Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I received this product fast and in new condition. No bumps to the box. Any ways, This is a awesome interface for the money. 8 mic ins xlr, 2 line in/Guitar channels in the front (channel 9 and 10) and 4 additional line ins from channel 11-14) spdif in and out, midi in and out, and connects via usb to your computer. Clean preamps that hit 60 db on the gain, easy to follow interface. Once you get it set up for multichannel recording, it works great. Have a good spec computer for this interface, so read the specs for this device before buying it.

After all is said and done, I love this interface, it is great quality for the home studio or regular commercial audio studio engineer to use. Can track a band right out the box with this. I can raise the gain for my vocals at halfway and get a nice sounding vocal out of it. For what you get, it cannot be beat in it's price range. This is one interface that Tascam did well with.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Wanted to get a decent unit for utilitarian stuff and you get 8 pres, spdif, some more line ins and only USB2 for the price of some 4 channel units.

I did read some horror stories about it not working after just turning it on a few months after purchase, so I went for the 2yr warranty. I don't usually go for those, but figured it wasn't that bad a price. I take those horror stories with a grain of salt usually, but there seem to be quite a few so it isn't bad insurance. Hopefully it will be easy to make a claim when it breaks.

Cubase LE should be taken out of the package - I have been around digital audio for 20 yrs or so and it was a pain in the buns to get going. I mean, it's an LE version - why the copy protection (that was outdated and I needed to go download a new version of the driver for the copy protection which wasn't that clear, but since I'm a genius it was easy to figure out)? I got it working on a Mac with Reason easy enough but Reaper was funky so bailed on it. On Win7, Reason and Audition picked it right up. Back in Cubase, when I finally got it all going, I couldn't figure out how to get the spdif (inputs 13/14 or 15/16 can't remember) routed to record inputs. I couldn't find a matrix or input controls. On the track inputs, I didn't even see more than 8. It was much easier to fire up my other software than figure out Cubase, so it might be fine (right), but ain't got no time for that!

I am not using it for tracking, so not worried about latency/CPU/resources so no worries for me concerning crackling/latency garbage.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

My US-1800 worked well for six months. Then, my computer started telling me that a USB device was not recognized which, at first, I did not think was the Tascam. Then, the audio went, to be replaced by just buzzing and hissing. It is now completely dead. Frank, another reviewer, is correct: it is a useful device, not least because of its many inputs, but it is useful only as long as it works which is unfortunately, in my case at least, just a few months. At least B&H replaced his US-1800 twice. All they did in my case is refer me to the warranty and give me a Tascam contact number. When you live outside the States, all sorts of problems arise where the warranty is concerned. It's not worth buying if these are the kinds of problems one faces.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

This is a great interface, when it's working. Unfortunately, we have had to replace no less than two units since December, 1011. Now the third unit has gone dead with the same issue...no USB recognition.

And B&H will no longer replace the unit. To their credit, they replaced it twice. So we're stuck with a useless piece of hardware.

Stay away. The price is right, but the electronics are clearly not up to par.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I am using this for live capture of drama events to enhance and control the audio quality of video(dvd) presentation. Not sure why the clip lengths (fraction of a second) are slightly different. Not a problem for me, since we roll well before the action begins. Clean signal, easy to use. Nine input gain controls are just enough for me. Make sure you have a full understanding of inputs before you buy. I am satisfied with the interface. Cubase is not the most intuitive, but works for me.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Longtime Tascam fan, and wanted to keep Tascam
in my Studio. The US-1800 has so many inputs
compared to the expensive MAudio Stuff you can't
go wrong. B and H's price makes it even better.

PT 10 recognized it right away, no issues at all, Love it !

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I bought a US-1800 to use with my band in our newly established barn loft studio. I use it with the included Cubase software and I love it; it's convenient, reliable, well built, and incredibly useful. I run 7 drum tracks and still have inputs for vocals and guitars. I feared latency and sound quality issues with the switch from firewire to USB 2.0, but the Tascam performs very well--I have yet to experience any latency and the inputs sound great. All in all a great interface for its price, definitely recommend it.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I use this for everyday recording. Haven't had a chance to use all the inputs at once but I've gotten good use out of about 6 simultaneously so far. 16 inputs is awesome to finally have, the only drawback I've noticed so far is that 11-14 are almost completely useless to me, due to the lack of a mix knob. They wind up getting drowned out by all the other instrument lines when trying to record. I'm sure there's an easy fix for this, probably an amp for the keyboard and drum machine, it would've been nice though if I didn't need any extra accessories. Other than that, this has been a really good interface so far.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I've been looking for computer audio interface for a long time. I had found it but when I discovered that Tascam solution for a very worthy price, I changed my mind.

It's really plug and play and I didn't have any problem in put it to work. It solved my problems for recording my acoustic drum and using VST plugins.

To deserve the 5 stars, it needs just an other sets of audio inputs for channels 1-8 based on non-balanced signals (P10 format)

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Wanted to record our band practices all in one take. Previously we were only using a M-Audio Fast track pro with two mics hooked up to it. Hooked this thing up to our IMac with garageband, had no software issues, ran two mics to guitar and bass amps, four to the drums and two for vocals. This think was able to handle everything no problem, and no problems with garageband either. I will not waste my money on any interface that offers less inputs for close to the same amount of price. I was eyeing this for about a year and I am glad I pulled the trigger, God bless Uncle Sam's tax return! BUY THIS!!!

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I've been using DAW software for many years and have been producing electronic music and recording bass and vocals for some time now. I had been working with a stereo-in/out PCMCIA laptop card, but with a single-core laptop with 2GB of RAM. It was time to upgrade, so I now have a dual-core laptop with 4GB of RAM and this Tascam interface.

I took it out of the box, installed the drivers, plugged it in, and opened up my DAW of choice (I never used the included Cubase LE, I'm just not a fan of Cubase). I tried a mic through every channel, as well as my bass through channel 10 set to guitar and was pretty impressed. The unit has very clean, clear sound with extremely low noise. The sound quality is more than sufficient for demos and amateur recording. The latency is extremely low (around 5-10ms in/out) and the unit seems reliable as my rig has never crashed.

The separate monitor and headphone knobs are nice, along with the Mix knob to hear the audio before it goes to the computer. The build quality of the unit is good for the price, but could be better (higher quality knobs, buttons etc.) What I really wish Tascam would have included is more metering. Even just a simple green light for each channel in addition to the red overload/clip light. A meter for the outputs would have been nice too, but they kept it simple and it does what it's supposed to flawlessly, so I'm happy with it.

This is a good interface if you're looking to get into multitrack recording, drum recording or just need a flexible, easy-to-use audio interface.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

This product works great. I haven't used all the channels yet but so far everything works great. One thing I don't like is the cheap plastic knobs. Installation was a breeze also. Just put the disk in before you plug it in, install, then you're good to go. I would recommend this to people who are looking to record drums, or a full band, other than that, you don't need this many channels.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

There is really nothing that I dislike about this interface. I'm a drummer and I needed an interface to record with. I've heard many great views about the Tascam 1641 and I almost bought that. This recently came out so I just decided to buy it. It is amazing!! Don't look back for one second about it. B & H have the BEST PRICE for this interface on the internet. DO NOT go anywhere else. There is almost no latency and the pre-amps are amazing. You won't regret it.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Plenty of I/O.
Can be used as a monitoring device with no computer.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

The device works great! Cubase 5 le is a piece of junk though. If tascam would bundle with a different software I'd give the interface a 5 star rating. It has amazing sound quality and lots of features for the money.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I upgraded to this unit from an M-Audio FastTrack Pro. The difference is night and day. Setting aside the fact that this has far more inputs than anything else in its price range, the audio quality was stunning in comparison. My go-to mics are CAD M179s (notoriously phantom power hungry), and I had to run the Fasttrack's preamps at about 9.5 (just under their ugly gain threshold) to get a usable signal. With the 1800, I find myself running the gain at about 6 and getting crystal clear, strong signal.

The only negative right now I'm experiencing is trouble getting the midi interface going. I didn't knock off any stars for it, because I've never used midi before, and it may be a problem with my keyboard and not the A/D unit.

It mounted easily in my Gator Pro rack. I did find it slightly annoying that the manual asks for 1U above the unit to be kept free, so even though it's a 1U interface, it requires 2u of rack space.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I received this product fast and in new condition. No bumps to the box. Any ways, This is a awesome interface for the money. 8 mic ins xlr, 2 line in/Guitar channels in the front (channel 9 and 10) and 4 additional line ins from channel 11-14) spdif in and out, midi in and out, and connects via usb to your computer. Clean preamps that hit 60 db on the gain, easy to follow interface. Once you get it set up for multichannel recording, it works great. Have a good spec computer for this interface, so read the specs for this device before buying it.

After all is said and done, I love this interface, it is great quality for the home studio or regular commercial audio studio engineer to use. Can track a band right out the box with this. I can raise the gain for my vocals at halfway and get a nice sounding vocal out of it. For what you get, it cannot be beat in it's price range. This is one interface that Tascam did well with.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Wanted to get a decent unit for utilitarian stuff and you get 8 pres, spdif, some more line ins and only USB2 for the price of some 4 channel units.

I did read some horror stories about it not working after just turning it on a few months after purchase, so I went for the 2yr warranty. I don't usually go for those, but figured it wasn't that bad a price. I take those horror stories with a grain of salt usually, but there seem to be quite a few so it isn't bad insurance. Hopefully it will be easy to make a claim when it breaks.

Cubase LE should be taken out of the package - I have been around digital audio for 20 yrs or so and it was a pain in the buns to get going. I mean, it's an LE version - why the copy protection (that was outdated and I needed to go download a new version of the driver for the copy protection which wasn't that clear, but since I'm a genius it was easy to figure out)? I got it working on a Mac with Reason easy enough but Reaper was funky so bailed on it. On Win7, Reason and Audition picked it right up. Back in Cubase, when I finally got it all going, I couldn't figure out how to get the spdif (inputs 13/14 or 15/16 can't remember) routed to record inputs. I couldn't find a matrix or input controls. On the track inputs, I didn't even see more than 8. It was much easier to fire up my other software than figure out Cubase, so it might be fine (right), but ain't got no time for that!

I am not using it for tracking, so not worried about latency/CPU/resources so no worries for me concerning crackling/latency garbage.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

My US-1800 worked well for six months. Then, my computer started telling me that a USB device was not recognized which, at first, I did not think was the Tascam. Then, the audio went, to be replaced by just buzzing and hissing. It is now completely dead. Frank, another reviewer, is correct: it is a useful device, not least because of its many inputs, but it is useful only as long as it works which is unfortunately, in my case at least, just a few months. At least B&H replaced his US-1800 twice. All they did in my case is refer me to the warranty and give me a Tascam contact number. When you live outside the States, all sorts of problems arise where the warranty is concerned. It's not worth buying if these are the kinds of problems one faces.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

This is a great interface, when it's working. Unfortunately, we have had to replace no less than two units since December, 1011. Now the third unit has gone dead with the same issue...no USB recognition.

And B&H will no longer replace the unit. To their credit, they replaced it twice. So we're stuck with a useless piece of hardware.

Stay away. The price is right, but the electronics are clearly not up to par.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I am using this for live capture of drama events to enhance and control the audio quality of video(dvd) presentation. Not sure why the clip lengths (fraction of a second) are slightly different. Not a problem for me, since we roll well before the action begins. Clean signal, easy to use. Nine input gain controls are just enough for me. Make sure you have a full understanding of inputs before you buy. I am satisfied with the interface. Cubase is not the most intuitive, but works for me.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Longtime Tascam fan, and wanted to keep Tascam
in my Studio. The US-1800 has so many inputs
compared to the expensive MAudio Stuff you can't
go wrong. B and H's price makes it even better.

PT 10 recognized it right away, no issues at all, Love it !

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I bought a US-1800 to use with my band in our newly established barn loft studio. I use it with the included Cubase software and I love it; it's convenient, reliable, well built, and incredibly useful. I run 7 drum tracks and still have inputs for vocals and guitars. I feared latency and sound quality issues with the switch from firewire to USB 2.0, but the Tascam performs very well--I have yet to experience any latency and the inputs sound great. All in all a great interface for its price, definitely recommend it.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I use this for everyday recording. Haven't had a chance to use all the inputs at once but I've gotten good use out of about 6 simultaneously so far. 16 inputs is awesome to finally have, the only drawback I've noticed so far is that 11-14 are almost completely useless to me, due to the lack of a mix knob. They wind up getting drowned out by all the other instrument lines when trying to record. I'm sure there's an easy fix for this, probably an amp for the keyboard and drum machine, it would've been nice though if I didn't need any extra accessories. Other than that, this has been a really good interface so far.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I've been looking for computer audio interface for a long time. I had found it but when I discovered that Tascam solution for a very worthy price, I changed my mind.

It's really plug and play and I didn't have any problem in put it to work. It solved my problems for recording my acoustic drum and using VST plugins.

To deserve the 5 stars, it needs just an other sets of audio inputs for channels 1-8 based on non-balanced signals (P10 format)

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Wanted to record our band practices all in one take. Previously we were only using a M-Audio Fast track pro with two mics hooked up to it. Hooked this thing up to our IMac with garageband, had no software issues, ran two mics to guitar and bass amps, four to the drums and two for vocals. This think was able to handle everything no problem, and no problems with garageband either. I will not waste my money on any interface that offers less inputs for close to the same amount of price. I was eyeing this for about a year and I am glad I pulled the trigger, God bless Uncle Sam's tax return! BUY THIS!!!

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I've been using DAW software for many years and have been producing electronic music and recording bass and vocals for some time now. I had been working with a stereo-in/out PCMCIA laptop card, but with a single-core laptop with 2GB of RAM. It was time to upgrade, so I now have a dual-core laptop with 4GB of RAM and this Tascam interface.

I took it out of the box, installed the drivers, plugged it in, and opened up my DAW of choice (I never used the included Cubase LE, I'm just not a fan of Cubase). I tried a mic through every channel, as well as my bass through channel 10 set to guitar and was pretty impressed. The unit has very clean, clear sound with extremely low noise. The sound quality is more than sufficient for demos and amateur recording. The latency is extremely low (around 5-10ms in/out) and the unit seems reliable as my rig has never crashed.

The separate monitor and headphone knobs are nice, along with the Mix knob to hear the audio before it goes to the computer. The build quality of the unit is good for the price, but could be better (higher quality knobs, buttons etc.) What I really wish Tascam would have included is more metering. Even just a simple green light for each channel in addition to the red overload/clip light. A meter for the outputs would have been nice too, but they kept it simple and it does what it's supposed to flawlessly, so I'm happy with it.

This is a good interface if you're looking to get into multitrack recording, drum recording or just need a flexible, easy-to-use audio interface.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

This product works great. I haven't used all the channels yet but so far everything works great. One thing I don't like is the cheap plastic knobs. Installation was a breeze also. Just put the disk in before you plug it in, install, then you're good to go. I would recommend this to people who are looking to record drums, or a full band, other than that, you don't need this many channels.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

There is really nothing that I dislike about this interface. I'm a drummer and I needed an interface to record with. I've heard many great views about the Tascam 1641 and I almost bought that. This recently came out so I just decided to buy it. It is amazing!! Don't look back for one second about it. B & H have the BEST PRICE for this interface on the internet. DO NOT go anywhere else. There is almost no latency and the pre-amps are amazing. You won't regret it.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

Plenty of I/O.
Can be used as a monitoring device with no computer.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

The device works great! Cubase 5 le is a piece of junk though. If tascam would bundle with a different software I'd give the interface a 5 star rating. It has amazing sound quality and lots of features for the money.

Comments about Tascam US-1800 - USB 2.0 Interface:

I upgraded to this unit from an M-Audio FastTrack Pro. The difference is night and day. Setting aside the fact that this has far more inputs than anything else in its price range, the audio quality was stunning in comparison. My go-to mics are CAD M179s (notoriously phantom power hungry), and I had to run the Fasttrack's preamps at about 9.5 (just under their ugly gain threshold) to get a usable signal. With the 1800, I find myself running the gain at about 6 and getting crystal clear, strong signal.

The only negative right now I'm experiencing is trouble getting the midi interface going. I didn't knock off any stars for it, because I've never used midi before, and it may be a problem with my keyboard and not the A/D unit.

It mounted easily in my Gator Pro rack. I did find it slightly annoying that the manual asks for 1U above the unit to be kept free, so even though it's a 1U interface, it requires 2u of rack space.