| E-MU Tracker Pre USB 2.0 powered [message #97579] |
Sat, 29 March 2008 18:43  |
Wayne Carson
Messages: 86
Registered: June 2007
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Hi Paris guys and gals,
Anybody know much about this product announced at the Winter NAMM . E-MU
had two other similar products the 0202 and the 0404 but I like this one
better for my purposes.
http://www.emu.com/products/welcome.asp?category=610
It's a two channel USB powered audio interface that I think will work great
with my laptop and Sonar Cakewalk Home Studio sequencer/audio application.
Is the A/D and D/A decent? I only need 16 bit, 44.1K.
The 0404 can be bought at my local Guitar Center for $99 even though it's
listed on the E-MU site for $199. The 0202 can be ordered via SweetWater,
zZounds, Muscian's Friend for $129. The new E-MU Tracker Pre is listed for
$149 and comes with a large bundle of software. The local GC and Sam Ash
are not going to carry the 0202 or Tracker Pre but said they could special
order it. So far I've found no one selling the Tracker Pre. I can't even
purchase it via E-MU website shopping.
I use my laptop to create drum loops and midi sequences and so I place rough
audio (sing the vocal lines and strum acoustic guitar for chordal changes)
tracks into the projects so I have a song position reference and then I can
build the sequence and patterns, etc around it. Once I've completed the
sequences I play them back 2x2 or hard pan'd L and R and record them into
Paris. I line them up, perform the new final audio parts and finish it all
in Paris.
So I don't need high end equipment for my laptop but I need something more
than I working with now. Currently I just use a $9.00 computer mic plug'd
into the laptop mic jack and listen via the laptop sound card headphone jack
but this method is not working to my satisfaction. Both are accessed via
the built in laptop sound card. I have a latency issue and the mic noise
floor is 50% of the overall sound per audio track. Even though these are
rough audio tracks I want better, even for these roughs.
I'm on XP SP2, currently run MME driver (it's all the sound card allows).
The Tracker Pre can up my audio driver to ASIO2 or WDM. Does this mean I
will totally bypass my laptop sound card and use the Tracker Pre for USB
inputs and USB output monitoring (which is what I'd like to do)? And, if
I'm using standard midi sounds (supplied by the laptop sound card) where
will I get my midi sounds from if the laptop sound card is not in use? I am
trying to get an understanding of the midi sound of the audio routing. I do
have a Edirol DX plugin with midi sounds in my Sonar HomeStudio application
that I use and I think this is via software not the sound card so it should
still be available.
I'm thinking that moving towards the USB interface will decrease both my
problems (latency and noise floor) considerably and at $149 it seems a
pretty decent deal.
The only other item I'd like to understand is that the only time I need the
ASIO or WDM is during a Sonar session of playback or recording so if I make
the ASIO/WDM driver change to only the Sonar program then the rest of my
laptop functions and sounds will continue to use the sound card and MME
driver. If I am just playing wave files or mp3 files out of the Windows
Media Player, it will use my laptop sound card as normal and as MME,
correct? and I don't need to change anything, right?
Anyone have any insight, are users of any of the above referenced items,
have recommendations and or comments.
Thanks for any and all the help you can reply with,
Wayne
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