USB Makes Audio I/O Easy

Roland UA-30 USB Audio Canvas - USB Makes Audio I/O Easy

UA-30 Overview

The Roland UA-30 is a compact, external USB audio recording and playback interface for Windows or Macintosh. Under Windows 98 or Me, it requires a P166 or better, at least 100 MB of hard disk space, 800x600 video with thousands of colours and 64MB or more memory. When running Windows 2000, these CPU requirements jump to a 400 MHz Celeron or better. To be used with a Mac, you'll need Mac OS 9.0.4 running on a 300 MHz G3 or better. The device is bus powered, making it eminently suitable for use with portable computers. It sports analog and digital (S/PDIF) inputs and outputs, although you must choose one or the other with a switch when recording -- you can't use both at the same time. The package includes Syntrillium Software's Cool Edit Pro LE, a powerful audio editor for Windows.

The UA-30 is not a MIDI device, nor does it have any built-in sounds. It is a USB-connected recording and playback device only, using your PC or Mac's hard drive as its storage device. Nor does it have any built-in effects. To add reverb, flanging or other sound-enhancing effects, you must use Cool Edit ProLE or another waveform editor.

It's worth reading the back of the package carefully before buying the UA-30 -- there are a number of restrictions on its use with certain types of PCs. For example, the package says you may expect good results with systems based on PCI-to-USB controllers from Intel and ALi. However, it warns that USB host controllers from VIA Tech and SiS may not function reliably. It also notes that if your PC is fitted with a non-Intel USB host controller, audio reproduction may be interrupted when using games or other software. You may be unable to play music CDs on your PC through the UA-30. Your PC may not supply sufficient power to the USB port to reliably power the device. In some cases (specifically, with the SiS7001 PCI to USB Open Host Controller), even the use of a USB mouse can cause audio interruptions.

Assuming that it does work on your system as well as it did on ours, you will be able to choose recording rates of 48 KHz, 44.1 KHz or 22.05 KHz for your recordings and capture audio with high-quality 20-bit AD/DA conversion (for comparison, a standard audio CD delivers 16-bit, 44.1 KHz fidelity).

UA-30 and the Mac

We were surprised by the alarmist tone of a reader report at Macintouch.com that said, "...I contacted my music store, who told me that the RolandED UA-30 USB Audio Canvas can only communicate with the Mac OS, not with your sound applications (such as Cubase, Protools etc). RolandED is working on the problem, but as yet, if you have an iMac, iBook, Powerbook, or Cube, you just can't get analog sound in there!"

MacBuyersGuide asked Mr. Kelly Demoline of Kelly's Music & Computers (www.ForMusicTechnology.com) for more information on this seemingly serious limitation.

The report is accurate, says Kelly, in that the UA-30 does communicate directly with the Mac OS.  "This poses a problem for programs such as Cubase, which require ASIO drivers in order for the audio hardware to interact with the software," he notes. "Any program that does not have proprietary drivers, such as Cakewalk's Metro for the Mac, however, will work fine.  Bias Peak works fine with the UA-30 as well."

Steinberg is apparently working on ASIO drivers, and there is a 3rd party who is selling "Universal ASIO Drivers" for all USB audio devices.  Kelly says he is surprised that RolandED hasn't licensed this, but apparently they believe that it is Steinberg's job to develop the ASIO drivers.

USB audio on the Mac, he maintains, is still in the early stages. "We are waiting for the technology to mature and drivers and software companies to get up to speed on it.  I was surprised that there weren't any FireWire audio devices announced at the summer NAMM in Nashville, as the bandwith FireWire is much more suited to audio than USB.  As you probably know, USB audio devices are restricted to 16 or 20 bit audio because of the bandwidth.  When hardware and computers emerge that conform to the USB 2.0 spec, we might see some more powerful USB audio devices."

For now, however, PCI cards seem to be the best way to do serious audio work on the Mac.  M-Audio (formerly MidiMan) has really made this accessible to Mac users by releasing Mac drivers for a number of their cards.  M-Audio, says Kelly, has really helped make things more affordable, with high-quality cards (including life-time warranties!) for very affordable prices.  It is nice to see companies like M-Audio starting to pay more attention to the Mac market.

For Further Reading

• Audio Buyer's Guide: Roland UA-30  - part 2 - Success stories, tips and techniques, plus a look at similar products.
• Mac Buyer's Guide: Comparing Transfer rates of SCSI, IDE, FireWire and USB 2.0 (etc.)
• MacInTouch: USB Audio Reader Reports - discussions of Emagic's MIDI Transmitter 4, Opcode's DATport, the Roland UA-30 Audio Canvas, and Event
• Electronics' EZbus USB audio recording interface and digital mixer.
• UA-30 Driver for Cubase: http://www.usb-audio.com/asio.html

Thanks to Kelly's Music & Computers for the loan of a Roland UA-30 ($239 US / $349 CDN) for these tests.