Tascam M-164UF... thinking about getting one...any body use this thing?!?

[floatin spaceboy]

bump

[dhex]

also looking into the tascam, as i've seen it on sale for 300 bucks and that seems phenomenal compared to the mackie 1202vlz3 i'm using now. with the sale of the mackie it'd be peanuts.

i'm currently using a delta1010 that's about ten years old (bless its heart) but it's startings to get weird on me (i.e. it gets very, very hot). back when i had a tascam 32/8 desk i used all the inputs but i'm only tracking stereo from the mackie now.

my questions are:

1) unless i'm misreading the specs the tascam only works as an audio interface between the recording software, and not as a general audio interface, right? i.e. if i wanted to play some mp3s in foobar, i'd have to hold onto the delta or get a replacement stereo soundcard.

2) does the tascam work with vegas (8.0) or would i have to stick with cubase? my reading of their site seems to indicate it only works with cubase - not a dealbreaker, but still kinda sucks.

[floatin spaceboy]

i mean this thing must be complete shit... there isn't dick for information on the internet in terms of reviews... i need someone to tell me to buy or not to buy.

[Liquid Shadow]

Well it is a VERY new product. Reviews will come. To me it looks like a very promising product. Definitely like the meter bridge.

[dhex]

well, according to this thread:

Anyone tried Tascam M-164UF ? - Home Recording

tascam is fibbing; it's really only recording 10 tracks in usb operation, with the rest counting aux returns, sub mix and stereo mix.

that plus the two pair of rca inputs is disappointing.

there doesn't seem to be a lot of competition on the low end if you're looking for usb/firewire multitracking on the cheap beyond the alesis multimix stuff, which is apparently not so hot. i'd like to get my hands on an erdirol m16-dx but they seem to have been completely discontinued and are now impossible to find online.

[floatin spaceboy]

should i get the us1641 or the m-164uf... the end

[floatin spaceboy]

bomp

[Roo]

I'd go for the m164uf.. the usb interface looks sweet and with a meter bridge for that price is crazy!

There is a review on soundonsound if anyones a subscriber? really dont like the fact they give useless samples to non-subs..

Product Review - Tascam M164UF

At the end of the day its your money and no ones gonna tell you what you should or shouldnt buy. It looks to me that for the extra £100 or so you get a lot more from the m164uf.

Were you ever going to want 16 tracks simultaneously anyway?

[floatin spaceboy]

making the decision tomorrow... just tired of waiting... may just go with the m-164... honestly i just hope sound is decent... i hope it's as reputable as the us1641

and no... at most i'd be recording my vocals, guitar, and a tom drum simultaneously

[dhex]

if you do get it, let us know how it performs. there doesn't seem to be a lot of sub $1000 options for mixer style interfaces that allow you to track individually into a daw.

[PFRfan]

The Phonic Helix boards are an option, too. The trouble I have with these units, including the Edirol M-16DX, is that you only get 2 channels coming back from the computer into the mixer. I really like being able to break out group sends so that I can quickly bring up/down parts when tracking or mixing. I suppose I could do it all with a hardware controller.

AFAIK, the only sub-$1000 board that does it all is the Yamaha N8, which is just 4 mono & 2 stereo. I've seen a few on eBay for less than $500 in the last few weeks. That's probably the way I'll go. The N12 is just north of $1K and has a lot more to offer in terms of dedicated outputs.

[floatin spaceboy]

Originally Posted by PFRfan

The Phonic Helix boards are an option, too. The trouble I have with these units, including the Edirol M-10DX, is that you only get 2 channels coming back from the computer into the mixer. I really like being able to break out group sends so that I can quickly bring up/down parts when tracking or mixing. I suppose I could do it all with a hardware controller.

AFAIK, the only sub-$1000 board that does it all is the Yamaha N8, which is just 4 mono & 2 stereo. I've seen a few on eBay for less than $500 in the last few weeks. That's probably the way I'll go. The N12 is just north of $1K and has a lot more to offer in terms of dedicated outputs.

what exactly do you mean by you only get 2 channels coming back from the computer into the mixer?

will i be able to record me and my brother playing say four tracks simultaneously and then be able to hear all of it through playback from the mixer? be able to overdub etc?

[PFRfan]

Originally Posted by floatin spaceboy

what exactly do you mean by you only get 2 channels coming back from the computer into the mixer?

will i be able to record me and my brother playing say four tracks simultaneously and then be able to hear all of it through playback from the mixer? be able to overdub etc?

Yes - you will be able to do that.

By having more channels returning to the mixer, you could have each track coming back to a dedicated channel on the board, instead of the whole thing mixed together in the computer and playing back over the 2 return channels. It's just extra routing options. I like being able to grab a fader, and drop out the drum track, etc. But it won't matter for the kind of thing you're trying to do.

I didn't mean to frighten you!

[floatin spaceboy]

Originally Posted by PFRfan

Yes - you will be able to do that.

By having more channels returning to the mixer, you could have each track coming back to a dedicated channel on the board, instead of the whole thing mixed together in the computer and playing back over the 2 return channels. It's just extra routing options. I like being able to grab a fader, and drop out the drum track, etc. But it won't matter for the kind of thing you're trying to do.

I didn't mean to frighten you!

haha! phew! thanks... well i'm about to pull the trigger and see what happens... if it doesn't work out, i can always get the us1641 on exchange... i'll let everyone know how she is

[floatin spaceboy]

pulled the trigger

[AuralVision]

And then what happened ??

[Bizzacore]

So, I was wondering about something with these boards..

I wanted to know if there's a way to mod the console to support the USB functionality. I found a great deal on a base model and wasn't interested in the effects anyway but I could definitely use the multi-track feature. I emailed Tascam to see if I could purchase the USB module and just install it myself but at first response I got this:

I really do not believe that it's possible. I'll look into it but I'm pretty sure that you cannot.

Tascam Support

I couldn't imagine, with Tascam building these things for a budget audience, that they would use different hardware in each model. Maybe there's something that can be reconfigured inside the unit to activate it?

If anyone has any information on this, it would be greatly helpful.

Thanks so much!

Chris

[wittgenstein]

I was able to snag one up for $179.99 with free shipping after having Music123 pricematch musicians friend's stupid deal of the day. The manager couldn't believe they had not accounted for this.... lol. I love mine. I only wish that I could select which channels the phantom power was on.

[supernova777]

looking to buy one of these mixers to try it out ..... if u have one for sale pm me!

[chowaniec]

I bought mine a couple of years ago and am quite pleased with it. The controls are super-smooth and nice to work with, being able to track six mics via USB at once without a separate interface rules and the metering is a huge help. My only complaints are the lack of individual phantom power and my headphone output sounds kind of harsh or distorted relative to what I'm used to. I also find that I need to max out the latency to avoid USB dropouts, but since you can monitor everything off the board, that's a non-issue. If you're looking for a cheap home studio rig, I highly recommend this.