newfuturevintage
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huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
Hi all--
I've searched the Gear forum looking for this answer, as well as a few other places, but still feel the need to ask....
I'm looking for a Bus Powered USB soundcard. It's gotta have two XLR mic inputs with phantom, a stereo output and facility for direct input (zero latency) monitoring. Also an analog output volume knob would be nice. Something on the order of the m-audio Mobile Pre USB or the Tascam 122. It should also support 24bit, which is why I'm not leaning towards the Mobile Pre.
What I'd love to know is what are you using, and how well you like it. Plusses? Minuses?
My intent is to keep the thing docked at work as an auxiliary soundcard, and be able to throw it into a laptop bag for simple stereo location recording and/or idea scratchpadding. I'm not needing nor expecting amazing quality, just better than on-board, stable, and XLR ready...
Thanks!
My inner child is an angry drunk.
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BruceEnnis
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/20 17:02:29
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Digi Mbox, Mbox2 or the new Mbox Pro also includes Pro Tools LE 7.1. I've tested the Mbox and Mbox2 with Sonar both work quite well. The only exception is if you try and run Dual Core/multi processor in Sonar the ASIO driver will self destruct.
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newfuturevintage
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/20 17:59:08
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Thanks, Bruce-
Any idea if the version 2 improvements are more than just MIDI? I was never that taken by the version 1.
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BruceEnnis
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/20 18:12:52
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Top of my head I really don't recall the specific changes other than adding MIDI and I think something with monitoring.
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LixiSoft
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/21 21:35:30
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You said USB.....BUT IF YOU CAN DO FIREWIRE....The M-Audio 1814 box ROCKS (bus powered..firewire)....and it is M-Powered so you can run Pro Tools 7.1 MP and ANY OTHER Software you want.
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beatrack
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/21 22:53:21
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ORIGINAL: newfuturevintage
Hi all--
I've searched the Gear forum looking for this answer, as well as a few other places, but still feel the need to ask....
I'm looking for a Bus Powered USB soundcard. It's gotta have two XLR mic inputs with phantom, a stereo output and facility for direct input (zero latency) monitoring. Also an analog output volume knob would be nice. Something on the order of the m-audio Mobile Pre USB or the Tascam 122. It should also support 24bit, which is why I'm not leaning towards the Mobile Pre.
What I'd love to know is what are you using, and how well you like it. Plusses? Minuses?
My intent is to keep the thing docked at work as an auxiliary soundcard, and be able to throw it into a laptop bag for simple stereo location recording and/or idea scratchpadding. I'm not needing nor expecting amazing quality, just better than on-board, stable, and XLR ready...
Thanks!
The EMU 0404 USB 2.0 is something you might want to take a look at, although I don't believe it's bus powered. http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?category=610&subcategory=611&product=15185 There is an 0202 model as well, which is smaller and I believe that it is bus powered.
post edited by beatrack - 2006/09/21 23:25:26
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newfuturevintage
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/09/22 01:54:23
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Cool...that was one of the units I was considering...I don't have firewire on all the machines I want to be able to use this on, so USB is preferable (that and my laptop only has 4 wire 1394)...but it is good to know it's bus powered where available. I also just saw the blurb for the as-of-yet vaporware zoom H4 recorder...if this comes to market ($300), it looks like a very cool, versitile thing: it's for all intents and purporses a stereo field recorder with a built in XY condenser pair, xlrs with phantom, some modelling features, but more importantly, it's got the ability to function as a 4 track standalone unit, and here's where it gets cool for me, when plugged into USB, it functions as a 2 in 2 out soundcard, bypassing its on-board SD card for storage. If, and it seems a big if, they get it right out of the gate, this might be the ticket...it's due out in October. It's amusing just how fun bottom feeding has become 
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Red Firebird
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/10/22 07:17:42
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Just got mine, incredible thing! Effects are cool even if not as complete as my Pandora, recording is cool, mics are good. Just need an ASIO driver yet!
Cedric
WIN8 64 + 16GB RAM + MOTU Ultralite mk3 + 24/88.2
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newfuturevintage
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/10/22 14:18:31
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Have you tried to see if asio4all will work with it?
It's been very, very good to me as the saying goes.
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Red Firebird
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/10/22 20:43:42
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Tried it yes, but it's a WDM mapper and the H4 driver is a MME one, didn't work. Not a big deal, but I'd really love to have it working even in WDM so I could at least hear my 24bit project on it.
Cedric
WIN8 64 + 16GB RAM + MOTU Ultralite mk3 + 24/88.2
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newfuturevintage
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RE: huntin' for a Bus Powered Soundcard on the cheap
2006/10/23 12:41:37
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gotcha. Thanks for the scoop on this unit. As you get to know the unit more deeply, please keep us posted!
My inner child is an angry drunk.
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