Customer Reviews

Tascam US-100 USB 2.0 Audio Interface

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tascam advertises this as "class compliant" USB 2.0, and it is. I plugged it into my Ubuntu Linux machine and was ready to go. No messing with drivers, no clunky setup. The US-100 works and works well. The case is nice and sturdy, making it idea for mobile use. And it sounds good too. If you want to just plug and play, this is a great buy.

I bought this primarily to transfer 60+ vinyl records to MP3 files for use with iTunes and Ipods. The record player plugged in easily to the dedicated port, and no issues then getting the input signal into my computer via the USB interface provided (I used a USB 2.0 input in my 5+ year old PC). I did need to turn the gain all the way down in order to prevent buzzing (no big deal at all, just need to know to do that). I also tried to plug in a powered speaker at the same time to monitor the record player, and for whatever reason that resulted in a bad amount of hum, but unplugging the speaker removed the hum. Otherwise, this worked great, and allowed me to use my old expensive turntable and needle, rather than buying one of the new USB record players (to buy an equivalent USB record player would have set me back a couple of hundred dollars). I used the Audacity software (included in the package, but also available as a free download), and after getting past the initial user learning curve, it worked very well. So for record transfers, this does the job very well. The other reason I bought this particular audio interface was for the guitar and microphone input.... to allow for my dabbling to record on the computer. As with the record player experience, if I had an external monitor plugged in at the same time as the guitar or microphone, I did get quite a bit of humming (it may just be something I'm doing wrong). This other use of the Powerlab hardware also worked quite well, and allowed me to bring guitar and vocals into my computer (used free Sonoma Riffworks download software for recording). I didn't do anything too complicated here for recording, just some very basic introductory stuff for me, and this worked just fine for that (I didn't notice any "latency" issues for what I was doing). All in all, this little box performed very well for my level of need.

For those that want to record(I use Adobe Audition) this item is good for recording.

I use to use my sound card. This provides a smoother sound and I don't have to worry about hissing when I record.


You can just plug in your guitar or bass.

Here is a letter I wrote to Tascam:

On humble advice I would forward this email to all of your subsidiaries any retail store that sells Tascam USB audio devices! Anywhere in the world.

Just today I got the new Tascam US-100 USB audio interface. It of course uses the Windows audio drivers. A nightmare occured. When I plugged in the device Windows XP had the usual "detect USB device" come up. But to my horror it wound up saying "A hardware problem occured your hardware may not operate properly" something of that sort.

I spent over 4 hours trying to figure this whole thing out and I read the manual it came with. Tried all sorts of things oh brother! It still would not install. By the way this happened with a previous USB audio device, not made by Tascam, that did the excact same thing on my computer.

But to my luck I found out what the problem was! Thank God for the website that had this on a blog!:

In the c:\windows\inf folder there must exist two files:

wdma_usb.inf
wdma_usb.PNF

It is really the .inf file that is important. Some software seems to knock these out by renaming them to:

wdma_usbinf.bak
wdma_usbpnf.bak

I simply found the files, opened them and renamed them to the proper names. And lo and behold when I restarted my computer the Tascan US 100 worked!

Its easy to rename the files you just open wdma_usbinf.bak
wdma_usbpnf.bak and then save them as wdma_usb.inf
wdma_usb.PNF.

Its that simple!!

Anyone who works customer service for Tascam should know this. Like I said it happend with a previous USB audio device that I had and I woulnd up selling it at eBay cause I was so frustrated.


I'm happy with the Tascam US 100.

I hope this helps if your audio does not work on your computer. And it did the same with a USB phone.

Very easy to use, also lets you do cool stuff like hear the guitar and computer sound at the same time.
No latency, no complications, just plug it in and you're ready to play.

I'm sick of protools and I wanted to find something cheap and easy until I could afford to upgrade to some real equipment to use with cubase. This unit fit the bill and has decent reviews so I went for it.

I'm using it to record guitar and vocals and it does the trick. The problem is that it records a lot of hum and white noise when using the xlr input. I've tried every variation possible to make sure the problem isn't external to the unit. I even tested the exact same mic + cable input into my MBox with protools and got a clean recording. I actually like this unit's "tone" better than the mbox - it seems more transparent. If not for the hum, it would get 5 stars.

Unfortunately, hum is a pretty big problem. The hum isn't loud enough to ruin your recording of only one or two tracks. If you start layering, though, you can quickly be overtaken by white noise. I even tried moving the unit onto a different electrical circuit and still had the same problem.

So, it works for rough stuff for your own use but I wouldn't use it for anything you plan on passing around much.

The US-100 works fine for my needs: rough and ready audio tracking with 32-bit Cubase 5 on 64-bit Windows 7. My PC is for general-use with a non-studio configuration (no mixer, non-phantom power mics, headphone monitoring).

If you're buying for a studio setup requiring phantom power or multiple inputs, you'll need a separate mixer and/or standalone phantom supply. From the mixer you can cable to the US-100's line input via RCA jacks on the back.

There were a couple of hiccups during setup, but I don't blame the device. It uses stock O/S drivers that loaded right up. The documentation is minimal and only covers up to Vista, but it's accurate and you'll manage with Win7. On the Windows side make the USB AudioCodec your default recording and playback device to override any onboard or card-based audio and speakers (I have Realtek onboard and 2.1 desktop speakers).

I'm using ASIO4ALL with Cubase and Cubase crashed a couple of times while configuring VST connections and I/O busses. Once configured however, it's been solid.

I'd recommend checking out user forums for your particular software/platform to find similar gotchas and to set your expectations.

On an XP machine, changing the default sound devices often means the hassle of toggling settings before and after launching the DAW. On Win7, once I unplug the US-100, the settings revert nicely to my desktop speakers. If I plug the US-100 back in, the settings revert again - very reliable. Even better, if I want to use Cubase strictly for MIDI, the software detects the change and I don't have to reconfigure connections or busses. That may be a function of Cubase, so again it pays to research your particular software.

While the US-100 is connected, you'll hear nothing from your computer speakers and have to rely upon the US-100's headphone jack or audio out RCA jacks. This is where the balance control is very helpful. It's not a pan, it's a center position gain mixing the computer's output (from within your DAW as well as outside system sounds) with direct monitoring of your input signal. Very simple to use for overdubbing. Some people may prefer a hard left/right pan while overdubbing: I can live with the center mix though a switch to toggle a true pan would have been a terrific feature.

If you do want desktop speaker playback after your tracks are done, there are a number ways to go: 1) Unplug the US-100 and restart your DAW. 2) Run a cable from the RCA outs on the US-100 to the mini-jack aux in on your desktop speakers 3) Run a mini-jack extension cord from the headphone jack on the US-100 to the aux-in.

While using the headphone jack, the RCA audio outs are muted and vis-versa. Rather than having to pull out the headphone I would prefer a push switch that toggles the front to back output, but I can live without it.

Again, the US-100 works great so long as your needs meet its capabilities. You can't rely on the product description or packaging to answer that. Fortunately there's enough user-information out there for just about any setup it shouldn't be difficult to track down.

I switched from Mac to Linux five years ago. The only thing that has driven me crazy in Linux has been getting multitrack audio recording set up with my internal sound card. Just a nightmare.

With the Tascam, I just plug it in, fire up JACK, select the device and I'm good to go with Ardour. Sounds great--DI with a passive P bass is just gorgeous :)

The construction is amazing. It feels indestructible.

The only caveat is that it only has a single input (the mic/line inputs will not work simultaneously) so you cannot, say, mic a vocal and record a guitar direct at the same time. If you are OK with that, then this is the device for you.

I plugged this in and it worked seamlessly in both Linux and Mac OS X without installing any drivers.
Very pleased with the recording quality I got.

I purchased this so I could record myself singing lady gaga lyrics at a higher quality then what is included on the mic my iPhone has, and also for recording random things during the day. Granted, I'm a man so my voice doesn't exactly match up with hers, but the quality with this thing is great! (especially compared to when I tried using a standard mic jack with my dynamic mic... that was terrible)

There was quite a bit of background noise at first (I'm almost inclined to blame my mic, but it seems worthwhile to mention) when I was trying to record what I thought were ghosts I could hear at night, (turned out to the neighbors arguing through the vent about the husband's gambling addiction and the wife's unfaithful nature - I may have to introduce myself to her - again, the audio sounded A+!) but it cleared up away once I realized I needed to turn the volume on the PC's usb settings and the device down a bit and speak clearly into the mic.

It does have a few provisos, for example you're supposed to use a USB jack that is directly on the computer and one who's neighbor jacks are not being used by anything else, and definitely not through a usb hub (this will cause background noise if you do it, I was trying to record myself taking a bath while my camera was downloading a video I made just the day before of my review/recap of High School Musical III, and it made quite a few cracks and pops).

Overall I must say I'm very impressed! For the price it's well worth it. (this device has no phantom power mind you) I recorded myself making some bacon for a sfx I wanted to use with my alarm clock, and it turned out great! It's crystal clear, I can practically smell the bacon!

This is a great little USB audio interface. Its solid construction, plugs, and knobs make it seem like it can withstand a bit of abuse. The LEDs are noticeable, but definitely not overpowering. This is a great box if you are a beginner musician, especially for those with instruments that are electric or have a pick-up.

Only downside: I noticed that while using the Mic inputs on the rear, there was a bit of white noise coming through when the Input knob was turned all the way up. Also, there is no Phantom Power, but you should know that by now. For condenser mics, you will need a dedicated Phantom Power Supply.

Other upsides:
I noticed NO latency using this device in tandem with a Dual Core Intel Atom based Mac OS X computer (10.5.8) running Garageband. The computer is not that powerful, so I was pleasantly surprised. The device just works, Windows, Mac, Linux. Plug it in and go. It will auto switch to the front ports when devices are plugged into them. Guitars sounded nice and clean through their dedicated input.