TASCAM US224 Digital Audio Workstation Controller/USB Interface

No longer available at zZounds
24-bit. 2 inputs and 2 outputs.

Designed by TASCAM and Frontier Design Group, the US-224 is their newest innovation in interfacing and control for your computer audio and MIDI system. Portable and incredibly affordable, the US-224 connects your audio to your DAW software via a USB port that's compatible for both Mac and Windows computers. It's also the complete solution for your portable recording needs, at a price that won't slow you down. Since it's self-powered via USB, you can connect it to your laptop for a complete studio you can take anywhere.

The US-224's cool purple control surface gives you more than just mouse clicks for your DAW software. Like its big brother, the immensely popular US-428, the US-224 gives you real tactical controls like faders, transports, mutes and solos, panning and more. Plug in a guitar, mic, or keyboard and get 2 channels of audio I/O in 16 or 24 bit quality, as well as 16 channels of MIDI I/O. Best of all, it's USB...just plug in and go. No cards to install, no need to take your computer apart.

The US-224 comes with a custom version of Steinberg's Cubasis VST for Windows and Mac OS. With 8 channels of audio and 16 MIDI tracks, it's a perfect all-in-one setup for anyone getting into the world of computer audio recording.

Features
High-quality 24-bit audio with 2 inputs and 2 outputs

Self-powered USB interface compatible with Mac and PC

4 faders, transport/locate controls, data wheel, and more for control of DAW parameters

16-channel MIDI In/Out interface

Complete read more package...includes a special version of Steinberg Cubasis VST recording/MIDI software for Mac and Windows

Small, portable, and easy to use
read less

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 323-726-0303
Web: https://tascam.com/us/support/contact

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. (74 ratings)
Submitted August 5, 2005 by a customer from yahoo.com

"Nice for the price"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
I'm pretty happy with this unit. It was a good, low-risk introduction to digital recording. If you're looking for a unit for low-budget project and demo recording, this is a great choice. One reservation: You will want to have a pretty good computer setup before going with this or any other computer-based DAW. I'm getting by with my 1.6 gH PIII laptop with 512 megs of RAM, but I managed to crash the computer pretty spectacularly once while trying to do a mixdown with multiple reverb effects going at once. Having a soundcard that's optimized for digital recording (as opposed to GTA) is helpful, too.

Sound
I've been using this for three months to make useful demos. My limitations are more of an issue to me at this point than the unit's.

Features
This control interface and bundled Cubasis VST software has everything you need for recording quality demos. Good selection of echos, reverbs, and other effects.

Quality
Not a heavily-built unit. You wouldn't want to schlep this around on your roadhouse tour of the US, but that's not really its intended purpose.

Value
For its intended purpose--recording one-track-at-a-time demos for friends, family, and band members--this is just what the doctor ordered. I'm glad I took my buddy's advice and steered clear of the cassette portastudio. With a little coaching, this unit does just what I want it to do. read more

Manufacturer Support
Not applicable, though Tascam's support is reputed to be quite awful.

The Wow Factor
It's a tool. It's about as sexy as a toothbrush.

Musical Background:
Active musician

Musical Style:
Arty folk
read less
7 of 9 people (78%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

No longer available at zZounds

In most cases, a product is unavailable because it has been discontinued by the manufacturer