ChuckC
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1488
- Joined: 2010/02/13 01:22:55
- Location: Port Charlotte, Fl
- Status: offline
Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
I am running (as it says in my signature) windows 7 on a new ADK built box, with an m-audio fast track pro interface. When I bought & set up this rig a year ago I was recording only my own stuff & I was playing all tracks myself generally including laying down drums with my roland V kit (midi)... Now I have another band back up & crankin', we are recording & the drummer can't stant the feel of the v-drums & wants to record his acoustic kit. I do not have nearly enough XLR inputs to mic the kit... I was thinking if it's possible to buy a cheap unit with more inputs like the tascam us-1641 & plug it into another usb port then just select those inputs when setting up each track. I'd leave the output on the master going back through my M-audio for playback. This would effectively give me 8 channels on the tascam & 2 more on the m-audio for a total of 10 simutaneous audio inputs. Are there snags in this logic that I do not yet realize? If it can work, then the drummer has an interface to buy.....
Thanks in advance.
ADK Built DAW, W7, Sonar Platinum, Studio One Pro,Yamaha HS8's & HS8S Presonus Studio/Live 24.4.2, A few decent mic pre's, lots of mics, 57's,58 betas, Sm7b, LD Condensors, Small condensors, Senn 421's, DI's, Sans Amp, A few guitar amps etc. Guitars : Gib. LP, Epi. Lp, Dillion Tele, Ibanez beater, Ibanez Ergodyne 4 String bass, Mapex Mars series 6 pc. studio kit, cymbals and other sh*t. http://www.everythingiam.net/ http://www.stormroomstudios.com Some of my productions: http://soundcloud.com/stormroomstudios
|
Ham N Egz
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 15161
- Joined: 2005/01/21 14:27:49
- Location: Arpadhon
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 13:45:08
(permalink)
If the drivers are ASIO, then no, only one ASIO driver/device at a time I hate to say it but if you need more than two inputs it looks like a hardware upgrade , there are lots of audio devices that will do 8 plus SPD/IF
post edited by musicman100 - 2011/01/09 13:51:19
Green Acres is the place to be I dont twitter, facebook, snapchat, instagram,linkedin,tumble,pinterest,flick, blah blah,lets have an old fashioned conversation!
|
ChuckC
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1488
- Joined: 2010/02/13 01:22:55
- Location: Port Charlotte, Fl
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 13:52:44
(permalink)
I believe they are.... damn it! So what are my choices?
Get a new interface with at least 10+ inputs? Is it possible to add a firewire to my system & run one usb & one fire wire?
What would you guys recommend?
ADK Built DAW, W7, Sonar Platinum, Studio One Pro,Yamaha HS8's & HS8S Presonus Studio/Live 24.4.2, A few decent mic pre's, lots of mics, 57's,58 betas, Sm7b, LD Condensors, Small condensors, Senn 421's, DI's, Sans Amp, A few guitar amps etc. Guitars : Gib. LP, Epi. Lp, Dillion Tele, Ibanez beater, Ibanez Ergodyne 4 String bass, Mapex Mars series 6 pc. studio kit, cymbals and other sh*t. http://www.everythingiam.net/ http://www.stormroomstudios.com Some of my productions: http://soundcloud.com/stormroomstudios
|
Guitarhacker
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 24398
- Joined: 2007/12/07 12:51:18
- Location: NC
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:07:09
(permalink)
New interface is the way to go..... aside from the ASIO factor, there is also the matter of sync between the 2 interfaces. If the syn isn't right, and it's not likely to be, even if you could overcome the driver issue the playback would not be in sync. I have not really focused on the larger interfaces. I ahve seen some that do seem to support many inputs, probably through expansion modules that are made to do that job properly while working off the main unit and it's drivers. EDIT: yep...a google search turned up a number of them.
post edited by Guitarhacker - 2011/01/09 14:13:48
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
|
Junski
Max Output Level: -59.5 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1570
- Joined: 2003/11/10 07:29:13
- Location: FI
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:09:44
(permalink)
There's an USB audio device with quite many analog inputs ... 18 channel (16 analog and two digital) recording and 8 channel (analog) playback at the same time – Full Duplex. Product page - http://www.esi-audio.com/products/esu1808/ Maunual - http://www.esi-audiotechn...08/ESU1808-English.pdf Drivers available for: Windows XP Windows Vista 32-bit Windows Vista 64-bit Windows 7 32-bit Windows 7 64-bit Mac OS X With this interface, you'll need a mixer device with proper amount of mic pre-amps and enough many outputs from it (I quess your band has mixer anyways). Anyway, I have not seen any USB audio interfaces that could be 'chained' the way as some FireWire audio interfaces can be. Junski
post edited by Junski - 2011/01/09 23:53:45
|
Ham N Egz
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 15161
- Joined: 2005/01/21 14:27:49
- Location: Arpadhon
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:15:32
(permalink)
Chuck, the Firewire interface may be a little faster, but your Driver will still be ASIO so you will be locked into one device . WDM drivers will allow you to use several different interfaces at the same time , but there are performance issues there. Why are you tied to the M_audio interface, other than having it already? Unless you want to purchase a FW card (they are cheap , now) some interfaces ,Focursite for one, are particular with the chip set on the FW card and only like to play nice with TI chip sets. HERE is a Tascam rack mount 8 XLR 2 SPD/IF that you can use for recording and playback
Green Acres is the place to be I dont twitter, facebook, snapchat, instagram,linkedin,tumble,pinterest,flick, blah blah,lets have an old fashioned conversation!
|
Ham N Egz
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 15161
- Joined: 2005/01/21 14:27:49
- Location: Arpadhon
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:17:44
(permalink)
GOOGLE is your friend  why not look up a few and come back with your choices and we will discuss them???
Green Acres is the place to be I dont twitter, facebook, snapchat, instagram,linkedin,tumble,pinterest,flick, blah blah,lets have an old fashioned conversation!
|
Guitarhacker
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 24398
- Joined: 2007/12/07 12:51:18
- Location: NC
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:27:49
(permalink)
You want ONE USB connection or you risk the sync issues using 2 interfaces not counting the problems you have inside the DAW with routing...
They make plenty of large capacity (input & output) interfaces that will daisy-chain together to allow you literally dozens of inputs.
My website & music: www.herbhartley.com MC4/5/6/X1e.c, on a Custom DAW Focusrite Firewire Saffire Interface BMI/NSAI "Just as the blade chooses the warrior, so too, the song chooses the writer "
|
ohhey
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 11676
- Joined: 2003/11/06 16:24:07
- Location: Fort Worth Texas USA
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 14:56:23
(permalink)
ChuckC
I am running (as it says in my signature) windows 7 on a new ADK built box, with an m-audio fast track pro interface. When I bought & set up this rig a year ago I was recording only my own stuff & I was playing all tracks myself generally including laying down drums with my roland V kit (midi)... Now I have another band back up & crankin', we are recording & the drummer can't stant the feel of the v-drums & wants to record his acoustic kit. I do not have nearly enough XLR inputs to mic the kit... I was thinking if it's possible to buy a cheap unit with more inputs like the tascam us-1641 & plug it into another usb port then just select those inputs when setting up each track. I'd leave the output on the master going back through my M-audio for playback. This would effectively give me 8 channels on the tascam & 2 more on the m-audio for a total of 10 simutaneous audio inputs. Are there snags in this logic that I do not yet realize? If it can work, then the drummer has an interface to buy.....
Thanks in advance.
If you need that many input you need to get to one interface (USB or Firewire). There are not many that have enough preamps built in but many have the ability to expand through the ADAT lightpipe digital connection. The cool thing about that is you don't need a second driver, the second device doesn't connect to the computer it connects to the other interface. So it "looks" like just one big interface with lots of I/O to Sonar. This will also let you set up monitoring using all the inputs using the software mixer for the main device. So you are looking for an interface with some preamps built in, and that also has ADAT. You also want good drivers so stick with the known good brands like M-Audio, Edirol, M-Audio, Cakewalk, RME, Echo. Here is one suggestion. It's firewire so you would need a firewire card but it would get you a lot of inputs. M-Audio ProFire 2626 plus a Behringer ADA8000 for 8 more preamps.
|
ChuckC
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1488
- Joined: 2010/02/13 01:22:55
- Location: Port Charlotte, Fl
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 15:47:49
(permalink)
Ohhey,
wheeew, I was just checking out that option & while it looks good, I am not sure I'd get the drummer (is the one who needs/wants to record acoustic drums) to pony up at least part of the $560 for the profire + $200 for the ada8000. I don't have the disposable funds to make that upgrade right now myself, besides, I don't mind playing, recording via my v-drums. I bought them for this purpose. I love that if I get a take perfect but miss 1 high hat hit coming out of a fill I can go back & add it in rather than starting over & trying the take again.
Musicman,
I am not "stuck" on the m audio by anymeans really, I just figured it'd be easier. I had this system built & set up by ADK about 10 months ago & shipped to me with producer 8.5.3 installed, & the new interface installed & drivers set up. So I was able to take it out of the box, plug it in & hit record. I flat out suck at & lack the patience to deal with system errors, malfunctions, driver issues etc. My wife generally has to take over with those kind of computer issues cause I get frustrated & want to throw my fist through the monitor screen. I can figure out mechanical.... give me a busted 350 V8 with an unknown problem any day over a computer that won't boot up. arrrrgh! It's a huge advantage to acknowledge & admit your weak points, technological patience is one of my biggest.
ADK Built DAW, W7, Sonar Platinum, Studio One Pro,Yamaha HS8's & HS8S Presonus Studio/Live 24.4.2, A few decent mic pre's, lots of mics, 57's,58 betas, Sm7b, LD Condensors, Small condensors, Senn 421's, DI's, Sans Amp, A few guitar amps etc. Guitars : Gib. LP, Epi. Lp, Dillion Tele, Ibanez beater, Ibanez Ergodyne 4 String bass, Mapex Mars series 6 pc. studio kit, cymbals and other sh*t. http://www.everythingiam.net/ http://www.stormroomstudios.com Some of my productions: http://soundcloud.com/stormroomstudios
|
ohhey
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 11676
- Joined: 2003/11/06 16:24:07
- Location: Fort Worth Texas USA
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 17:02:18
(permalink)
ChuckC
Ohhey,
wheeew, I was just checking out that option & while it looks good, I am not sure I'd get the drummer (is the one who needs/wants to record acoustic drums) to pony up at least part of the $560 for the profire + $200 for the ada8000. I don't have the disposable funds to make that upgrade right now myself, besides, I don't mind playing, recording via my v-drums. I bought them for this purpose. I love that if I get a take perfect but miss 1 high hat hit coming out of a fill I can go back & add it in rather than starting over & trying the take again.
Musicman,
I am not "stuck" on the m audio by anymeans really, I just figured it'd be easier. I had this system built & set up by ADK about 10 months ago & shipped to me with producer 8.5.3 installed, & the new interface installed & drivers set up. So I was able to take it out of the box, plug it in & hit record. I flat out suck at & lack the patience to deal with system errors, malfunctions, driver issues etc. My wife generally has to take over with those kind of computer issues cause I get frustrated & want to throw my fist through the monitor screen. I can figure out mechanical.... give me a busted 350 V8 with an unknown problem any day over a computer that won't boot up. arrrrgh! It's a huge advantage to acknowledge & admit your weak points, technological patience is one of my biggest.
Don't assume you have mic every drum. That can be good if you are good at mixing but you can get a great sound with just 3 mics or even one ! Many classic rock recordings were made that way. Try one kick mic and two overhead with one just over the tom and and hat and the other over at the floor tom. If you use condensor mics on the overheads you can get a big full sound without a lot of mixing. Don't even worry about the cymbals you can't avoid picking those up no matter where the mics are LOL !  They sound better at a distance anyway.
|
ChuckC
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1488
- Joined: 2010/02/13 01:22:55
- Location: Port Charlotte, Fl
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 18:40:48
(permalink)
I have done some recordings in my 4 track cassette & then my digital 8 track days where I had 7 or 8 mics on the kit & run into the mixing board I use for live sound, then recorded on a single track. But You gotta get that eq & balance perfect before hitting record because if the hats end up too hot you can't roll em back without killing the presence of the entire kit. I was thinking of mabe going to a USB Mixing console like the yamaha MG116C http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-MG166CUSB-16-Channel-USB-Mixer-With-Compression?sku=630259 Which kinda sux because I own an mg116/6fx console now which is my live mixer. It was the one before the new ones came out with USB & on board compression. I've had it for years & it's served me well. What do you guys think of that option?
ADK Built DAW, W7, Sonar Platinum, Studio One Pro,Yamaha HS8's & HS8S Presonus Studio/Live 24.4.2, A few decent mic pre's, lots of mics, 57's,58 betas, Sm7b, LD Condensors, Small condensors, Senn 421's, DI's, Sans Amp, A few guitar amps etc. Guitars : Gib. LP, Epi. Lp, Dillion Tele, Ibanez beater, Ibanez Ergodyne 4 String bass, Mapex Mars series 6 pc. studio kit, cymbals and other sh*t. http://www.everythingiam.net/ http://www.stormroomstudios.com Some of my productions: http://soundcloud.com/stormroomstudios
|
ohhey
Max Output Level: 0 dBFS
- Total Posts : 11676
- Joined: 2003/11/06 16:24:07
- Location: Fort Worth Texas USA
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 23:00:24
(permalink)
ChuckC
I have done some recordings in my 4 track cassette & then my digital 8 track days where I had 7 or 8 mics on the kit & run into the mixing board I use for live sound, then recorded on a single track. But You gotta get that eq & balance perfect before hitting record because if the hats end up too hot you can't roll em back without killing the presence of the entire kit.
I was thinking of mabe going to a USB Mixing console like the yamaha MG116C http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-MG166CUSB-16-Channel-USB-Mixer-With-Compression?sku=630259
Which kinda sux because I own an mg116/6fx console now which is my live mixer. It was the one before the new ones came out with USB & on board compression. I've had it for years & it's served me well.
What do you guys think of that option?
The Yamaha only has stereo via the USB. If you are going to sub mix you may as well use your live mixer and send the output to your sound card via analog.
|
ChuckC
Max Output Level: -61 dBFS
- Total Posts : 1488
- Joined: 2010/02/13 01:22:55
- Location: Port Charlotte, Fl
- Status: offline
Re:Can we use more than 1 USB interface simultaneously?
2011/01/09 23:59:55
(permalink)
Thanks for the eye opener...... Well that's a useless POS then.
Why bother?
ADK Built DAW, W7, Sonar Platinum, Studio One Pro,Yamaha HS8's & HS8S Presonus Studio/Live 24.4.2, A few decent mic pre's, lots of mics, 57's,58 betas, Sm7b, LD Condensors, Small condensors, Senn 421's, DI's, Sans Amp, A few guitar amps etc. Guitars : Gib. LP, Epi. Lp, Dillion Tele, Ibanez beater, Ibanez Ergodyne 4 String bass, Mapex Mars series 6 pc. studio kit, cymbals and other sh*t. http://www.everythingiam.net/ http://www.stormroomstudios.com Some of my productions: http://soundcloud.com/stormroomstudios
|