n
You get exactly what you pay for and even more.
This was my first multi channel interface. I got that because I was on a budget and I had to record a band for an ep with real live drums, so I needed inputs. Pretty basic design and no features at all, although the digital compression may save the day at some cases. The construction is not the best but it is ok for the money. the signal clarity is one of the worst on the market for an 8+ analogue input interface without being inadequate though. One other issue might be the lack of pad switch and the very hot input on all the channels.
In general is a very decent buy if you are on a budget and you want to buy a 16 analogue input interface. 5 stars because it saved me and I managed to deliver the work in a pretty good final quality, despite its drawbacks.
Pros:
- Cheap
- easy to use
- Lots of inputs
- quite sturdy for the price
Cons
- not the best signal quality (it actually has the worst in the class without that making it a bad interface)
- very hot inputs (you might find it difficult to deal with gain with different mics)
- no features at all except for the digital interface compression.
In general is a very decent buy if you are on a budget and you want to buy a 16 analogue input interface. 5 stars because it saved me and I managed to deliver the work in a pretty good final quality, despite its drawbacks.
Pros:
- Cheap
- easy to use
- Lots of inputs
- quite sturdy for the price
Cons
- not the best signal quality (it actually has the worst in the class without that making it a bad interface)
- very hot inputs (you might find it difficult to deal with gain with different mics)
- no features at all except for the digital interface compression.
5
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t
Solid Interface for the price
I bought this interface because I wanted a lot of analog ins and outs, and it delivers on that front and an amazing price. I have several synths and fx, and I like having my audio interface / PC as the central hub from which to route things; I find it preferable to a patch bay or manually rerouting cables.
Pro's:
-> Lots of ins, lots of outs
-> Construction feels solid
-> Sufficient amplification on the headphone out
-> Sufficient amplification on the main outs
-> Drivers on Win10 work well (64 sample latency on big projects without problems)
Cons:
-> No digital outs, so if you want to expand in that direction you'd need a different solution
-> The inputs are pretty sensitive - recording synthesizers I have the input knobs turned completely down, and get a clear signal with little noise. This isn't a con per-se, but if you, like me, were planning on using the input volume to mix a bit during jams, think again.
Overall I'm very happy with my purchase; the competing interfaces are either more expensive, or lack certain features this one has. If you're in the market for an interface with a lot of IO this is a solid choice.
Pro's:
-> Lots of ins, lots of outs
-> Construction feels solid
-> Sufficient amplification on the headphone out
-> Sufficient amplification on the main outs
-> Drivers on Win10 work well (64 sample latency on big projects without problems)
Cons:
-> No digital outs, so if you want to expand in that direction you'd need a different solution
-> The inputs are pretty sensitive - recording synthesizers I have the input knobs turned completely down, and get a clear signal with little noise. This isn't a con per-se, but if you, like me, were planning on using the input volume to mix a bit during jams, think again.
Overall I'm very happy with my purchase; the competing interfaces are either more expensive, or lack certain features this one has. If you're in the market for an interface with a lot of IO this is a solid choice.
6
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A
Perfect for recording drums
I used this product for recording Drums and sometimes live band performances.
Its design was simple and it suited the use in different locations. It can be placed on a desk but also came with mount ears for putting in a rack unit which was a nice feature that allowed me that option in the future.
The face of the unit where the inputs are tilted up towards the user which made it nice to plug in as the cables weren't flush with the surface beneath.
The gain dials had a nice smoothness to them which I found useful for small adjustments.
The headphone output is in a good location on the device.
I have never had any issue with connecting to my laptop.
The fact that its USB allows me to use on different platforms.
It would be an improvement if the inputs were both xlr and instrument line like other interfaces but there is enough inputs.
The phantom option allows you to just assign phantom to certain groups which is great.
All in all a great piece of equipment for the price
Its design was simple and it suited the use in different locations. It can be placed on a desk but also came with mount ears for putting in a rack unit which was a nice feature that allowed me that option in the future.
The face of the unit where the inputs are tilted up towards the user which made it nice to plug in as the cables weren't flush with the surface beneath.
The gain dials had a nice smoothness to them which I found useful for small adjustments.
The headphone output is in a good location on the device.
I have never had any issue with connecting to my laptop.
The fact that its USB allows me to use on different platforms.
It would be an improvement if the inputs were both xlr and instrument line like other interfaces but there is enough inputs.
The phantom option allows you to just assign phantom to certain groups which is great.
All in all a great piece of equipment for the price
2
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T
Tascam US-16x08
I bought this for drums recording and it does a great job. You have to pay way more money for a better interface with 16 inputs.
I'm a musician/mixing engineer and this interface helped me to work for the first time outside my home studio. I also use it live for tracks/Fx. You can send stereo tracks to the main mixer without the click.
Pros :
- 8 mic inputs. Enough for drums
- 8 line inputs. You can connect your favorite individual preamps to it and upgrade the sound
- 8 outputs. Great for sending tracks/stems to outboard gear while mixing and many other things.
- has all the standard things like Phantom power, 2xHi Z inputs, Asio driver, DSP with EQ and compressor for all 16 inputs.
- great for home studios
Cons :
- knob don't feel quite solid
- In my case when I record at 48k with my i5 laptop, sometimes (once per 60 min) the sampling rate resets to 44.1khz, the default rate. This comes also with sound errors like pops, clicks..etc.
- The sampling rate is set by the DAW (Reaper here) and not by the interface itself. And you have to set and reset it many times until the DSP receive the information.
I'm a musician/mixing engineer and this interface helped me to work for the first time outside my home studio. I also use it live for tracks/Fx. You can send stereo tracks to the main mixer without the click.
Pros :
- 8 mic inputs. Enough for drums
- 8 line inputs. You can connect your favorite individual preamps to it and upgrade the sound
- 8 outputs. Great for sending tracks/stems to outboard gear while mixing and many other things.
- has all the standard things like Phantom power, 2xHi Z inputs, Asio driver, DSP with EQ and compressor for all 16 inputs.
- great for home studios
Cons :
- knob don't feel quite solid
- In my case when I record at 48k with my i5 laptop, sometimes (once per 60 min) the sampling rate resets to 44.1khz, the default rate. This comes also with sound errors like pops, clicks..etc.
- The sampling rate is set by the DAW (Reaper here) and not by the interface itself. And you have to set and reset it many times until the DSP receive the information.
0
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F
Well built and so much I/O
Good unit for the price, very well built and fairly solid, sound-wise.
There is a audio glitch that occurs occasionally and resolves in a few seconds, irritating for sure but you can live with it.
Works well as an extra i/o for the MPC line of sequencers, which was a huge surprise and bonus for me.
I wish more of the inputs were to the rear of the unit as i used it racked alongside a patchpay.
Other that that I'd say it's best bang per buck for extra I/O.
There is a audio glitch that occurs occasionally and resolves in a few seconds, irritating for sure but you can live with it.
Works well as an extra i/o for the MPC line of sequencers, which was a huge surprise and bonus for me.
I wish more of the inputs were to the rear of the unit as i used it racked alongside a patchpay.
Other that that I'd say it's best bang per buck for extra I/O.
0
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I
Works pretty well
I have been using this for years, only had some problems with the switch on/off button that sometimes just doesn't work, but always self-fixes within few minutes. Preamps work pretty well at low-mid gain, not so satisfying for hi-gain but overall still very good. MIDI works great both in and out. I wish there where more routing possibilities, but the signal path of the digital mixer is not customisable. It's kind of a big device, but I suppose it's the minimum for 16 in and 8 out ports. It fits perfectly both in the rack mount and "stand-alone", it works as pre-bank with no usb connection and as digital mixer with usb and remote monitor (pc or mac). Never regret buying this, never had the necessity to buy a different one (though I'm not a professional sound engineer). Totally worth the price!
0
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B
Under-appreciated and overlooked.
This doesn't get the praise it deserves, it easily competes with similar products and out performs a lot in my opinion. Very simplistic making it easy to use. The quality of audio is up there with some of the best products in the market.
My only negative is that the software is a bit dated and can be frustrating, frustrating to use.
My only negative is that the software is a bit dated and can be frustrating, frustrating to use.
0
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x
For the price range it is amazing.
I've had mine probably a few years now (late review), and its stood up to abuse from moving around plus it sounds really great.
I mostly use mine for tracking a few synths at a time into Cubase or Ableton Live. Windows 10 here. It worked on Win7 just fine.
You can download all the latest drivers and software from Tascams website. NOTE that it says in the manual to set your Windows power management mode to "high performance", this is in fact essential, you'll suffer audio dropouts on the faster machines if you don't do this.
Sound: well it's as clean as any other interface and i have had Roland and RME interfaces over the years. No problem there.
I can only recommend this interface if you need 16 inputs via USB. 8x pres and 8x line inputs for that price. Amazing!
I mostly use mine for tracking a few synths at a time into Cubase or Ableton Live. Windows 10 here. It worked on Win7 just fine.
You can download all the latest drivers and software from Tascams website. NOTE that it says in the manual to set your Windows power management mode to "high performance", this is in fact essential, you'll suffer audio dropouts on the faster machines if you don't do this.
Sound: well it's as clean as any other interface and i have had Roland and RME interfaces over the years. No problem there.
I can only recommend this interface if you need 16 inputs via USB. 8x pres and 8x line inputs for that price. Amazing!
0
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K
Lots of quality inputs, cheap
Use for recording drums and sometimes full band.
Pros:
Lots of inputs for the price
Transparent pre-amps
Cons:
Phantom power must be turned on for 4 inputs at a time, would prefer if they could be done individually or in pairs.
Pros:
Lots of inputs for the price
Transparent pre-amps
Cons:
Phantom power must be turned on for 4 inputs at a time, would prefer if they could be done individually or in pairs.
0
0
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TO
Powerful multi track interface. Love it.
I had been messign around with options to record in the studio, and had tested and bought several different interfaces, looking for the right product and method to hook everything up.
The Tascam ended up being the best option for me, in terms of features and price, as well as overall quality of the brand.
16 seperate audio in channels , and decent quality, solid build without any noise or usb ground loop sounds or latencuy troubles.
Somewhere in between the budget multi channel interfaces and the high end stuff out there, but kind of offering both in my opinion.
If you have a multi synth set up, and u will probably expand , this is a nice alternative to a mixer, with a decent array of direct individual inputs for each instrument.
Exactly what I needed, works for me :)
The Tascam ended up being the best option for me, in terms of features and price, as well as overall quality of the brand.
16 seperate audio in channels , and decent quality, solid build without any noise or usb ground loop sounds or latencuy troubles.
Somewhere in between the budget multi channel interfaces and the high end stuff out there, but kind of offering both in my opinion.
If you have a multi synth set up, and u will probably expand , this is a nice alternative to a mixer, with a decent array of direct individual inputs for each instrument.
Exactly what I needed, works for me :)
0
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