Originally Posted by MartinTroubadour ➡️

Hey guys I'm new to the forum but have been learning from it for the last year or so. haha Thought I would give a much needed in depth review of the Tascam US-800 audio interface and offer any help if needed.


I bought my Tascam US-800 about 2 weeks ago and I cannot say enough good things about it. First off Guitar Center price matched the interface as well as a bluebird mic I bought that day and I got them both for $200 each!! The interface comes with plenty of reading material to get you started recording. Upon recommendation, I installed the latest drivers and updates from Tascam's website and then installed the interface. This made the process flawless and it was working within 5 minutes. All 6 analog inputs have 48+volts and I verified this with my multimeter. The controls are nice and the unit is light yet very solid feeling. I also was pleased to find that the drivers allow the use of all the inputs to be separately recorded and recognized by the DAW. Cubase le 5 is great! The install was seamless and the program is more than adequate application for almost every musician. Also, many people complain about the hassle of obtaining the product key online but I had no problem at all. The time between unpacking the equipment (including a new mic and misc. recording gear) and the first track I recorded was under 1 hour and I kid you not.

FYI I am using Windows 7 64bit with a dual core processor, 4GB ram, 500GB hdd, and its just a 1 year old ASUS laptop.

Words of advice:

1. adjust your computer settings to performance

2. don't run background programs while recording

3. check the latency and input specs in the interface control panel every time you connect the interface as they reset

4. use the newest driver from tascam

5. if you power down your computer then unplug the device as you would any other usb device

6. check your device setup and VST connections in Cubase when you are not getting a signal from the interface make sure the US-800 driver has been selected

7. most importantly be sure you are aware of the stereo or mono input of your audio.

Sorry for such a long review but I am thrilled with the quality of this interface package. There are absolutely no in depth reviews for this product online so I wanted to be sure that everyone had the chance to safely purchase such a great interface.

The most exciting part is with the correct settings I am running only 2.1 latency. Not bad for a budget laptop and $200 interface.

Also I might add that I am somewhat of a computer nerd but I "had" absolutely ZERO recording experience before I bought this setup. The included literature and this forum (as well as others) were more than capable for my studying. Last night I completed recording, dubbing, and mastering my 4th song and I cannot tell the difference between my homemade recording and the studio recordings with my band!! But I'm sure they would... haha. So if you're like me then I would recommend reading the manuals and do the step by step install and you will be stress free. This aint no swing set


Well I think I have rambled enough. So if you have any questions or input please feel free. I don't consider myself an expert by any means but I feel very comfortable with this interface and Cubase 5 as well. Don't hesitate to ask any questions as I more than owe this forum for helping me get started with my recording venture.

You Stay Classy


tags: tascam us-800, tascam, us-800, cubase