INTRODUCTION:
I started recording about 5 years ago, and have been using an Ayre Acoustics QA-9 2 channel ADC (Analog to Digital Converter, otherwise known as a digital audio interface) for about 3 of those years. Needless to say, the QA-9 sounds absolutely incredible, but has the limitation of only having two inputs and no outputs. This was fine for recording my overdubbed songs because the most channels I'd simultaneously record was two, say for a stereo pair while recording acoustic guitar.
Within the last year I have begun recording other artists more frequently. It soon became apparent that I would need more inputs. So after researching for a while I decided to purchase this Tascam 16x08 - mainly because it was a great price for so many inputs.
MAIN UNIT:
After using it for almost three months, I can say that I am very happy with my purchase. The sound quality is not nearly as good as the QA-9, but unless you have a very keen ear you are very unlikely to notice the difference. Having 16 inputs is huge. It's amazing, really. I can now run 4 drum mics, a stereo pair on a guitar, two vocals, an electric guitar DI, and a bass DI all without an external mic amplifier. Since there are 8 mic inputs, two line/instrument inputs, and 6 line inputs, you would need to have an external mic amp to run more than 8 mics.
Additionally, this unit does not have a wordclock input or output, meaning that you cannot sync it with another digital audio interface.
DRIVERS AND SOFTWARE:
Some other reviewers have complained about driver incompatibility with Windows 7 and 10. I have mainly run this unit on a Windows 8.1 machine, and have had no issues at all. I use Mixcraft 7 Pro Studio as my main DAW, and the 16x08 works great as my audio I/O using the ASIO driver.
Up until about a month ago, this unit would not work with my Windows 10 machine. Windows would recognize the MIDI I/O, but not the audio. However with Tascam's recent driver update (v 1.03), the Windows 10 compatibility issue was resolved. Now it works perfectly, just like on 8.1
The Windows software that comes with this device is pretty good - It has a clean, usable interface, runs smoothly, and has some good options. The mixer functionality of the software is rather confusing though. Basically, the signal goes from the input, through the volume controls (channels 1-10), through the ADC, through the compressor and EQ, and then are split off to the USB chip before continuing to the mixer (faders), then to the DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), and finally to the main output buss. So what it boils down to is that the software mixer only affects the analog output buss, not the USB output. The downside of this configuration is that YOU CANNOT HAVE LEVEL PRESETS WHILE USING THIS AS A DIGITAL AUDIO INTERFACE - you have to physically set the gain pots on the mic channels.
OUTPUTS:
Having 8 reroutable analog outputs means that you have lots of flexible routing options. For example in my setup, I have channels 1 and 2 going to my booth monitors (1 and 2 have a dedicated level control on the front panel), channels 3 and 4 as my main headphone output going to my 6 channel headphone amp/distributor, and channels 5, 6, 7, and 8 as individual headphone mixes.
PROS AND CONS:
+ Great price for so many inputs
+ Works smoothly on Windows 8.1 and 10
+ 8 built in mic preamps - no need for external preamps
+ 2 instrument level inputs - no need for a dedicated DI
+ 8 outputs allow for lot of routing options
- Only goes up to 96/24 - No hi-rez 192
- Virtual mixer does not effect USB audio
- Sounds good, not great
- No wordclock I/O
CONCLUSION:
Overall, this is a great digital audio interface if you need lots of channels, aren't looking for audiophile-class sound, and don't want to spend thousands of dollars.
No comments:
Post a Comment