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A USB cable specimen
(
QuickusConnectus
ComputerInterfaceae
).
Basic US-
428
connections.
14
15
control surface simultaneously. The
US-
428
,
US-
224
and
224
224
US-
122
connect
to a computer via its USB port. See
pages 11 and 13 for details.
The US-
428
and US-
224
look very
224
224
similar to the tape-based Portastudios
we talked about before. Like the
Portastudios, the difference between
the US-
428
and US-
224
is primarily
224
224
in the number of channels and con-
trols. Both of them come with a free
version of Steinberg’s
Cubasis VST
software, and are compatible with
more advanced software from Stein-
berg and other companies.
The great thing about these inter-
faces is that you don’t need to pur-
chase a separate mixer. The US-
428
has 4 audio inputs complete with
mic preamps, XLRs, (the 3-pin con-
nectors used with professional low-
impedance microphones) and
W"
connectors, so you can plug in your
microphone, guitar, or keyboard. It
also has two sets of MIDI IN and MIDI
OUT jacks for controlling external
synthesizers. It has four
analog-to-
digital converters
which change the
digital converters
digital converters
sound into a stream of numbers that
can be read by the computer soft-
ware and
recorded
onto hard
disk. The
US-
224
has 2
analog inputs. Both have S/PDIF
inputs and outputs (which connect
to external digital devices like CD-Rs),
headphone outputs, and transport
control switches.
About virtual audio
channels.
Unlike the analog Portastudios,
computer software can have many
more channels than there are cor-
responding faders on the top panel
of the US-
224
and US-
224
224
428
. For ex-
ample, up to 8 with Cubasis VST
and as many as 64 with some DAW
programs. It doesn’t matter that the
US-
428
has only 8 physical faders
on its top panel, or the US-
224
has
224
224
only 4; those faders can be assigned
to control any of the channels in the
software.
The faders don’t actually control
the audio level directly—instead,
they act as controllers sending mes-
sages to the computer, which actu-
ally does the “mixing.” But that’s
just a detail...as far as you’re con-
cerned, you simply reach for a fader
to change the level of a track, just
as you would in a traditional non-
computerized studio.
This expandability is one of the
big pluses of going the computer
route—it may look like an 8-track on
top, while it’s controlling 48 tracks
in the software. It’s perfect if you’re
someone who likes to build a wall
of sound with no limitations. Many
software packages also provide a
way to record several different al-
ternate “takes” in one track, and (for
example) compile the best phrases
or even words from different takes
into a fi nal vocal.
What the computer needs
to record audio on the hard
disk.
Make sure you have enough
space before you record. Multitrack
audio uses a lot of disk space—over
8 megabytes per minute per 24-bit
track. If you record 10 tracks for
5 minutes, you’ve occupied over
400 MB. Luckily, large hard drives
are cheap now. You can get fast
drives with 80 gigabytes or more for
REVERB, CHORUS,
ECHO ETC. VIA
DAW PLUG-INS
INSTRUMENTS
TASCAM US-
122
MICROPHONES
MONITOR SPEAKERS/HEADPHONES
INTERNAL OR
EXTERNAL
CD BURNER
VIRTUAL MIXER
BUILT INTO
DAW SOFTWARE
MULTITRACK
RECORDER
BUILT INTO
DAW SOFTWARE
DAW SOFTWARE
MIDI SEQUENCER
When you get to the US-
122
, the
majority of our “six components”
are now living inside your com-
puter. The US-
122
provides analog
to digital conversion, inputs includ-
ing mic preamps and monitoring.