The Window Operating System Software Problem
Windows (especially Windows XP) is a fairly powerful program. We all sit around and complain about this or that, but in the end, it is quite a miracle that the thing works at all. I couldn't imagine the # of lines of code that were hand written by someone to write a program as huge as Windows. Bla Bla Bla. Windows ...

This has been one hellish week for good ol' Brando. Shortly after one of my Delta 1010s died, my computer has decided to perform a mutiny against me. It's okay, while my computer is faster at math, I'm way better at illogical thinking and that's exactly what this problem encountered.

The Problem
On Monday I recorded a metal band. It was just one song recorded in ...

This blog may be leaning a little too much towards the hardcore computer nerd side of the fence, but after the week I've had, I wish someone would have slapped a “Booger” t-shirt on me years ago. I would have gladly put masking tape on the glasses I don't have just to avoid this total hell.

You can read all about my venture into the computer super hell here: Home Recording Computer Doom: IRQ Conflicts, ACPI, and Misc Disasters

What I'm about to tell you would have saved me about 40 hours of headaches and would allowed me to make hundreds of dollars that I missed from canceling two recording sessions.

The Problem
The easiest way to solve problems on a recording computer is to format the C: drive and reinstall a fresh copy of Windows. While this won't fix every problem, it knocks out ...

After years of struggling along with a computer with embarrassing specs and tossing all my money into hardware toys that will definitely hold their value for the long haul, I've got to say that upgrading to a Quad Core processor equipped computer has been amazing. It's been a gift from God. It's been sunshine on a cloudy day. (Alright, that's enough. You get the idea!)

I have to be the only person on earth who upgraded ...

I cover this topic in Killer Home Recording, but I've got to cover it here too.

I see person after person after person looking for an audio interface ask if either USB 2.0 or Firewire is better. The truth is they are both fairly similar. The specs are close enough. For all practical purposes, for the guy just wanting to make music at home, they are identical.

That I don't have an issue with.

Then people ALWAYS start discussing which one has greater transient through-put and which one has better sustained bandwidth. Bla bla bla I don't even have the terminology down. I can't help but wonder, “Are there this many people out there who are designing or modifying audio interfaces?”. It just blows my mind that so many people are tearing into discrete surface mount technology in their garages.

The truth is no one I know is modifying their audio interface (preamp modifications aside).

So let's talk about the Tascam US-1641. It's a USB 2.0 interface with 14 analog inputs (8 preamps) and 2 S/PDIF ...