The Tascam US 1641 is probably, next to its newer, more attractively shaded successor, the US 1800, the greatest deal when it comes to inputs and outputs for the price in an interface. 16 inputs and 4 outputs for under $300 is quite a steal, and nothing on it screams that it is cheap at all. It is a very solid, very robust looking unit, and it does not slack in the latency department either. I have not even bothered with universal ASIO drivers for these because the 1641 is not terribly inhibitive when it comes to recording and monitoring. It can record in 96 k at a 24 bit depth, which means you get 144 dB of headroom, a lower noise floor, and much less incentive to use compression for sources that just happen to be too dynamic, such as classically trained singers. Being one, that is a huge deal to me.

UTILIZATION

The drivers for this device are a little old and antiquated, but they serve their purpose and have never failed on me. Usually, I found that whatever program I was using was the culprit. The nice thing about this is that just about everything is on the front, and while it lacks monitorning capabilities, lacking meters, and lacking any sort of specific signal indication, this is, remember, a device that is here to just help you record, real fast, for real cheap. The preamps for what you are getting are unreal. Consider the fact that this interface has 10 preamps on it, and while they do seem a little distant and unsaturated, they get the job done cleanly, and can be messed with ITB.

GETTING STARTED

It is set up just like any other interface. Nothing much to say here. There is nothing distinctive about this one.

OVERALL OPINION

I love this interface almost as much as I loved that money I would have spend on something more expensive and higher quality. It is not the greatest machine in the world, but it gets the job done. Well. It is a massive amount of inputs for next to nothing.