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Tascam US-122
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bpmccauley1 bpmccauley1
Published on 10/12/08 at 04:46
The choice to purchase the Tascam US-122 was really easy for me, it was cheap and would allow me to record two tracks at the same time. When this interface was purchased I was very new to the world of recording my own music and I was looking for exactly what this little guy had, good price and decent features, like the ability to be completely portable with my laptop, recording on the go is a must for me.
I am an acoustic musician so you won't find me plugging my guitar directly into the US-122, instead I use my MXL990 and 991 to mic my guitar. Additionally I use this with a Dell Inspiron 6000, 2GB RAM, 60GB Hard Drive.

UTILIZATION

Once this thing was finally at my home, getting it to work for the first time was a bit difficult, at the time I chalked it up to my inexperience but have since realized that it was definately the product.
I had a very hard time installing the software for this thing on my computer. There were definate issues with Windows XP Professional and Home. It was crazy, I finally found a forum online that explained to me what I needed to do. I had to install the software, and cancel the setup, this process had to be done 3 times, then on the thrid time for some reason it would work, crazy if you ask me.
Then I had to try and follow the crazy instructions on how to set up my computer to work with the interface, you know changing sound ins, AISO...that kind of thing. For a beginner at the time it was definitley frustrating.
Once I got everything working, I had to learn how to use Cubase LE (the bundled version that came with the US-122)...again this recording software and the instruction manual that came with it was less than beginner friendly. All of the instructions were in professional recording language (not surprisingly really), but I had to go and look up definitions of most of the words in the manual. Again, maybe just because I was a beginner, but I'm a pretty intelligent guy, seems to be that it should not have been that difficult to figure out.

GETTING STARTED

All of that being said, once I did get things figured out, this product is really great. I've owned it for several years and I've used it often. It is the only recording interface that I use. I've even trusted it to record some other bands in the area. Granted you aren't going to be recording drums with this thing since you can only record 2 tracks simultaneously, but for acoustic stuff or a few instruments this thing is great and you can take it where ever you go as long as you've got your laptop and a mic you've got a recording studio.
The digial sound that actually comes back out from my computer and to my ears is really way better than I could have imagined for the price of the unit. I think I got mine for around $150 or something like that, definately worth it.

OVERALL OPINION

Like I said I've been using the Tascam US-122 for several years now. I will admit that I definitley had many, many issues to iron out before I could get the thing to work properly, but once I got everything worked out I was really happy with the product.
I would definately suggest that if you are looking for a cheap way to get some tracks laid down with very decent quality to buy this product.