Karaoke Forums

Ok, I bought this soundcard months ago on advice from this forum and it's the only piece of equipment that has not worked out for me. I should say I bought all my equipment on advise from this forum and the rest has worked out great.

The problem used to be I would hook it up and my faders would be basically even between the soundcard and the mics. Using the Yamaha MG124CX and plugging the soundcard into 9/10 or 11/12 outputting from the l and r output of the soundcard. Volume up all the way on the soundcard. Monitor switch on or off on the soundcard, doesn't make a difference in the volume. Plugged in USB to the laptop.

Then I would get a little static and the sound goes up 4 or 5 times the volume all at once making me about p1ss my pants! Then the fader for the volume had to be turned down to next to nothing to be at a good level compared to the mic channel. Mics plugged into 1, 2, or 3.

Never figured it out, gave up and started using internal sound card which seems to have decent sound.

Well I just bought a decent set of headphones and need to plug them in so I had to put the uca202 back into the system. Back to having the faders at the same level, definately not getting all possible volume out of the PAs or even the sub woofer. Not even close. That with both the master and soundcard fader at zeros. Doesn't matter if I have the headphones plugged into the 202 or not, same difference.

Is the 202 defective? Should I spend some money and get a different one? Will I be able to plug the headphones into it? Can I plug the headphones into the mixer instead so I can control the volume to the phones? Should I sell my gear? Just kidding on the last part.

Ok, so I discovered I can plug my headphones directly into the mixer and control the volume to it. However I've been plugging my sub into the headphone 1/4 jack. I want to be able to control the volume separately for the sub and the headphones.

The UCA202 is NOT a soundcard. The UCA202 isn't a replacement of your soundcard, it just creates another point of access to your existing sound card. I recall trying to point this fact out in previous posts numerous times.
I've never been a proponent of the UCA202, I had one, I found it unreliable, noisy and cheaply made at best. Maybe mine was defective or maybe it wasn't, I gave it away. (No, not to a freind) As most laptop sound cards are less than adequate I opted in using a Lexicon Omega which I already had for my music production anyway. It performs beautifully. I hear people are having great success using the Lexicon Alpha, which is the baby brother to the Omega also. Numerous companies make true interfaces that will replace your existing sound card, M-Audio and Edirol come to mind as well as Lexicon. I think you will be more than pleased if you switch to one of these instead of the UCA202.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

Yes it does act as a sound card - I have played with it also in a computer that didn't have a sound card at all & it worked fine, didn't care for the sound personally but yes it worked. It's technically a USB sound interface which bypasses the internal soundcard completely. Just as the Lexicon Alpha or Omega acheives the same thing - only with better quality sound.
It just sounds as if you got either a bad unit or it has a bad cord or connector. Yes your headphone jack will suffice, but the sound quality will not be as good.
You also have to make sure to point to the interface unit in the sound playback properties.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

With all due respect, I believe you are wrong. I use this device on my main desktop. I am able to simultaneously use two different sets of speakers with two different signal streams -- one for VoIP phone and the other for music/video/general use.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

FWIW, I have had three pieces of Behringer gear (two mixers and an EQ) and all have been noisy and fragile. Now much like my bad Voco-Pro mic experience, perhaps I just bought the wrong models but I do know I won't be going for Round 4.

Then again, perhaps I am just a "boutique" KJ, tricked into buying more expensive gear by slick marketing.

Me wrong? surely you jest. Hey anything is possible, but I can't find anything on the Behringer site that calls it anything other than a "interface" and I do recall reading an article debating the fact once. In any case whatever it is it isn't very good at it and that really is what the OP is asking about.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

I must be a quick learner, it only took me two pieces of gear to figure out that perhaps the word "Pro" must mean something else in Chinese

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

Seems to work well enough for me. Though I don't use it for karaoke, just for my VoIP phone.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I have two Behringer mixers with main fader issues. Hopefully one will get repaired shortly. I've got a live sound friend who said half his Behringer EP1500/EP2500 amps didn't make it a year. I think he has about a dozen.

I was talking to a guy who used to be the local Behringer warranty place, and he basically spent 10 minutes telling me the reason their products are not too reliable is a combination of poor manufacturing Q/A and fault-prone designs that are difficult to repair. He told me to replace one of my mixers instead of get it fixed, because it would cost about $150, and a new one isn't too much more than that. The other one, hopefully it gets fixed but if not I am probably buying the Behringer SX3282, rather than spending a bunch on a better brand just yet.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

I will try Lonman's trick before giving up on this piece of equipment. Is there a better way of hooking my sub to the mixer and still have seperate volume control over it? Thanks for everyone's input.

That mixer is somewhat limited and does not have a dedicated sub/mono output, like many mixers do; but you can make use of another output for your sub signal. If you do not use headphones, I suggest you use the control room monitor output jacks for sub(s). It has a volume pot. I'm not sure if it is pre- or post-fader.

If you don't have monitor speakers for your singers, you could also use the AUX out. In this case, set the channel strips for post-fader operation of the AUX send, and adjust either each channel strip appropriately, or adjust the AUX send master knob, to raise or lower the volume of your sub.

Finally, if you have no stereo input sources, you can use subgroup 1 or 2 for the sub, and then do not route them to the main fader. Take all channel strip inputs and send them to the group 1/2 buses as well as the ST bus. If you do have stereo sources, you can sum the output of group 1/2 with a simple cable or adapter from both group outputs to the sub input.

If you are using the RCA 2TR-IN input jacks for your canned music, your options are limited because they do not have as many routing options. If so, move your computer to a channel strip.

Frankly, neither of those solutions are very good, but they will work. You could also buy an inexpensive cross-over with an easy-access gain adjustment for the sub output.

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Jeff Wheeler, moonlight DJ/KJ

Works fine for me, but I also use it with PP400 pre-amp that is usually sold with it. A nice regulated line to the PC.

Also, I don't mix as I digitize. I copy to the PC, then mix with software.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

Is the sub powered or crossed over with it's own amp - you can always control the volume individually by turning the sub amp up or down - more PITA but works.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Page 8 of the manual itself.

With the UCA202 you have purchased a high-performanceaudio interface that includes a USB connector. It is thus an ideal sound card for your laptop computer oran essential recording/playback component for studio environments that involve desktop computers.
http://www.behringerdownload.de/UCA202/ ... _Rev_B.pdf

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

It is powered.

I too, like you, bought a UCA 202 on the advice from here and to be honest it works ok but I couldn't really tell much difference in sound quality over just plugging into the headphone socket of the laptop.

When funds allow I think I'll go with the Lexicon

The UCA 202 just seemed the cheaper option at the time.

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[font=Fantasy][/font] "Travellin' at the speed of light"

It is a cheap option to give you an RCA level connection. It's a 16 bit interface as opposed to a better 24 bit interface that is in many of the higher priced or more pro quality interfaces.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Not sure what you mean but I mix live from software.

So what do you suggest Lon? The Alpha? I think I could spend 60 bucks or so. Like to get my money back from the beh