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Tascam US-122

USB audio interface from Tascam

Replaced by Tascam US-122MKII.

28 reviews
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Thread Tascam US 122

  • 46 replies
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1 Tascam US 122
Y'all will have to forgive me for my ignorance on this subject, but I have been looking at building a PC recording system, and was wondering what you thought of the Tascam US 122. It seems to offer the things I need to put tracks on my hard drive. Anybody have any experience with one?
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31
Welll ... doesn't look like this gets posted to that often (the curse of obsolescence, I guess), but saw your recent posts. I came here actually looking for some advice on recording vocals with my US-122.

Anyway,

I have had the US-122 for about 3 years. Seems to have worked OK, although it's definitely time for an upgrade. Have only recorded vocals, keyboard and MIDI with it, nothing too taxing. Biggest issue that I've had is the mic pre-amps on board are pretty weak. Recently bought an inexpensive (but well-reviewed) ART Tube MP Project preamp. Seems to have helped, although I've read some things recently that may help me with the recording.

I'm a relative newbie, but my "system" is:

MacBook Pro w/GarageBand
US-122
ART Tube MP Project preamp
Korg Triton LE
MXL condenser mic

If this forum gets active again, would love to ask other US-122 users (if there are still any out there for whom the thing hasn't crapped out) about recording tips/tricks.
32
I got to this forum because I am having issues with Tascam us-122 and cubase. This is the only issue I have with this device as I have been successfully using in windows to record acoustic music for a couple of weeks now.
The software I have been using is Audacity (which is open source and free). The only reason I started to look at the software delivered with the us-122 is I thought I might be missing something. I was, I try to start cubase and the XP reboots so quick I thought I was doing something wrong. I and the other people who are listening and recording in my barn are very happy with this device. I had no trouble till I tried cubase. Now on Linux Jack only sees it as MIDI and I don't know how to deal with that yet, but I will find the tweak I missed. So I recommend the Tascam highly but screw cubase. It took me about five minutes to figure out Audacity. It is plain and simple.
33
Just thought I would add to this... Bought my US-122L yesterday. Huge problems installing the drivers on my laptop.

Acer Aspire 5630 (4 months old)
1gb ram
100mb hdd
Latest TASCAM drivers from the net (V .03)

Laptop blue screened, drivers and files corrupted. I spent the next 4 hours hours putting things back together.

Then went to another older PC and everythings fine. PC mic input (in Linein) is a little quiet. I will experiment with some other mics later.

Any Ideas about the laptop? At the moment I am not game to try again!

Stu
34
I know this thread is a bit old but I thought I'd add my two cents worth. I've had my Tascam US-122 now for about two and a half years and I've had it hooked up to both a Toshiba Laptop (nothing too flash) and now a Macbook Pro to record guitars (electric and acoustic), vocals, electric and double bass (double bass sometime acoustically, both sometimes amplified, both sometimes via DI) and MIDI from an Alesis SR16 drum machine.

The only trouble I've ever had with the unit was when I first hooked it up to the Mac, the drivers on the CD that came with it weren't suitable for the intel processor in the Mac. Went straight to the website and downloaded the new drivers and presto - came straight up no issues.

Reading through the posts here I can see how many of the problems (not all but many) could be issues more to do with Cubase than with the unit itself. It did take me a while to get the hang of Cubase but I find it to be a powerful sequencer when you get to grips with it and it does take a bit or learning.

So a few tips from my experience.
I would recommend reading the help and tutorial in Cubase as there are a number of settings that need to be just so before you will get the US-122 (or any other audio interface) to work correctly.

Make sure you are adding and recording to the right type of track in Cubase - there are different track types for Audio and MIDI and if you try to record audio on a MIDI track it simply won't work.

Check the input channel that Cubase is using to record your input - When you add a new track, Cubase selects the input channel for you and it doesn't necessarily get the right one.

Make sure the track you are recording to is set to record. Just pressing the record button doesn't ensure you will be recording.

When you can, monitor your input via the direct output to stereo monitors if you have them (they'll give a nice flat response and a more accurate representation of what you are recording), headphones when you can't, but the aux. input on a simple home stereo will do the trick at a pinch but be aware that stereo speakers colour your sound.

If all else fails, you can monitor your input out of Cubase via your PC speakers but I wouldn't recommend it as there will probably be latency issues. You will need to setup different input and output channels in Cubase and on your PC to make this happen.

In terms of the US-122 itself
Make sure that when you use the guitar inputs that you select the right setting on the input switch

When you are recording with a mic, make sure that the phantom power switch is in the right position depending on the mic you are using.

The input and output level pots on the unit will handle quite high levels of input so if you are recording something reasonably quiet like an acoustic guitar via microphone, you may need to have the input level set quite high. Alternatively, amp up your original sound source and choke the input via the input pot, you'll get a better sound that way anyhows.

I don't profess to be an expert on home recording by any means but I do hope that my experience (particularly with Cubase as it was a long learning curve) help solve some of the problems in this thread.
35

%1$s a écrit Sounds like the same problem I'm having. I installed the drivers just now in Mac OS X. I have two microphones with jack adapters on them, that I've been trying out plugged into the insert jacks, but the mics aren't picking up anything. *Something* is working, because flipping some of the switches will register on the meter in the Sound preferences.

The headphone output does work. Any ideas why the input isn't working?


Yes ! Microphones are ment to be plugged in to the microphones inputs , with microphones XLR's . The other inputs say "Line / Guitar In"
36

Quote: Sounds like the same problem I'm having. I installed the drivers just now in Mac OS X. I have two microphones with jack adapters on them, that I've been trying out plugged into the insert jacks, but the mics aren't picking up anything.


i have the same problem, when my ordinary computer mics (u know, like the ones with headphones attached to them) are connected to the line-in, the tascam doesnt recieve any signal (the indicator light doesnt flash). im sure the mic and all the connections work. today i tried another mic from a friend (also a mic with jack), and then it works. is there anyone who can think of an explanation for this? there must be some fundamental difference between the 2 mics, or not?

Quote: Yes ! Microphones are ment to be plugged in to the microphones inputs , with microphones XLR's . The other inputs say "Line / Guitar In"


ok, thats true, but still i cant think of an explanation why connecting the mic to the tascam line-in doesnt work for some mics. Since i dont have the money to buy a decent XLR-mic at the moment, a solution for the problem will be greatly appreciated.
37
I have used the US 122 on a Windows XP platform and everything worked great... it was an AMD type mother board... no problems... BUT... when I tried to use it on my new Dell Inspiron e1705 Laptop with XP something wierd would happen... I would load the drivers... after loading the "found new hardware" would still appear... but I would just click ingnor and everything would work fine... I use Sound Forge 7.0 and could select the US 122 in the record and playback options... everything was great... :o EXCEPT... when I would shut down the computer and come back the next day it was as if the drivers were never installed... I figured maybe like the showers in Seinfeld "They Didn't Take":rolleyes:. So I would install again and again everything would work fine... then next time I would start up the computer same problem... :mad:as if I never installed them... finally... I decided to try something different... I went to tascam and viewed the following document... it says... "USE THESE INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO INSTALL USING THE INSTRUCTION PROVIDED WITH YOUR US 122"

http://www.tascam.com/Products/US-122/US_122_CD_install.pdf

Yes... these are much better instructions... more detailed and they include the repeated "found new hardware" warnings which as it turns out is just part of the process... I installed following these instructions and everything worked great... shut down and restarted and again... :P everything worked great.

Also... remember... after you get this all nice and installed... you have to tell your software to change sound cards... for both input and output... this is usually in the preferences section... good luck. :)
38
I had problems with the us-122 on window xp home for many months. Kept getting blue screens with USB errors. What finally fix it was turning off hyper-threading.
39
Well, I wrote my previous posts 2 years ago now when the tascam was making the PC randomly crash all the time. The people who had built my PC carefully rebuilt it to cope (not sure quite what they did but they managed) and all seemed ok. However, the tascam does finally appeared to have died, taking not only itself, but two motherboards in turn and varous other sections of my PC's central nervous system with it. So I am very glad I went for this and not Protools or other more stable, less likely to blow up your USB ports options. Delighted in fact : ) I am now somewhat reticent about USB based devices though I know Protools has a good reputation. Anyone want to reccomend anything?
40
ive used the tascam us 122l for over 2 years now and can honestly say its done a great job for me ive used it for recording vocals, guitar and midi and im happy with the quality im also looking to upgrade soon so any reccomendations for a new audio interface would be welcome
cheers