TASCAM US-144 USB 2.0 4X4 Audio MIDI Computer Interface

Pros: Looks really spiffy, dual ins cons: Did not work with vista home premium 64bit I tried updating the drivers and the firmware and I kept getting errors. What's weird is that I was getting errors in all of my programs including opera, firefox, reason, cubase, winamp, etc. basically anything I tried to open up. When I unplugged it from the usb port all of the errors went away. I'm not saying you shouldn't buy this(unless you have vista hp 64), I'm sure it's a great piece of equipment and I just wish I had a chance to try it out. P.S. GC was awesome with the exchange, I got the m-audio fast track and it works great, plus I only needed one input anyways.

I use Pro Tools LE 8.0 for my work. However, I needed and audio interface for some of my students who could afford Pro Tools. The Tascam US-144 works well with the Sonar 6.0 Producer Edition. The installation was very user friendly and the recordings sound great. The size and design of the interface makes it easy to travel with. I have found the Tascam US-144 is just what I needed.

Well, where do I start. I have owned this piece of gear for a little over a year now, it is a very versatile unit. Currently, I am using it as an audio interface for mixdown from Cubase LE 4, through the studios' Yamaha MC3204 II console(for that warm, fat analog sound), to another computer for editing and mastering, and as a monitor matrix for the studios near field monitors. This unit is also very good for live 2 track recording. I plug it into my laptop and record to Cubase LE 4(which is a simple but powerful DAW). I will soon be purchasing another unit because I have gotten such good performance from this one. Basically, one should not shoot this product down until reading the instruction manual, or speaking with a qualified Guitar Center tech to find out how it works(including the software!).

I actually went into the GC for a different, more expensive unit. The salesperson showed me this unit instead. I saved money and am pleased with my purchase. All my instruments run easily to the Tascam via a Mackey mixer. The phantom mike jacks seem to pick up some feedback, so I use the mike jacks on the Mackey(My only complaint, but works fine). The guitar input works great, and Midi I/O works fine. In reading alot of the comments on the different units, I saw alot of negative feedback about working the software, but I installed the Tascam first, than Cubase software, and it worked without a hitch. I need to educate myself more on operation of the software, but that is the fun of it. I am pleased with my purchase.

The Tascam set up was easy. Just follow the directions for loading the drivers off the included cd. After changing the Audio Settings in XP control panel to have "recording" and "playback" occur through the tascam instead of the computer sound card, I was ready to go. I hooked up a mic and was immediately able to record in Sonar and Vegas. I have had trouble in the past with getting an M-Audio audio interface device to work. I have spent hours trying to tweak settings with limited success on the M-Audio. The Tascam audio interface was truly "Plug and Play/Record".

Dose what it does pretty well but it does very little. I usually record at my buddies home studio but I wanted something at my house to record some simple demos and stuff and for that it works very well. There are glitches every now and then but it has not been a huge problem for me. The gains are fairly clean. You can switch from listening to a monitor inside of the computer to the inputs on the computer which is useful. My biggest problem with it is that it only has 1 1/4 inch headphone jack and a lot of the times the monitor is not loud enough for my taste but other then that is a great starter or back up interface.