Submitted by thewhippinpost on Tue, 10/10/2006 - 18:21.

Firewire Audio Interfaces for Computer Music work

In the category, Tascam are offering up the FW1884 DAW Controller/Audio/MIDI Interface  for our consideration... What's it all about then?

Tascam FW1884 DAW Controller/Audio/MIDI Interface
Tascam FW1884 DAW Controller/Audio/MIDI Interface

The FW-1884 is a professional DAW control surface and audio/MIDI interface that uses the FireWire high-speed data transfer protocol. With FireWires high-bandwidth capabilities, the FW-1884 provides audio and MIDI interfacing to computers as well as control of DAW parameters via 8 x 100mm motorized touch-sensitive channel faders, 1 master fader, and controls for pan, solo, mute and select functions on each channel. Tactile control for 4 bands of parametric EQ, a weighted jog wheel and a variety of shortcut keys for various popular software applications are also included.

What others are saying:

feature:
it's got so much! just look at the list. if it's what you need, you'll know. comparing similar gear, this was the clear choice for me.

quality:
seems solid.

value:
look at the features - there's heaps packed in here, and it was the obvious choice for me. maybe not for everyone. there are other items in the same price range that have other features, but this one really shines in the amount of inputs. the integration with software, at least sonar, in my experience, is great.

desirability:
the choice of features are great, including the full size motorized faders, which have great appeal. it's very comfortable to use and looks great. i just wish it was a little smaller and more portable.

sound:
sounds just fine as expected. the pre-amps won't replace your tube pre's, but you wouldn't expect that.

support:
tascam support pretty much stinks on this. the software was done by frontier designs, not tascam, and i couldn't get anybody on the phone at tascam who knew anything beyond the manual for the fw-1884.

overall:
i will use this happily for a very long time. i already expanded it with a behringer ada8000, to add 8 more xlr/trs inputs via the adat input. together, that's 16 analog inputs direct to the computer. i doubt many people in the small studio game would need more than that at a time.

More Details

If that's not enough then check out the following link for the full specifications - FW1884 DAW Controller/Audio/MIDI Interface