Subject:acid music upgrade

Posted by: Sanford Mims

Date:2/21/2008 7:16:05 AM

Hello, I currently have acid music 7 and love it. I would like to upgrade to Acid pro 6 and mutli track my band. My question is I need to use the USB port on my pc. and I will need an audio interface for 8 simultanous tracks, Is the TASCAM US-1641 USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Computer Interface compatible with Acid Pro 6 ? and is it possible to use on acid music 7?
Thank you
Steve

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: jackn2mpu

Date:2/21/2008 7:33:12 AM

Are you running WinXP or Vista? Please fill in your system specs. If Vista, The 1641 is not currently supported on that s/w platform. A tip if you do go the USB 2.0 route for your audo I/O: disable any and all uneeded Windows services. I had to do that with my machine, which admittedly is a bit underspec (2.8 GHz P4, 1 gig ram).
Jack

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:2/21/2008 8:43:35 AM

I prefer to use firewire audio devices but if you check out the reviews of the Tascam US1641 on zZounds.com, the first reviewer says:

Very nice! Had this for a month and done a few simultaneous full band recordings...4 drum tracks, bass, two guitars and keys.... Paired with Sony Acid Pro 6 it has worked like a charm

So I assume it works just fine with ACID Pro 6. As jackn2mpu pointed out, USB is very sensitive to processor load. That's because USB depends on the CPU for all IO as compared to firewire which is an intelligent interface that manages it's own IO. Make sure you PC is running mean and lean if you plan to do multi-track via USB and absolutely, positively make sure that your computer has a USB 2.0 port and NOT an older USB 1.1 port!!!

~jr

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: Sanford Mims

Date:2/23/2008 8:28:15 AM

thank you for replying, I am running on an older pc with
windows xp
cpu intel pentium 4
ram 512mb
I know I should get a newer one but cant afford it yet.
I see a lot of people using firewire but I dont have a fire wire port on my pc which is why I am using the USB 2.0 port

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: Sanford Mims

Date:2/23/2008 8:31:03 AM

oops one more thing please,, How do I disable any and all uneeded Windows services?

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: Sanford Mims

Date:2/23/2008 8:43:27 AM

thank you very musch for replying.. My PC doesnt have a fire wire port built into it. while shopping for interfaces I have learned what firewire is and your explaination made it clearer. I do have a USB 2.0 port and I think my current interface a Lexicon Alpha is plugged into it. But I am not sure how to check as the PC has 6 USB ports, BUt My PC does give me warning about connecting to a faster port and I havent gotten it yet with the Alpha. How do I make it run mean and lean?

Thanks for your time

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:2/24/2008 7:07:03 AM

> My PC does give me warning about connecting to a faster port and I havent gotten it yet with the Alpha.

If your computer is complaining about needing a faster port then you might not have USB 2.0 ports. The Lexicon Alpha might not be complaining because it could be only USB 1.1. I have read specs that say USB 1.1 and others that say 2.0. So it's not clear what this device can do. According to the Lexicon Alpha web page specs it is: "USB Type B Socket Version 1.1, Version 1.1 hubs are not supported"

I would seriously consider buying a firewire card for your PC and getting a firewire audio device and save yourself a lot of USB headaches.

~jr

Subject:RE: acid music upgrade

Reply by: Sanford Mims

Date:2/25/2008 5:28:33 PM

I should have explained better, my pc has 6 usb ports, when I connect my camera to the front port my pc says tp connect to high speed port for faster downloading. My Lexicon alpha is connected to a port in the back which should be usb 2.o as my pc says I have these ports and I get no warning like this so I assume its working correctly as I just recently tried recording 2 tracks at once using the stereo left and right on the alpha and it came out just fine.
I will see if I can get a fire wire card added to my pc, but I did like the Tascam interface as it recorded numerous tracks at once. I will do some more research.
Thank you for the help, I appreciate it immensely.
Steve