Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I finally got a chance to use this little beauty for two recent live recording sessions, and I am extremely satisfied with it.
I recorded two live vocalists using Shure SM-58 microphones. The only musical accompaniment was a "harmonium", an Indian classical instrument that's like a keyboard driven by a hand-operated bellows like an accordion.
Both the sessions were unplanned and spontaneous, recorded in a normal living room, and that's exactly the kind of situation I had in mind when I bought this unit. Earlier, I would miss out on recording such sessions because of the hassle and time required for setting up my Peavey PV-10-USB mixer, which is not exactly portable nor light-weight. OK, I do miss out on having a couple of extra mics for a background singer and the harmonium, but the compromise is well worth it in terms of sheer ease of setup, and most important, WITHOUT any compromise in sound quality.
The setup with this unit is extremely simple. here are the steps I followed:
1. Plug the mics into the XLR input jacks on the front
2. Conenct the unit to your PC with the USB cable - if you have Windows Vista or Windows 7 it is recognized immediately as a USB device
3. Select "USB audio codec" as your default recording device in Windows by right-clicking on the speakers icon in the taskbar
4. Choose he recording properties that you want (I picked stereo / 16-bit / 48 kHz) and save this selection by clicking OK
5. Fire up your recording software ( I use Sony Sound Forge)
6. Set the levels of each channel using the hardware gain control knobs on the device
7. You are ready to record
All the above steps took me less than 5 minutes. My PC runs Windows 7 and it worked without a hitch (Windows 7 rocks, by the way!)
Note that I do not monitor the recorded sound from my laptop while recording - I simply use headphones plugged into the socket at the back of this unit for real-time monitoring.
Sound quality:
I essentially purchased this unit to get around the limitations of my PC sound card - I wanted the A-D conversion taking place outside the PC, and that's exactly what this device does very well. It is capable of 16-bit digitization at a maximum sampling rate of 48 kHz, i.e., better than audio CD quality.
Each channel's sound was crystal clear, capturing the highs and lows with zero audible distortion. I had set the gain control knobs about halfway (between 8 and 14 db on the dial) such that the levels on my recording software did not exceed -4 db on average and -1 db at peak. I could NOT tell the difference between the sound quality recorded with this device and the sound I recorded with my Peavey mixer (using the same microphones and the same singers). I don't believe that the unit itself adds any significant distortion to the sound, and you will essentially be limited only by the quality of your microphones.
Caveats:
1. Vocals obviously have a limited frequency range, so I cannot say what the sound quality will be for extreme highs and lows. But in the range I recorded (approx 800 Hz to 3 kHz), it was flawless.
2. All my recording is in casual settings, i.e., NOT in a studio. There is a fair bit of background noise, so again, maybe there are subtle differences which may become noticeable in a studio environment using professional condenser mics.
Dislikes: Just two minor cribs:
1. I cannot control the degree of left-right separation in the recording mix. This is because each channel has its own gain control knobs, instead of a master gain level knob with a left/right balance. So if I have only one singer singing a particular passage, I have almost zero signal in the other channel. A master gain control with L/R balance would have been a nice thoughtful touch. So I've taken off half a star for that.
2. (a) The choice of colours for letters/numbers makes them slightly hard to read - I need to squint hard to read them. (b) USB cable not included. Another half star gone.
Likes:
1. Very compact and yet very solid build quality
2. Needs no external power - draws USB power from the PC
3. Extremely simple and flawless setup - I didn't even need to read the instructions
4. Can handle condenser mics as it has a 48V phantom power supply
5. Universal mic input jacks - XLR and 1/4"
6. Headphone monitoring with its own level control - very helpful
Overall:
A strong "buy" recommendation, if you want to make quick and easy CD-quality live recordings with extreme portability. Absolutely amazing value for money - there is nothing in the market at this quality and price point that I am aware of.
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ART USB Dual Pre 2 Channel Preamp
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