Behringer FCA202... any experiences?

forgie · Post by **forgie** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:38 am

I currently have no audio interface, and it's driving me crazy. I want to eventually buy a presonus or a motu, but I don't have the cash right now. I have a PC desktop and a mac laptop, so I figure if I get a cheap firewire interface then I can still buy a better interface and make use of the cheap one. There's no way I'm gonna buy an m-audio firewire interface.... their drivers are terrible at the moment.

Has anyone used one of these things (Behringer FCA202)?

Would I be better off just waiting and spending 2-3 times as much on a Presonus Firebox? I'm itching to get a low latency interface, it's breaking my balls....

commuter · Post by **commuter** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 11:40 am

I had one for a week..
On windows ,the drivers are not 100% reliable and on mac it's really terrible , it was a cpu hog on my Ibook, it was eating almost 20% CPU...

forgie · Post by **forgie** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 12:16 pm

Ouch, well that ends that idea.... I only have an iBook (albeit a 1.33Ghz iBook), so CPU is scarce to begin with. Ain't gonna happen I'm afraid. Maybe USB would be better in that price range.... everyone except for the really good brands seem to be having issues with firewire at the moment.

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:06 pm

I own it on a Windows PC with XP.
No problems so far

FMB · Post by **FMB** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 8:53 am

Hello we bought with 3 people a fca202 (3 modules) and all had the same
expierence, unstable driver, latency very high and feedbacknoises.
As support we only got a e-mail saying how to tune your laptop and after
telling them (Behringer) that that was not the problem no answer.
So now we have a Echo GINA and no problems any more . This is something
you can not have when performing live!
Greatings David

iMartin · Post by **iMartin** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:02 am

I am using it on a Desktop PC and a Laptop (Win XP SP2) with no stability problems what so ever... Very happy for the price.

Martin

Nixon · Post by **Nixon** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:10 am

On my mac it has been fine! Better latency then those horrible edirol units, and better sound as well...With a great mastering engeneer I had good sound during performance. Might sound a bit over the top (the engeneer that is), but it works (well worked...can't stay away from the motu now

) for me.
I recommend testing in the store though!

For the price it's just amazing

marqs · Post by **marqs** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:52 am

I got myself FCA202 a few weeks ago. First I had dropouts, but I found out, it was video-card driver (wrong driver, that caused those drop-outs), so I installed video driver which came with my laptop and no problems anymore.

FCA202 is good and stable now!

Marqs

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:02 am

marqs wrote:I got myself FCA202 a few weeks ago. First I had dropouts, but I found out, it was video-card driver (wrong driver, that caused those drop-outs), so I installed video driver which came with my laptop and no problems anymore.

FCA202 is good and stable now!

Marqs

Which firmware version you have?
Have you installed the\latest drivers, which version you run?

marqs · Post by **marqs** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:12 am

Pasha wrote:
marqs wrote:I got myself FCA202 a few weeks ago. First I had dropouts, but I found out, it was video-card driver (wrong driver, that caused those drop-outs), so I installed video driver which came with my laptop and no problems anymore.

FCA202 is good and stable now!

Marqs
Which firmware version you have?
Have you installed the\latest drivers, which version you run?

Firmware: 1.4.001 Driver 1.0.1.0 - as I said it's good! Works great.
Only thing that is a bit of a downer: when I start a track in Winamp FCA eats the beginning (cuts a little)... Dunno, maybe it's supposed to be like that with a firewire cards... If not, there's this thing to fix for Behringer.

Marqs.

FMB · Post by **FMB** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 11:59 am

Hello, The fact that you hear a bump during the first bar proofs what I
am saying. The stutter stay's no mather what you do. What about recording
from the card to a other medium do you like a stuttering sound at the
beginning of a recording?! So I have a ECHO I DJ now with no problems
at al.

marqs · Post by **marqs** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:04 pm

FMB wrote:Hello, The fact that you hear a bump during the first bar proofs what I
am saying. The stutter stay's no mather what you do. What about recording
from the card to a other medium do you like a stuttering sound at the
beginning of a recording?! So I have a ECHO I DJ now with no problems
at al.

But it doesn't happen with ASIO driver in Live.

Anyway... think I'm gonna write Behringer support about it. All in all it is good soundcard for the price.

Pasha · Post by **Pasha** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:20 pm

marqs wrote:
Pasha wrote:
marqs wrote:I got myself FCA202 a few weeks ago. First I had dropouts, but I found out, it was video-card driver (wrong driver, that caused those drop-outs), so I installed video driver which came with my laptop and no problems anymore.

FCA202 is good and stable now!

Marqs
Which firmware version you have?
Have you installed the\latest drivers, which version you run?
Firmware: 1.4.001 Driver 1.0.1.0 - as I said it's good! Works great.
Only thing that is a bit of a downer: when I start a track in Winamp FCA eats the beginning (cuts a little)... Dunno, maybe it's supposed to be like that with a firewire cards... If not, there's this thing to fix for Behringer.

Marqs.

Thanks. The same as I have.
Would you mind to test something for me? I'm trying to solve a problem on my desktop and I would like to isolate the cause, maybe you can help.
Try changing settings in Live and thru the FCA202 Control Panel from Live
say you move from 44.1Khz to 96Khz and Back.
Does It takes time (a bunch of seconds) and the MIDI IN light in Live turns red?
Does the preferences window in Live turn white and you have to wait some seconds prior to gain control?

It would be nice for me to have your confirmation or not.

- Thanks in adavnce
- Best
- Pasha

marqs · Post by **marqs** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 12:48 pm

Would you mind to test something for me? I'm trying to solve a problem on my desktop and I would like to isolate the cause, maybe you can help.
Try changing settings in Live and thru the FCA202 Control Panel from Live
say you move from 44.1Khz to 96Khz and Back.
Does It takes time (a bunch of seconds) and the MIDI IN light in Live turns red?
Does the preferences window in Live turn white and you have to wait some seconds prior to gain control?

I tried what you asked. As far as I can see, there's only one way to change the samplerate, only through Live. FCA202 is following the changes made in samplerate preferences in Live (v.5.2.1) So I can't change samplerate on the FCA202 control panel, cause after closing it... the samplerate is dictated by Ableton Live.

To your questions: Yes, the preferences window of Live goes white for a few seconds. After that the samplerate is changed, but I can't start playback anymore. Live freezes while shutting down. After opening again, samplerate is changed and everything works. So seems to me that it's not possible to change samplerate on the fly.

I don't see any MIDI activity you were talking though.

Hope that helps.

Marqs

FMB · Post by **FMB** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 1:02 pm

Hello, the way I work with Live is I switch from Cubase XS to Live and Wavelab that's the way I make my songs and the fca202 is not stable
when you change all the time. The Echo I DJ I have now is rock solid
with the latest driver. Specialy with live performances you can not have
the situation I had with the Behringer thing (Feedbacknoises, driver gone
etc.) With the ECHO I had a supper performance last weekend. There
is ofcourse a difference sitting at home in your studio or with all bells
ringing on stage, that's where you learn if your soundcard/module is stable or not! Greatings David

Behringer FCA202... any experiences?

Behringer FCA202... any experiences?

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