hi guys and girls,
I'm about to replace my old and malfunctioning interface with a brand new one! ain't that a treat... I researched a bit into the price range that I'm willing to go for and came up with the three models below:
M AUDIO FAST TRACK ULTRA
Tascam [="http://Tascam.com/product/us-600 US600[/]="http://Tascam.com/p… US600[/]
AKAI [[url=http://="http://www.akaipro…"]EIE PRO[/]="http://www.akaipro…"]EIE PRO[/]
which in your opinion is a good choice among these or others within this price range? I'm using a pc desktop running windows XP 32 bit and Sonar . this is basically home studio usage, no live bands playing all at once, so I'm going for at least 4 channels which is how many I have available from my external preamps which I think are a better quality than most of these built in ones (m-audio dmp3)... although a couple extra channels with built in preamp wouldn't hurt.
Cheers,
João
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I think you might be paying for a lot of box and size with the A
I think you might be paying for a lot of box and size with the Akai. I have know idea on either units sound but at this price point, you need less eye candy and more quality. I think the Tascam is the better product of the two.
BUT, the Akai has better reviews and definitely looks nice. Tough call.
i've heard some nice sounding recordings on tascam 1800 interfac
i've heard some nice sounding recordings on tascam 1800 interface/pc. i have used the fastrack, bought it for my uncle for holidays, not as clear. as an owner of the m-audio 1814 (discontinued) i can't claim they sound much better than a sound blaster card.
i dunno i use tascam stuff in the analog realm and say they are what they are, and reliably so. i think tascams flagship 16 in interface is like 400 bucks, if i didn't need rudimentary capability w/ pro tools i wouldn't have the m audio. i wouldn't buy an akia either without extensively testing it.
quick look at your links and i think tascam is where to go. the fast track sounds as bad a an m-box2 which is awful, i had one. the recordings i heard from the tascam stuff was thru the stock pre's into cubase and very honestly rivaled the aging/mackie d8b, w/ apogee converters, setup i use at the studio i work out of. tho they were done with pro standard mics, in an acoustically treated room.
the only 'if' i'd consider on your situation would be futrure exapnsion. if the 600 will fuffill your needs for the projectable next 8 yrs, then i'd go w. that. personally i'd just go w/ the us-1800 and not worry about stuff unless i did orchestra work for some reason. it's a very small relative price difference overall. one gig could pay for either unit.
-kyle