A matter that’s long vexed my efforts in hardware and acoustically oriented music production (being that my work is preferentially, though not exclusively,
DAWless) is how to bridge the divide from predominantly analog output into digitally compressed form for archival and distribution. As an early adherent to the world of digital media distribution (music in particular) through Napster and its ilk as well as
MySpace’s surprisingly revolutionary original venture into music and a current proponent of
FLAC and platforms like
Bandcamp, I value the portability and general ease of dissemination afforded by such formats. Thus far have I relied on either a computer’s builtin 1/8" line-in or a crumby
Behringer UCA202, which has admittedly worked well enough for merely recording stereo output in
Audacity, but has long (in my experience) borne spotty support and stability, less now than in the past but for my more recently complex needs, owing to an interest in exploring the open-source virtual modular synth platform,
VCV Rack.
This has finally clued me in to the benefits of a quality DAC/ADC (I prefer
ADAC, for short) with a greater plethora of inputs and outputs. At the very least, I would require four inputs, given that one of my choice pieces of recording equipment would be a
4track cassette recorder with four separate lines-out for each track (such as in the case of the beloved Tascam 424mkIII) and serves well as an adequate stand-in for an analog mixer.
That said, I have little need for the pre-amp capabilities of a typical USB audio interface (preferring to use a mixer for such purposes), but given my inclination toward
Eurorack-based
modular synthesis, reliable conversion of
CV via USB would certainly prove useful. Thankfully, I discovered a handy little gem through my VCV Rack explorations: