Choosing a USB Sound Card/Device

It would be nice for the manufacturer to identify how it works. Anyone please correct me if I am wrong, but here are a couple of points I have heard noted regarding this product. It is rated 15A, which is probably fine for many applications but most commercial circuits are 20A. I don't believe the Hum-X is UL listed, at least it is not so noted on the product data, which can be a significant concern for some applications. And according to others, the Hum-X uses power diodes such that in normal use there is effectively no connection to ground but if the potential gets high enough then the path is made, thus you theoretically have safety ground path only during a fault. The concern with this is whether the voltage that would trigger the safety ground path or that might pass through the device during a fault might also blow the diodes, thus breaking the safety ground path.

I looked at the Hum-X today and it is NOT UL listed.
 
OK so the hum eliminators are something like this:
-|>|-
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with both end ends linked. End 1 connects to mains, end 2 connects to outlet.

What this means is that any current that wants to flow to Earth needs to overcome the voltage drop inherent to a silicon diode, 0.67 volts. Anything of lesser magnitude will not pass through. The theory goes that any real fault will be more than 0.7V and so will pass whereas normal hum is less than that...

The ART iso transformer should work as well as any other iso. What it won't do is convert your 1V line level signal to a 100mV line level signal, use a DI Box for that... If you want line level in and out, it should work fine.
 
If the USB devices will all eliminate hum, then you have quite a few to choose from in the low-end range ... I originally suggested the M-Audio FastTrack Pro, and the other suggestions of Edirol and Tascam are right in the same class of device. Also check out the Lexicon Alpha/Lambda/Omega and Tascam US-144. It may come down to a choice of convenience features and/or brand preference. I would still try to stick with balanced outputs if you are connecting to a sound board though.

If anyone has preferences in one unit over the other, please chime in! I'm curious as well.

Thanks. John
 
Having more budget doesn't necessarily mean you need to spend more on this. If all you need is stereo outs and the occasional one or two inputs for recording, then one of the above units can be obtained for well under $200 and should last you for a lifetime. Plus, if you get it used, even cheaper. And I haven't known any of these to break, so once you have a working unit, you will likely have a working unit for a long time (at half the price sometimes!)

If, however, you need 6 or 8 outs to handle sound effects during plays (i.e. house fronts, house rears, FX speakers on stage, etc), then you need a larger device like the Tascam US-1641.

Avkid asks a good question -- do you have firewire? The firewire devices seem to be much preferred over USB devices. I personaly don't have firewire on my laptop so it's not an option for me, and my theater desktops have only USB and full-size PCI cards, so I ended up with the M-Audio Deltas for those (and the Deltas work great other than not being portable.)

So, some things to think about. But my suggestion -- if you only need two outputs, buy one of the USB devices already suggested (with balanced outs) in the $150 range used, and put the extra money towards a nice voiceover mic or something else that you will eventually need.
 
firewire is available, but only in firewire 1394.

As compared to what else? There are really only 2 types of Firewire - 400 Mb/s and 800Mb/s. The Firewire 400 has 2 types of connectors (4-pin and 6-pin). Firewire 800 has a 9-pin connector.

I would assume by what you said that you have access to Firewire 400 of some sort. There are plenty of interfaces that use format. Look around and find something that fits your budget. I, personally, would look at MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn).

Best of luck!
 
As compared to what else? There are really only 2 types of Firewire - 400 Mb/s and 800Mb/s. The Firewire 400 has 2 types of connectors (4-pin and 6-pin). Firewire 800 has a 9-pin connector.

I would assume by what you said that you have access to Firewire 400 of some sort. There are plenty of interfaces that use format. Look around and find something that fits your budget. I, personally, would look at MOTU (Mark of the Unicorn).

Best of luck!

Firewire is a Mac trademark. The standard is IEEE 1394. IEEE1394b is Firewire 800...

If you have 4 pin firewire, then you should be able to use most things, but they will need to be externally powered, that's what the extra 2 conductors do in 6 pin...

Motu make nice interfaces... They get a plus one for me...
 
It appears my problem may have been solved. They decided to put in an Allen and Heath ML3000 and an HP desktop computer in the booth. I'm guessing thats what I'll use! That just got installed today.
 
It appears my problem may have been solved. They decided to put in an Allen and Heath ML3000 and an HP desktop computer in the booth. I'm guessing thats what I'll use! That just got installed today.

It doesn't really solve the problem as most onboard cards have major power issues.:rolleyes:

i would still look for a cheap external thing that at least gives you a ground lift.
 

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