O.K. guitar gear enthusiasts – here’s a riddle for you. What wears black rubber and chrome – and is sexy on your desktop? I’ll even give you a hint; it even looks great laying down or standing up. By the way, the sound is great too!

So that I don't lead you astray, I’m talking about the LINK.usb audio interface from TAPCO. If you remember my 2 hour odyssey with the Mackie’s Traction 2 software – you’ll recall me hankering for a USB or Firewire interface for improved audio quality and reduced latency. My luck must have been in because after seeing that review, the TAPCO folks hooked me up for this review with their nifty little USB interface. After defeating a few installation problems, I think I found the perfect companion to my Traction 2 studio! Read on to get the details!

The LINK.usb is a two-channel computer audio interface that was specifically streamlined for small studio and laptop use. Each channel provides both a microphone input (with a Mackie-designed preamp and 48v of Phantom power) and a line/instrument input. This combined with gain knobs on each channel, an overall mix control, and separate monitor and headphone out options make the LINK.usb an incredibly flexible interface in the smallest possible package. TAPCO was even generous enough to provide an LE version of Mackie’s awesome Tracktion 2 software – so you can get your music out of your head and into a high fidelity digital format (24-bit/96kHz).





Here is a quick list of features from the TAPCO LINK.usb website:

• Two-channel 24-bit/96kHz USB audio interface (w/ WDM drivers)
• Combo Mic/Line/Instrument inputs
• Mackie-designed high-headroom mic preamps
• 48v Phantom power
• Low latency direct monitoring
• Bus powered for extreme portability
• Mac and PC Compatible
• Convenient, collapsible swivel-foot for desktop operation
• Includes Mackie Tracktion 2 Software

For more details, I would suggest you visit the LINK.usb product page and check out the Specs and the Owner's manual in PDF format.

As detailed in the sound test below, I put the LINK.usb through significant testing with great success; however, because of the number of features TAPCO was able to shoehorn into this unit, you are really only limited by your creativity. Here are some possible scenarios for computer based recording:

(1) Single guitar in – one channel empty. Use when you only want to lay down the guitar or bass tracks without any “channel bleed” that happens when you get sympathetic frequencies from the monitors or another sound source (e.g., another instrument) resonating with the guitar.

(2) Single mic in – one channel empty. This is the best fit when you are ready to track the vocals, especially when you want the cleanest possible vocal track. The single line-in is best for the same reasons as in (1) above; however, a microphone is even better at picking up ambient sounds. In a small studio, you should definitely use the headphone out option for the backing track and consider using some sound screens to minimize other noises (like my daughter yelling at the television downstairs in the middle of my 5th take...AARG!).

(3) Single mic in – Single guitar in. This is an awesome option when you are laying down lyrics and general ideas with a acoustic guitar. You might consider using the headphone out option with a Y signal splitter if you have one person playing the guitar and the other singing. This way you can capture the “energy” of a live performance while maintaining track separation. Headphones helps keep the click track or rhythm track from bleeding into the vocal or guitar tracks.

(4) Two microphones. This a perfect combination for either acoustic or electric guitar. For acoustic guitars, especially complex sounding solid-wood instruments you can often get your best tones from two microphones on the same guitar. One microphone slightly off-center of the sound hole and another a foot or two away to capture more reflected sounds. For electric guitar, you can retain the vintage vibe of your tube amp in much the same way. Instead of running the guitar direct into the interface you could mic the amps instead using close proximity and ambient microphones. This process works great for other instruments as well.

(5) Two guitar lines. Many electric guitars these days have an acoustic bridge along with the magnetic pickups. Often unwieldy for stage purposes, combining these pickups provide a great tone builder for recording purposes. Just run the lines separately into the LINK.usb and either track them separately or record them as a stereo channel. For an even bigger sound, offset the two tracks by 5ms in Tracktion 2. It'll give the feeling of two separate guitars!



For grins, I am including a picture from the hook up diagram provided on the LINK.usb product page. I’m sure you will think of even more combinations, but these should be enough to get your mind started on the possibilities. Before I forget, I need to mention that the LINK.usb is powered by the USB port! No batteries, no wall-wart…complete freedom. Imagine grabbing your guitar, your laptop, and your LINK.usb and heading out to the porch or the “tail-gate” to record some ideas or an impromptu performance. Furthermore, I found out by accident that the chrome bars on the side actually do serve a purpose! They keep stray bumps and knocks from messing up the knob settings. This I thought was both stylish and clever.

Installation

I’ll have to be honest and say this was the only area that was a two-edged sword for the LINK.usb. The good news is that the unit itself couldn’t be easier to install, just plug the USB cord to the back of the unit and plug the other end of the cord into an open USB slot. That’s it – I loved the simplicity. What was even better was that the LINK.usb has a little “kick-stand” that allows it to either be placed flat or vertically depending on your space limitations.



In this case, I have a Mackie ONYX 1220 in my upstairs studio with a Firewire interface. So, I attached the LINK.usb to my “family computer” downstairs. This particular machine has a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 processor with 1 gigabyte of RAM. You should know that computer recording requires a fast processor and a lot of RAM. Recording more than one track at a time or running lots of filters will degrade your CPU overhead quickly. RAM is critical if you do not want your computer’s overall resources to be compromised.

Unfortunately, the downside to the installation process was that the drivers for this device were kind of a pain to install. The installation CD forces you to install both Tracktion 2 and the hardware drivers. It does not provide an option to install the drivers only. Without a choice, I had to install the drivers and overwrite my existing Tracktion 2 installation. Afterwards, I had to reinstall my boxed version of Tracktion 2. Not really a big deal, but it was an annoyance that could be easily avoided with greater foresight (and perhaps a bit more beta testing) from the software engineers.

As a side note, I did find the options available in the current set of drivers to be a bit limiting. There are no advanced options to tweak the signal to achieve the best ratio of sound quality and latency for your particular computer set-up. Instead, as I've discussed before, I headed over to ASIO4All and used their generic drivers which gave me all the power and options I needed. Using ASIO4All I was able to get latency down to 2.6ms when tracking a single track with no noticeable effect on audio quality. That latency level is what I would expect for a high powered computer using a pricey Firewire interface!

Sound Test

In my testing, this is the area where the LINK.usb clearly shined. I could definitely tell that this unit has a Mackie heritage since the signal from all the tests I performed where absolutely pristine. I truly thought going into this review that the previous tests I had done using a cable directly into the computer were more than adequate. However, when I re-recorded those those same parts played through the LINK.usb at 24bit/96KHz I realized that having a digital interface is an absolute must if you are truly serious about recording your music and vocals. Folks, this is not a small, incremental gain in sound quality. The difference was dramatic.

I found that the improvement in sound quality made it much easier to ultimately create acceptable “wet” signals and place each track better (i.e., spatially and EQ) in the complete mix. The increase in clarity and definition was certainly welcome. Admittedly, these differences are a bit harder to hear in an MP3 mixdown due to the format’s particular method of compression, but are easily differentiated using a lossless format (like WAV) that you would use for final mastering.

Conclusion

Personally, I found the LINK.usb to be a phenomenally engineered device at an incredible price point (i.e., street price as of this writing at about $150). Even though I have a great Mackie ONYX mixing board, I find myself gravitating to the LINK.usb more often for smaller projects because it is just so easy to use and the sound quality is fantastic. I was mildly irritated with the software and driver installation process and found the included drivers to be a bit anemic relative to options, but this feeling dissipated quickly once I actually got the interface working the way I wanted. The best part is that the device looks so good, my wife even allows me to keep it next to the family computer without complaining about my propensity for “clutter”! That is definitely a major achievement! Thanks to the folks TAPCO for introducing me to this small digital wonder. The LINK.usb has certainly earned both our GearHead “Approved” and “Rig Ready” awards for 2006!



Daniel Halberg

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