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Published on 10/31/11 at 10:29
The Tascam Us 1800 is the latest iteration of Tascam's line of extremely budget friendly audio interfaces. This one in particular is almost exactly the same as its parent the US 1641. It is simple a set of marginal improvements that mark them, but they are all essentially under the surface. The US 1800 comes with a great set of inputs, just like the US 1641, it has 16 inputs and four outputs, making it the interface with the most channels for the price on the market. What is particularly nice about this is that the preamps have improved a lot from the last, and remember, the preamps on the 1641, while sounding a bit distant, are not terrible.
UTILIZATION
The drivers and the latency with this program is pretty much brilliant. That is the main draw of this one. Underneath the surface, the US 1800 is more updated to run on newer systems, whereas the drivers for the 1641 were not supported for quite a bit of time now. However, I can completely record over almost all channels without incurring hiccups at all, and that is absolutely something to behold.
GETTING STARTED
It is an audio interface. You plug it in and install the drivers. The inputs and output are labeled quite simply. The only thing that may drive a few people away is that the phantom power switches are still only breakers for inputs 1 and 4 and inputs 5 and 8. However, that is not a terribly big deal. It lacks some of the niceties like pads and filters, but I generally use dedicated units for that anyway.
OVERALL OPINION
In the end, it is not so much nicer than the 1641 that you should endeavor to buy it at full price if you can find a 1641 for less, but if you cannot find one for less, get the 1800. It is nicer internally, more updated, and on a completely shallow level, a much more attractive looking unit than the 1641.
UTILIZATION
The drivers and the latency with this program is pretty much brilliant. That is the main draw of this one. Underneath the surface, the US 1800 is more updated to run on newer systems, whereas the drivers for the 1641 were not supported for quite a bit of time now. However, I can completely record over almost all channels without incurring hiccups at all, and that is absolutely something to behold.
GETTING STARTED
It is an audio interface. You plug it in and install the drivers. The inputs and output are labeled quite simply. The only thing that may drive a few people away is that the phantom power switches are still only breakers for inputs 1 and 4 and inputs 5 and 8. However, that is not a terribly big deal. It lacks some of the niceties like pads and filters, but I generally use dedicated units for that anyway.
OVERALL OPINION
In the end, it is not so much nicer than the 1641 that you should endeavor to buy it at full price if you can find a 1641 for less, but if you cannot find one for less, get the 1800. It is nicer internally, more updated, and on a completely shallow level, a much more attractive looking unit than the 1641.