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Console-to-PC interfaces

P

premiereradio1

What are some of you using in your project studios for console-to-PC interfacing? I have a mid to late 80's PR&E board I acquired last quarter of '09. Put simply, I am going to use this behemoth in a project studio I am building out, i.e. (offline, no automation access; namely for creative imaging).

I have had success in the past, in smaller studios, with the ECHO brand MIA card.

Ideas, thoughts, and experiences welcome.
 
Ditto. The USB Matchbox is a good tool have around.
 
USB Matchbox and regular Matchbox aren't the same thing. USB model is essentially a balanced-I/O sound card while the "conventional" one is a -10dB/+4dB matching amp.

If you need a cheap (but good) balanced USB card use the Lexicon Alpha ($79 street).
If you need a cheap (but good) -10/+4 amp get the ART CleanBox Pro ($60 street).

The Echo MIA card is also a good choice.
 
Yes I know. As I said, the USB Matchbox is a good tool to have around. I will elaborate. Each of our 4 studios has a production computer with Adobe Audition. The last time we had to quickly replace one of them, it was very simple. We grabbed a spare computer, installed Audition, plugged in the USB Matchbox and we were back in business.
 
The USB matchboxes are great if it is a semi-permanent install. I would recommend them to someone who uses a laptop and needs to be able to easily remove it. Or, as Bill said, they are handy for back-ups. But if this is going to be a permanent install, I would recommend the Delta sound cards. I use the Delta 44 on many computers and they are great. Plus, you can buy one for $200 or less. Why spend $500 on the USB matchbox if you don't really need it?

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta44.html
 
Lazy J said:
But if this is going to be a permanent install, I would recommend the Delta sound cards. I use the Delta 44 on many computers and they are great. Plus, you can buy one for $200 or less.
Click to expand...

Echo MiaMIDI's street price is $80 less and works just as well. Plus its driver is very stable and can act like a 4-stereo-output or 8-mono-output card.

Lazy J said:
Why spend $500 on the USB matchbox if you don't really need it?
Click to expand...

Why spend $500 indeed when you can get the same functionality for lest than one-fifth the price with the above-mentioned Lexicon Alpha.
 
As long as you don't need to be able to play audio and record at the SAME TIME the Lexicon Alpha is awsome. Also, the iput level may have to be padded down a bit from a plus 4 board level with some resistors or something like that. I've used several with great results except for those to small issues.
 
Glad you mentioned the requirement for playing audio and recording simultaneously. That has become a critical requirement in our facility. We have several production guys and reporters who want to play audio from a website, or from some other playout software, while recording it into Audition. Many of the higher-end audio cards (Digigram, etc.) won't allow this, and it's a handicap.

Frequently the on-board audio on stock PCs will allow simultaneous play and record, but I'd like to use something better, and avoid having to rig up complicated schemes using a combination of onboard sound and high-end card. Are there any decent audio interfaces out there that let you record and play at the same time?
 
Check out Behringer ULTRAMATCH PRO SRC-2496. Great little unit. Balanced in with TOSLINK Optical out
 
I've used the Ultramatch several times around here to convert analog audio up to AES. I have several. My only complaint, and it wasn't much of a complaint, was that one was a still birth from the factory. BSW quickly sent me another one that worked, so even that wasn't a real issue.
 
Unless your computer has some form of digital audio input though, I'm not sure how the Ultramatch might help. Otherwise it's a great unit for other uses...
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
As long as you don't need to be able to play audio and record at the SAME TIME the Lexicon Alpha is awsome.
Click to expand...

Really? I've recorded and played audio simultaneously with the Alpha on both Mac and PC without any problems.

OKCRadioGuy said:
Also, the iput level may have to be padded down a bit from a plus 4 board level with some resistors or something like that. I've used several with great results except for those to small issues.
Click to expand...

That's what the input level pots on the front of the Alpha are used for. I've been able to match an Alpha from any source just by adjusting those knobs.
 
I ran into a problem with simultaneous play and record in a production room where they wanted to play out of winmedia and record in adobe. I called the factory support and they told me that the unit couldn't do it. The pad was needed so I didn't clip the input. I could "turn it down" with the pots on the front, but the pot have very little range and it still clipped the audio a bit until I built a resistive pad for the input.
 
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