Tascam Fire One! (Advice)

Hi MPC users,

I'm finally starting to track out my MPC500 beats with the track-by-track method (Before I just recorded the whole beat to my mac). I'm using Live with some plugins and I'm starting to like the final product. The thing is, I'm using my old soundcard, and external Creative Audigy 2 NX, and I'm thinking of getting a new (used, to be more exact) soundcard. As I don't have a MPC with various outs, I guess I don't need a soundcard with too many in's, my main requirement is having MIDI input, so the track-by-track method could be quicker!

I'm thinking of getting an used Tascam Fire One, and I would like to know if anyone has ever worked with it, or if you have any other advice on which soundcard to get. Oh, my budget is low, that's why I'm looking at this Tascam, I can get it by 100€...

Btw, the main specs of the Tascam Fire One are here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/nov07/a ... ireone.htm.

Thanks in advance!

Hello man,

I never used the Tascam Fire One.

However, on the low budget category (which I include myself and my hardware) I would suggest the USB Fast Track Pro from M-Audio. Really stable and good price.

@aeoner, but the fast track pro doesn't have midi in and I think that having it would make my tracking process quicker....How do you do it?

@carbono i checked out your beets. good stuff!

@Dirty Dan Thanks! Those on the myspace page are from my first beat tape, and I hope that the second one will come out with more quality, that's why I'm searching for a new soundcard =)

I have the fasttrack. I wouldnt get it due to lack of midi for tracking out. It is harder than hell to try and match up the tracks perfectly, I always **** up. It's not to bad for jam sessions though, me and my buddy just have a track from the mixer go into my comp. Definitely get midi for tracking out.

@carbono You´re right, man. I forgot that you´re searching an interface to plug your MIDI...I always used the Fast Track Pro to solve latency problems when playing with Ableton Live.

I´m using now a M-Audio Firewire 410, which have MIDI In and MIDI Out (and some nice line inputs and outputs!), but the interface isn´t really cheap. I never used the Tascam, but in fact, the price is awesome and it appears to be great to what you need.

Yeah, I thought that for a jam purpose the fast track would be a quick and good solution! However, nowadays, with no midi I have to put a "reference" sound to match the tracks, which sucks... Mainly, I fear the fire one's compatibility with Live 7. But the MIDI in and out, 2 xlr's, 2 in's, and a scrolling wheel to navigate through the beat are a plus for the tascam!

aeoner wrote:@carbono You´re right, man. I forgot that you´re searching an interface to plug your MIDI...I always used the Fast Track Pro to solve latency problems when playing with Ableton Live.

I´m using now a M-Audio Firewire 410, which have MIDI In and MIDI Out (and some nice line inputs and outputs!), but the interface isn´t really cheap. I never used the Tascam, but in fact, the price is awesome and it appears to be great to what you need.

I guess that this tascam model is a bit old, like 2,3 years, it has been replaced in the tascam with a new model, but if it does what I think it can do, maybe it could be a good investment... Tracking out is a slow process right now, and i hate spending more time tracking the beats than actually making them..!

You can get a motu 828 mkii or a motu traveler on ebay for pennies on the dollar these days. The traveler might be a bit better for size, but having more ins/outs is always handy for when you need them... plus it has midi in/out. Even having just 4 ins/outs is nice just so you can mix a little or monitor with one set of outs and play live on the other set.

If you don't mind working in mono, you can still actually do the above with stereo ins/outs by panning hard left/hard right.

Thanks that motu seems pretty complete, but here in Portugal they're still very expensive, even the used ones... I was looking for a cheaper model.. =(

Check out the TASCAM US-122MK2 and the ALESIS IO|2.
2 Ins/Outs, Midi In/Out and reasonable.

I am amazed by your beats! Keep up the good work!

@Floating Fluids good, those are the kind that I was looking for, they're about 130€ at thomann.de and they have the main specs that I want. Did you ever worked with any of them??

Thanks for the feedback on the beats, if you want to you can download my beat tape @ http://stereotipo.bandcamp.com =)

When I was looking for a audio interface that would suite me i cam across those two, within my research.
I read a few good reviews on the Tascam, and Alesis´ I/O series are supposed to be good as well.
I would go for the Tascam, but I never worked with either one of them.

The beat tape is downloaded

You could always use one of these just for the MIDI part. They work fine.

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-TO-Keyboard-PC- ... 27afa0ca5a

That said, MIDI isn't going to be as accurate as manually lining up a waveform perfectly.