having direct amp taps whether virtual or mic'd (or both).

I do love my rack stuff, but I don't leave the house either!

[Chankgeez]

This is a good heads up. I'm pretty content with the interface I have now. (I'm just recording a single instrument in mono though.) By the time I'm ready for an upgrade these'll be long gone. I do like the Tascam stuff I've used. So, maybe they'll update this interface?

I would like to get more into racks though. I dream of big racks (filled with crazy filters and such). Right now, it's just a dream.

[rfurtkamp]

Hard to say, the Gibson buyout put all their product line in limbo. It's the reason most of it's being discontinued I suspect.

[friendship]

Gibson bought out Tascam? Sheet.

$150 is ridiculously cheap considering the utility of this interface. I've been using Zoom R16 as mine since I ditched Pro Tools/Mbox, because I also wanted a portable, standalone recording solution, but this shit is elegant as hell.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, it's stupid cheap. Normal used at retailer (GC's site) has them at $199 typically, I was going to buy one in a month or so but for $150 I could swing that now.

Latency is good, Win7 drivers are dead stable, and I'm happily recording test tracks on all 16 tracks (plus a couple other existing devices I have chained in just for good measure). 24 tracks at a time now is possible at home, which is freaking ridiculous.

[friendship]

Damn girl, you ever record other artists? That many channels and a decent space and you could engineer some local live recordings with ease. I wonder how the latency is when you're running all 24 to hard disk.

[rfurtkamp]

< 11ms in Tracktion 5, but I have a beast of a box (i7-4770k, real graphics card, multiple data drives, etc). I haven't even experimented with lowering the latency any yet either and am running factory default settings.

I don't record other bands, as my physical infirmity prevents me from leaving the house except on rare occasions (and even then, you can't carry much in a wheelchair). My health is generously described as precarious and the less time I spend in the wild the better. And for the time at home, schedule is a bitch when you're on enough pain meds to poison water supplies coupled with frequent other issues.

I have friends come by to jam occasionally and record that though, plus my own stuff.

Sad that I probably have the best studio in this half of the state or better and it's all for me.

[rfurtkamp]

I should add that I do do mastering and mix stuff for bands I enjoy, but that's on my own schedule and time.

Done the last few Solar System albums that I'm particularly happy with - a modern psych project out of Michigan ( http://thesolarsystem.bandcamp.com/album/great-song for my favorite recent project)

[Chankgeez]

Gibson bought out Tascam? Sheet.

yeah, I hadn't heard that either. Interesting.

[rfurtkamp]

Yea, was quite a while ago now (last year?)

http://tascam.com/news/display/911/

Gibson I guess felt they needed to compete with Fender et al in offering a full range of crapola.

[Chankgeez]

Maybe I had heard that and just forgot. Doesn't really effect me either way. Glad that you were able to profit from it though.

I think big guitar companies've always tried to diversify their product lines too. Nothing really new there. Tascam was past its prime, I guess. Ripe for an acquisition.