Greetings;
Sorry for yet another Smaart USB interface question. I have searched and found a lot of the post are getting older now and some new interfaces have been out for awhile.
I was using an IBM T20 for my basic Smaart 5.0 measurements. As the T20 had Stereo LINE IN and OUT I was able to get by with just a small external mixer and do the basic measurements that I do from time to time. Last weekend the sound card in the laptop went up in smoke as did the hard drive. I wondered about power supply failure but I guess its a moot point now.
I have an older dell Latitude that has an 80 gig 7200 rpm hard drive. 2 gigs of ram and a 1.2 gig processor on it with windows xp. It has been striped clean and I feel it will be ok for just a single use smaart laptop. I only do 4 or 5 measurements a year now for friends or local bands. The biggest use is ringing out monitors and maybe finding some delay times between drum monitors / FOH.
For a USB interface I need a bare bones box. Microphone input with phantom power and of course duplex stereo in/out. USB power for a clean setup without having to bother with a power supply as I had to before.
I've been looking at these but wonder if there is anything else that people have been using that is in the aprox price range? Less is alway better but I don't want to be $50 away from the answer.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/m-audio-mobilepre-mk-ii?src=3XBACRhttp://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/tascam-us-122mkii-usb-2.0-2-channel-audio-midi-interface?src=3XBACRhttp://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/avid-recording-studio?src=3XBACRI'm leaning on the tascam although it seems to have bad reviews. The Avid looks nice and small but I'm unsure if the Line In is setup for instrument only or if its a true Line In.
I've also looked at a Steinberg but I haven't seen any of their gear in my area so I'm unsure of the quality.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/steinberg-ci1-advanced-integration-usb-studioAll in all just a basic box to do a few measurements a year is all I need. Is there one of the above that others have tired and have had bad or good luck with?
Thanks;
Douglas R. Allen