US 122

[johnsmm]

Afternoon folks,
I've been screwing around with the US 122 I recently got, and I'm having a bit of trouble getting a loud enough signal. I've played through various mics (SM57, SM58B, and a battered VShock-all dynamics), and have also played through the line and guitar ins using an acoustic with a button-style passive pickup and an unamped electric (I didn't expect much of a signal with that one anyway). I have to crank the input knob nearly to the point of clipping, and the playback is always quiet. There's a good chance I'm missing something here, as I am pretty new to the world of computer recording, but I couldn't find the answer in the Tascam manual or the manual that came with the Cubase bundled version. Truly appreciate any help/words of advice. Thanks, Matt Johnson

 

[bencrud]

i have one and was having the same problem... it runs off of usb power and i think it is just not enough to get good gain out of. i bought a presonus bluetube for like 70 bucks at gc, run that on the front end, and it sounds great! i do mostly location two track stuff with it though, never tried it in a studio setting.

 

[johnsmm]

I'm also mostly doing two to three tracks...It's a bit frustrating to shell out more dough, but I can't think of another way to boost the signal that would also prevent me from dropping a bit more quid...I thank you for your reply, and for taking my concern seriously. Hopefully one day I can pay you in kind, assuming I get this setup working well enough to compose a tune worth sharing. Thanks, Matt

 

[mjones4th]

Matt, I sent you a PM, and after, a few more thoughts came to me.

First, try running it off of the adapter instead of USB, if you can. Second, try switching the Mic/Guitar/Line switch to guitar and plugging it into the 1/4" TRS jack when recording a dynamic mic.

mitz

 

[mjones4th]

Well there goes that idea, the US122 has no power adapter.

 

[carlo_the_cat]

You will find a detailed
measuremnt report of the tascam US122
at
http://www.dr-jordan-design.de/Download/TascamUS122.pdf

The card has significant interference from the switching upconverter for the phantom power.

Carlos

 

[johnsmm]

Thank you one and all...I plan to give the phantom power a try when my friend locates his condenser (he says it's an 81, I don't know if that's a shure or what). Other than that, I'll need to get an adapter to go loZ to 1/4" to try what you've suggested, Mark. My computer is pretty old (about 6 years, a pentium II), but I plan on getting a new one soon, so maybe that will make some difference, I don't know. Thanks again, Matt

 

[CircuitRider]

Matt,
How is that condensor working out? I would definitely try using a seperate phantom power unit instead of the one on the unit. I've got a Rolls phantom unit that was pretty cheap as I remember. One of those little ART Tube MP preamps might work well in your situation, too. I bring mine next time I'm in Chucktown or you can swing by and try it out at the house next time you're up here. By the way, what did Tascam say?

Does anyone know if the US-224 has the same problem? I know that it's USB powered as well, so it seems like it would.