USB2 audio interface?

[Ianpb]

Could someone please explain the pros and cons of using a USB2 audio interface connected between the mixer and computer? How does this option compare with a direct connection to a regular sound card in relation to multitrack recording, where one track at a time will be recorded?

I'm still trying to figure out what hardware to get and I've been trawling through Google looking for answers to my question but without success, and now I have a headache.

[Acoustica Eric]

USB is slower than a direct connection, and in my experience it is buggy. If you are only recording one track at a time, there's no need for the interface, just connect the mixer to the computers line in.
If you need to record multiple tracks at once, then you might need a USB interface which supports that, or you could go with a PCI Sound card which has multiple inputs, like the m-audio delta44 or Delta1010LT

[R0ckerb0y]

Definitely go for something Firewire or PCI(e) if you can.

That said, I have an M-Audio Firewire Solo AND an M-Audio PreUSB.

I use the PreUSB for recording on the go. It has an input for a Mic and a Guitar/Bass and a built-in Pre-AMP, which is nice. It also provides phantom power for Mics that need it, and with the driver I can use ASIO mode for realtime monitoring.

I consider it to be like an audio scratch pad. I can record ideas, play with them while being downstairs near the family, then take those ideas and try them out later on the Firewire interface with my amps etc.

It's nice to have, and hasn't failed me yet, (Well, except when I plugged it in before installing the drivers and Windows decided to install it's own USB Audio driver and I couldn't get ASIO working until I manually removed and updated the driver.)

If you are getting just one interface, go for Firewire or PCI, but USB is ok if you need portability and a reference quality recording to use with a laptop.

[markcm]

I use an M-audio Fast Track Pro which is USB. It's a mixed bag, it works amazing with some computers and not so well with others. I'm convinced it's related to the combination of chipsets and drivers used on the computer as I have a desktop and laptop with the same OS (win7 64 bit), the desktop was plug and play and works amazing, the laptop was a nightmare to get it "fairly stable". Regardless of the pain in the azz that it was to get working on the laptop, I love it and use it a lot; I'm on a work trip on the other side of the world from home right now and have my Fast Track and mixcraft with me now using it frequently.

Unfortunatly when I did some research I found that other brands seemed to have the same issues, even the presonus firebox seemed to have similar reports in the forums. Be careful when you read the forums for these devices too; most the people are there because they are having problems and they talk pretty poorly about the devices yet there are many more people using the devices who are too busy making music to hang around the forum and defend the product.

[gigmaster]

I have a UX-16 USB Interface for my Behringer 1204 Digital Mixer. It converts at 32 bits, at up to 96 khz (which is way more than anyone would ever need After all...CD Quality is just 16 bits at 44.1 Khz)). I can record up to 8 tracks simultaneously, with unlimited total tracks on recording and playback (in theory...actually, it depends on your computers processor).

Set up is simple and fast. two RCA stereo cables run from the Tape Out jacks on the mixer, into the IN RCA jacks on the UX-16, and 2 RCA cables run from the OUT jacks on the UX-16 to the Tape In jacks on the Mixer, and the USB cable plugs into any USB port on the computer....done! It has practically zero latency, and does not seem to slow anything down. And it is the size of a Tic-Tac box. It cost $24.95.

I also have a Cakewalk Interface, but is is much larger, and more involved to set up. And the UX-16 is actually more powerful, from a software standpoint.