Tascam Us 122, pro and cons, does good outweigh bad? Options

[Righteous Bullet]

on the audio/cards/interface forum i saw that many people had problems with the tascam US 122. i posted this same question on that forum too but am putting it on this one too:

the us 122 looked like a good interface to get and it was one ive been thinking about but after hearing all this i dunno if its worth getting. it seems like the issues are mainly getting it setup though, after you actually get it setup and troubleshooted does it work good for the long run or are these problems reoccuring? i would want to use it maybe with an ibook G4 and it looks like the perfect interface except all these setup issues people are tlaking about... do you still think its worth getting? are there any good alternatives in the same price range as the 122?

OK I went thru the same issues that I think you're going thru about getting the US-122, and finally got a reply back from Tascam about it. The problem seems to be in the software that is bundled with the unit and not the unit itself. Tascam informed me that Cubasis is an OS 9 Only!!! application. As long as your comfortable with that, the unit itself works great. I suggest that if you go in this direction that you not try to bounce between OS 10 and "Classic" either. When you want to record, start in OS 9 and go from there. I don' tknow how heavy into recording you are, but if you want to work from OS 10 you might consider Garage Band for an additional $49. Your Tascam is very compatible there. Also bottom-line, buy it from a source that wil allow you to return it if you don't like it! ie: Musicians Friend or Guitar Center. IF you really can't stand it they will either do a refund or allow you credit towards a different unit.

Hope this helps.
stratman

[Righteous Bullet]

thats good to hear cause its the perfect setup for me and its cheap, i was planning on probably getting different software too so its not that much of a problem.

[Dimora]

This is just me, and it may be a singular issue, but I have a big problem recording complex waveforms like strings (especially strings!). The record at half the volume they should and sound hollow. I have the gains turned up as far as they will go till clipping. I called tech support and they said it sounded like a phase shifting problem, but that it shouldn't be doing that. I have just recently sent my us-122 to tascam to get it checked out.

But as for setup, I had no problem setting mine up in os9 (haven't done so in Panther yet). Installation and upgrading the drivers went very smoothly.

Also, for those who don't have setup problems, I have read almost nothing but beaming reports on it's performance. I can attest to that actually. Small ensembles and solos sound wonderful. So do live instruments with a mic.

Once I get a response back from Tascam I will post what happened, it could be the us-122 or it could just be me

[haydenyates]

I'm new to midi... bought a US-122, installed the software to my computer (Mac OSX), plugged it into my keyboard, and I kind of don't know what to do from there.

I plugged headphones into the US-122 and can hear what I'm playing if I plug into the "line in" jack, but I get nothing from the midi ports. And, none of this seems to be registering to my computer. I changed my sound input settings to the Tascam, but I still get nothing. I am trying to use it with Garage Band.

I'm sorry if these are basic problems I should know how to fix, but I can't seem to figure them out and the manual is totally lacking in info.

Help?

Thanks.

[haydenyates]

Is it possible I can't use the Tascam US-122 with OS-X?

[bbmozee]

Just picked up the US-122 after returning a M-Audio FireWire 410 (scary issues after install and setup with regard to my external FW HD disappearing and a kernal panic restart on a brand new eMac). Kudos to the Buffalo Guitar Center for a cheery exchange and pointing me toward the Tascam unit. I downloaded the latest driver for OS X (us122_osx_3_2_3) and so far, so good. I've yet to stress test it with Logic Express 6.4 but the Logic manual warns against using both Firewire interfaces and external drives together so USB was the way to go. I'm using Panther 10.3.4 on a 1.25GHz eMac (the best Mac for the money in history!). So yes, I'm seeing the US-122 and OS X play well on a basic level.

[Dasa Soul]

Haydenyates ,if your keybord has USB ,you dont need to hook it to the T122 ,and GB will configure it for you ,if you only have midi plug on it ,then you used the T122 ,just play whit the setings Audio in/out midi in/ot gb prefrences , you will ge it

[haydenyates]

Haydenyates ,if your keybord has USB ,you dont need to hook it to the T122 ,and GB will configure it for you ,if you only have midi plug on it ,then you used the T122 ,just play whit the setings Audio in/out midi in/ot gb prefrences , you will ge it

My keyboard has USB, but the computer isn't registering the US-122 anywhere. I've downloaded the software and so it has Tascam as a sound option, but it's not reading it anywhere.

[Podolski52]

I also can only confirm that the Us-122 works with OSX. Unfortunately, I can't give any hints for using it with GarageBand. But it performed well in a Cubase setup; the sound of guitar, bass and vocal recordings is very good (and the US-122 is also very useful as a portable recording unit in connection with a laptop/notebook). In our studio it is connected to an G4 ibook via USB. Sorry, i wasn't the one doing the installation, so i can't say much about problems during that part of the job. But if anyone wants to know more, i can ask our cyborg, who is always sneaking around here somewhere. Once the setup is ready, the thing seems to keep on working though.