If you are serious at doing this right you definitely want to look at semi-pro equipment. I have a TASCAM US-122 that does 2 inputs/ 2 outputs quite well (48KHz sampling at 24 bits). The inputs can be line level or mic level (it uses XLR inputs). The great thing about this unit is the whole unit is powered by USB so you don't need a separate mic preamp, which you would do for any low end usb audio units. (Believe it or not it even provides 48V "phantom" power for powering condenser mics, all derived from the 5V USB supply!) I would recommend using a Linux distro that is oriented towards audio work such as Agnula or PlanetCCRMA. This will include the apps needed but also makes sure the kernel is set for low-latency etc. That being said, I did managed to get SuSE working quite well as well.
The Tascam unit has to have 2 lots of firmware loaded everytime it powers up and this took a little while to figure out. Also certain releases of the ALSA code seemed to break support for my box. If you need to do filtering/effects in real-time it also performs well. By tweaking "jack" appropriately I could get it have input latency of less than 10ms. (I used it do some nice live echo/reverb effects for my daughter's stage performances). Other popular units used by the Linux audio crowd include the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 and the Edirol UA25. (There are of course many other brands out there, with a large range of prices as well!) If you need more than 2 inputs, all of those makers have larger units (and of course in general you can also use multiple 2 channel units). Of course, recording more simultaneous channels puts more strain on the system (USB, Hard drive, etc) and you need to make sure you don't drop samples mid-recording. It is definitely doable - Digital Audio Workstations are definitely going to be the way forward. As mentioned by Terry, the other alternative is to mix your multiple mics down to just 2 channels using analog mixing equipment. Again like the digital stuff, you get what you pay for. Cheaper equipment often is not as robust (knobs fall off, and sliders don't feel right) or may introduce undesirable noise. Martin Visser, CISSP Network and Security Consultant Consulting & Integration Technology Solutions Group - HP Services 410 Concord Road Rhodes NSW 2138 Australia Mobile: +61-411-254-513 Fax: +61-2-9022-1800 E-mail: martin.visserAThp.com This email (including any attachments) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential, proprietary or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify HP immediately by return email and then delete the email, destroy any printed copy and do not disclose or use the information in it. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Purser Sent: Saturday, 29 October 2005 12:51 PM To: Sydney LUG Subject: [SLUG] USB Audio Input Devices I'm looking at getting a usb audio device to allow for multiple inputs (more than one microphone, etc etc). Anybody have any suggestions? The purpose being to allow for discussion type interviews and greater flexibility in doing stuff like the SLUG live. -- James Purser Chief Talking Guy - Linux Australia Update http://k-sit.com - My Blog http://la-pod.k-sit.com - Linux Australia Update Blog and Forums Skype: purserj1977 -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
