Customer Reviews

Behringer UFO202 Audio Interface

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Over last few years we replaced all desktops in the house by laptops. One day I decided to convert an old audio cassette into MP3 like I used to do on my desktop. I realized that it was not going to be possible as the 'line-in' input which was available on desktop was missing in all the three laptops in the house. After some futile tries of trying to record through mic-in, I started researching. I somehow stumbled upon this device and decided to give it a try. All I can say is this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Here is what you need to do if you wish to convert audio cassette into MP3 -
You need -
1. Audio cable with one end 3.5 mm jack and other end with red & white L-R audio. You may have a spare A/V cable which comes with camera or dvd players etc. (W R and Yellow ends, you do not need to plug the Y end as it is for video)
(With 'line-in' on desktop, you simply needed an audio cable with 3.5 mm on both sides)
2. Boom box or tape deck (I used boom box)
3. U-Phono202 device

Plug the 3.5mm end of the cable in 'headphone out' of the boom box. Plug the L-R inputs in the L-R inputs of the U-Phono202 and plug it into a USB port of the laptop. Play the audio cassette. You cannot hear the sound through laptop speakers, you have to plug in the headphones in 'headphone out' of the U-Phno202 in order to hear the cassette playing.

If you are using Vista, right click on the speaker icon in the bottom tray and select 'recording devices', change the recording device to the '2USB Audio Codec' (at least that's how it shows up on mine).

I haven't yet used the packaged software. I useed Audacity instead. Open (or download if you have not) Audacity. Go to 'project', select 'new stereo track' and hit record. Whatever is playing on your boombox is now being recorded on your laptop. Hit stop when your recording is done. Export the project as 'Mp3', save it in your desired location.

I suggest making some few minute test recordings to make sure your recording sounds fine or you need to reduce/increase recording volume etc.

It worked exactly as above for me and worked perfectly too. The boombox gave a terrible hiss and an extremely annoying constant background noise while playing the cassette, however the U-Phono202 filtered almost 99% of it and the final MP3 sounds extremely clean.

I wrote detailed review as I had all these questions in my mind before I began searching for the right product. Hope this helps in case you are also looking for a solution to convert your cassettes to Mp3s. Thanks for reading.

UPDATE : UPhono202 is working perfectly fine! Just wanted to mention that if your recording appears over loud and there is jarring even after reducing boom box volume and the PC volume very low, here is what you shall do - Keep the boombox and computer volumes at decent levels but reduce the microphone input 'level' - Rightclick on the speaker icon in the tray. highlight the Uphono device. Click on properties. Select 'levels' tab and reduce the level all the way to 5 or 7 and then record your clip.

I'm converting old analog recordings (LP, tape) to digital. My new computer only had an integrated sound card, and the jacks didn't work well with my equipment. I had to choose between buying and installing a sound card or trying a USB interface. I wasn't certain about the latter. Although the analog material was vintage, and didn't need a high tech solution, I thought USB might be too much of a short-cut. I stumbled on the UFO202. I had been using another great Behringer product already, the Eurorack UB502. I decided to try the UFO202. Just like the Eurorack, Behringer's claims were 100% true. It's not complicated: connect and it works. The device comes with the USB cable, but you'll need cables to connect it the source (turntable, tape deck). And be aware that you'll need to connect a powered speaker to the UFO202 to monitor your work; the output can't be heard on the computer speakers.

This is great! I've been using DAK interface for several years and not really satisfied.The claim that there would be no anoying buzzing or humming was not true, after owning 2 that did and you couldn't really get rid of it with noise reduction. The problem is ground looping. This product just came out in the states. I recieved it, plugged it into the computer's usb and my B&O turntable into it and started recording. The outcome was great. No humming or buzzing, (because it is usb powered) just nice clean music. Lots of thanks to Behringer. Well worth the $29.

Yes, this thing is easy to use, but it's the software program Audacity that does need some instructions for the rest of us. (This process is not quick,it does take time and patience, lots of patience!)

Here's my step-by-step on how I'm using this to digitize old cassettes (language, music, airchecks, etc) with my computer, with each track as a separate MP3 (you can choose to output to a WAV file or OGG VORBIS file). (As I type this I'm digitizing Soul To Soul, A 1971 Concert recorded in Ghana with Roberta Flack, Ike & Tina Turner etc. Soul To Soul - music from the original soundtrack (recorded live in Ghana, West Africa).). I've done about 60 hours worth of cassette content so far.

- Download Audacity (google it), and the LAME MP3 codec (I think you can do this from within Audacity, it's a link that takes you to the SourceForge.com site, I think) you'll need to export to MP3 (if that's the format you want to export out). You can export to WAV and OGG VORBIS natively with Audacity, but you'll want MP3 if you're not a sound geek and/or want to play your new files on multiple types of devices (iPods, Android, Creative, and Zune, etc.) and/or want to save space on your hard drive.

- Hook up a cassette deck with the red & white audio composite outs into the inputs on the UFO202 (or you could even use a handheld cassette player with an audio jack that has composite plugs. Plug the USB from the UFO202 into your computer.

- You can hook up a pair of small speakers to the UFO202 to monitor the input, or just use your computer speakers to monitor. Go to Audacity > Preferences to select the speakers (if you need to).

- Also under Audacity > Edit > Preferences > File SetUp Tab > MP3 Export Setup: select your BitRate for your MP3s. For spoken work, I use 160kbps or below in mono (since there isn't as much going as in music pieces, lower bit rates are fine). For music, 256kbps Stereo (depending on how bad the cassette recording is). 192kbps should be fine too. FYI, I import all my CDs at 320kbps). The lower the number, the smaller the MP3 file will be, but the quality will be lower too. These settings will stay even after you close the program, but remember to change them if you need them. Nothing like importing some language cassette at 120 kbps Mono, and forgetting to change the settings the next five music cassettes that I wanted to import at 256 kbps Stereo. These are my preferred settings, others may disagree.

- If you don't have a quad-core computer or newer, I'd stop everything else I was doing on my computer and just import my music only (close other applications, not surf the internet, etc.), just to ensure the computer can keep up with the importing/encoding.

- Clean your tape heads on the cassette player if you can.

- Now you're ready to record! Here's how I import music cassettes: Click on the red RECORD button in Audacity, and press PLAY on your cassette player. With a music cassette, you can stop after each song, save it, etc. but I found it's more time-consuming to stop after each song. It's easier to let one side record, flip, record side 2, THEN label, and EXPORT EACH TRACK SEPARATELY LATER (which I outline below). So you don't have to stop after each song. but that's my preference. Go do something else while Side One plays (turn up your speakers so you can hear when it ends). When it's done, press PAUSE in Audacity, fast forward the cassette to the end, flip it to SIDE Two, press PAUSE again to continue recording, and go do something else. You could stop it after Side One, and then create a New recording for Side Two, your preference. I haven't found a setting that let's you stop recording after a certain time, so you have to babysit and be there to press STOP when the cassette has ended, or you'll it'll stop only when you run out of hard drive space.

- File > Save Project AS > (create a folder for your recordings where you can find them later) > name your project > SAVE. You'll notice it's saved as a .aup file. That's Audacity's file. Now's the time to delete any dead air, long spaces between songs, etc. To delete a couple seconds, select an area (click and drag, it'll get a darker grey) click on the SCISSORS icon in the upper right corner, and that dead air is gone. Do this after each track if you desire, or between sides. It's tedious. Save your changes: File > Save.

- LABEL TRACK(S): So now that your recording is edited and safely saved as an AUP file, now it's time to label each song. Go to Project > New Label. You'll notice a new box under your recorded file. After some trial and error, here's how I do it (but you can do it your way, but this is most efficient to me). Start at the beginning of the file, zoom in to find the very beginning of each track in the LABEL area and type in the name of that track. Zoom out to get to the end quickly, zoom in to edit any dead air between tracks, label the next track, then zoom out again to to get to the end, rinse and repeat. I find that it's easier to zoom out (Magnifying glass icon near the Scissors icon) to find the beginning/end of each track, then zoom in to at least 1/2 seconds, play to make sure I'm not cutting off the very beginning of a track, then label. Again, tedious. To change a file name, the only way is to click on the LABEL and backspace from the end of the label (there's no inserting, deleting one letter etc). Also, to DELETE A LABEL, backspace until you only have the white flag, then press ENTER. I've just saved you a couple hours of searching on how to do that. Save your changes: File > Save.

- You could EDIT and LABEL at the same time, since you start the LABEL at the beginning of each track. Just be sure to start at the very beginning of your recording to edit, then LABEL as you go along thru each track. If you LABEL first, then EDIT, your LABELS do not move with the EDITS, so you may be cutting off the beginning of a song while exporting. So EDIT first, then LABEL. It takes me about 10 minutes to edit and label both sides of a music cassette.

- EXPORT TO MP3: If you recorded each side all at once, here's the place where each track gets saved as its own file: File > Export Multiple. In the dialogue box that appears choose MP3, and the file to export to. Click OK. Another box comes up to fill in artist info. Click OK. Depending on number of files and speed of your computer, it may take about 20 minutes or so to completely export each track. If you've exported like I do (Side 1 and Side 2 as one big file, with each track labeled), as one big file, since you took the time to LABEL each track, each track will be exported as a single MP3, already named. Again, I go do something else while this process is going on.

- Spot check the each new MP3(s) file to make sure it's/they're how you want it/them. In Windows, listen in Windows Media Player (opens faster than iTunes, at least on my machine). Then import them into whatever you use to organize/play your music - iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.

- When you're satisfied with your MP3s, delete the data files found in the file you chose to save your recording in. Don't delete the MP3s, just everything else that's NOT an MP3 file (.au, .aup etc). Better yet, move the MP3s to another file, and then delete. These non-MP3 files take up a lot of room on your hard drive and you don't need them any more, unless you're going to export to WAV or OGG or want them forever). One cassette can take up almost 1Gb, depending on your bitrate.

I think this is pretty thorough, and if I've missed any steps, I apologize. But this should get you started.

That's it. And you're welcome.

I ordered this product to permit me to transfer records and tapes to Cd's. The unit works great and I highly recommend that the buyer consider getting the version with the pre-amplifier as it will come in very handy if you are recording off of a record player with a magnetic cartridge (low signal output). I recommend installing the Audacity free software as the package that comes with it is an evaluation package and has no ability to save any recording, not to mention the complexity is overwhelming at times. The Audacity software is simple and straight forward but lacks a manual which would be helpful. For example, the Audacity software has digital signal processing capability but that section is only engaged by selecting a specific portion of the recorded track which is not immediately obvious to the user. The Audacity software also can only save .wav files and not MP3s. To get MP3 format a separate piece of software is required. The saved .wav file can also be manipulated using 3rd party software such as that sold by DAK. This DAK software can perform more sophisticated manipulation than the Audacity software but at a small price (approximately $30 to $40).

The unit does a outstanding job of doing a direct record function and the freeware allows some enhancement of the recorded material but requires some amount of experimentation. Fortunately the software does have an UNDO function which allows for multiple levels of UNDOs to be realized.

I needed an external soundcard for my PC to rip vinyl, and I'm unlikely to use the "Phono" setting on this, but I wanted it just in case. It took less than five minutes to hook up between my receiver and laptop, and I was editing the first side of an album in less than half an hour. The first record I grabbed was thirty years old, and I didn't need to play with click reduction at all. The recordings sound really terrific and I can't believe this only costs thirty bucks! I used to have a nice old Yamaha cassette deck that was ten times as expensive in 1985 and it couldn't come close to matching this in ease of use or sound quality. This really makes recording from the stereo a simple process. I can't imagine anyone ever buying one of those cheap USB turntables when an option this good, and this inexpensive is available.

I was searching for reviews of the DAK interface when I stumbled across an Amazon review of the Behringer U-Phono UFO202 that praised its superiority. I bought the device and am extremely pleased. For the noisier LPs I have recorded, only a moderate, single dehissing process is needed to upgrade the files to CD quality. (I use Dartpro's CD Rec 4.1 for recording and processing as well as CD burning. This program doesn't recognize the Philips-Fujitsu CD-RW drive common to many Dell computers, so if you have a Dell you should burn audio CD's through the Real Player or Windows Media Player.)

I've had this device for more than a week and just recorded my first song off a vinyl album only a few moments ago.

Hooking the unit up was simplicity itself; trying to use it was another matter altogether.

It's a good thing that other reviewers posted some instructions because there aren't any in the software or documentation that comes with the unit - nor with Apple's Garage Band software, which is what I ended up using because Behringer customer service seems to be nonexistent.

It was a frustrating hunt-and-peck method of figuring things out but I couldn't be happier with the results.

Thirty dollars for this little gem of an interface is going to save a fortune compared to searching for and downloading all the music in my record collection!

Now to finish this album and get on to the other 1,632 that have been living in my pantry since we went all digital!

Recently I bought a couple of records and a tape with music that's unavailable on CD or digitally. Using this device I was able to easily transfer the music from both records and tape to my computer and iPod. I've been fairly impressed with its ease of use and the quality of sound from the transfers.

The connections are easy, using standard RCA cables to connect to either tape deck or turntable and USB to the computer. I have a computer with Windows 7 (64 bit) so I downloaded the newest drivers from the Behringer web site. I used Audacity (a freeware audio editor also included here) and the LAME mp3 encoder (also free - can be found from a link on the Audacity site). The recording happens in real-time, so I set everything up, started Audacity and selected the source as this device, hit start on the turntable (or play on the tape deck), hit record in Audacity, and came back after the music was over. I used Audacity to go over the recording, splitting it into songs and exporting each to mp3 files; for those lossless fans, Audacity can natively do other formats. Finally, just copy the mp3s to iTunes and I was done.

For being at the rock-bottom of the phono preamp price range, the Behringer UFO202 serves its purpose well. When compared to older phono preamps and DJ mixers utilizing transistors and carbon resistors, the Behringer UFO202 is as quiet as can be, so my assumption is that it utilizes quieter op-amps and film resistors, as there is virtually no discernable background noise.

Pros: The unit will accept both an RIAA "Phono" signal and a "Line" level signal, and I've noticed that most tiny phono preamps on the market today only accept the "Phono" signal. As mentioned above, there is no detectible background noise- the specs meet or exceed some of the larger, more expensive units. The USB output is great because it is a handier method of importing the audio signal, as most new computers have abundant front-panel USB ports. If you do prefer importing the audio signal directly into your PC's soundboard, you can do that too, using the line-level output. An AC adapter or other external power source is not necessary- the unit runs off of the 5V USB power source.

Cons: In the on-line images, the case appears to be metal, but in reality it's made of a lightweight silver plastic and thus the unit slides all over and is readily pulled to the floor by normal audio cable tension, so you may want to Velcro the thing to your work surface. The unit will only accept a phono signal from a moving-magnet phono cartridge -which is common and most likely what you have- but if you've got a moving-coil or ceramic cartridge, this unit won't work for you. The tiny, transistor-radio-style volume control wheel only adjusts the level going to the miniature headphone jack- it doesn't control the level of the audio signal running to your computer. There is only one stereo input, so you have to unplug, flip a switch, and plug in, every time you want to switch between a phono input and, say, a tape deck or other line-level component.

Overall, for a measly $29.99, this quiet little unit gets you immediately on the road to either listening to, or converting your old vinyl and audio cassette material. I have yet to try the free bundle of software, which includes the Audacity audio editing suite, as I am currently using NCH's WavePad, so you may want to look for reviews of Audacity.