U-Phoria 1820

sylva1
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U-Phoria 1820

Post by sylva1 »

Hello all!

I know, this subject may be outdated, but I searched the site and got no article addressing my problem. I want to buy the UMC1820 to output to multi-channel amplifiers. I am NOT recording anything live, but working with orchestral sample libraries. What I need is output from the 1820 to 8 discreet analog, non-integrated, amplifier inputs. Since Windows is not capable of multichannel output, but only 2 channel stereo, would the 1820's driver circumvent Window's gutted audio output? You'd ask why would I want to output 8 discreet channels to and amp, instead of a mixer? Because mixing samples to 2 channels simply doesn't give the true sound environment of the orchestra. I want to clearly hear how the orchestra sounds BEFORE mixing down to 2 channels, but, maybe because of advances in technology, I would want to leave everything on 8 channels and put the works up to a web page. Anyway, long story short, this is my need. Somewhere on a forum someone said that the 1820 puts out only stereo pairs in Windows. Is that right?

PS: I also have a fairly powerful Windows 7 computer. Would the 1820's driver circumvent that OS's audio system? I've been to lots of forums, still could not find a satisfying answer to my problem.

Thank you all, Sylva1.
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pvannatto
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by pvannatto »

Hi @sylva1, welcome to the forum. If I understand your explanation correctly, what you are wanting is surround sound functionality. I don't have or use a UMC1820. But I don't believe it has that capability.
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sylva1
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by sylva1 »

Hi Paul.

No, I DO NOT WANT SURROUND capability. The Orchestra is not a surround instrument. The audience is facing it. It can be Stereo but not surround. Of course, there are reflections, however, the instruments do not come from the sides of the hall. What I need is a USB audio interface that can be output to by an DAW on 8 channels and that interface can output those tracks on 8 discreet channels to an 8 channel amplifier with 8 speakers. That is, 8 mono channels that would render independently groups of instruments, such as say flutes and oboes on one channel, clarinets and bassoons on another, trumpets and trombones on another, high strings on another, etc., or say lead guitar, singer, bass guitar, percussion, etc., on their own separate channel That's all, but not surround. The position of the channels in the sound field would be arranged in the DAW software. No Dolby or DTS or THX or some other scheme necessary here, so no detection at all, just DTA conversion which the U-Phoria 1820 does. But Windows won't permit more than 2 channel outputs and my question was whether U-Phoria drivers could do that. In other words, why would one buy something like the 1820 if its software won't permit discreet output on its 8 channels? Otherwise I'd buy a simple 2 channel converter and be done.

Thanks for your input, John.
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MJKlein
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by MJKlein »

Typically one would use an Windows ASIO driver for multichannel audio from a DAW to an interface. You'd have to check out the ASIO driver for whatever piece of gear you are looking at and see what it offers. With the X32 console, for example, the Windows ASIO driver allows 32 x 32 channels of audio via USB. There are a number of smaller mixers that can do multichannel audio from the DAW but having the 8 discreet outputs to feed individual amplifiers is not something one would expect to find on a smaller mixer.

The UMC1820 has 10 line outputs on it, and the website says:
The U-PHORIA UMC1820 is a powerful 18 input, 20 output USB recording interface
So as long as you're using the Windows ASIO driver and enable that in the DAW you should be good to go.
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sylva1
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by sylva1 »

Thank you, MJ! Yours, John.
sylva1
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by sylva1 »

Oh, I forgot: What about Jack for Windows? It's supposed to detect all channels and direct then to multiple discreet audio outputs.
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MJKlein
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by MJKlein »

sylva1 wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 1:56 pm Oh, I forgot: What about Jack for Windows? It's supposed to detect all channels and direct then to multiple discreet audio outputs.
So you're asking about Jack, to use it to do what the ASIO driver does? Anything on top of Windows to handle audio is risking disaster, really. Multichannel audio is what ASIO drivers are specifically designed for. None of us are using Windows drivers or workaround kludges to connect to our DAWs or anything else that is multichannel, for that matter. Well, maybe someone is but there would have to be a very compelling reason to not use the ASIO driver. Jack is a 3rd party application and would not be officially supported by the manufacturer of your gear. Install the ASIO driver that was designed for the device and forget it.
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by sylva1 »

Thank you VERY much! John.
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by MJKlein »

sylva1 wrote: Thu Mar 24, 2022 3:06 pm Thank you VERY much! John.
My all means, John. And please let us know how it works out and what we can do to help. Thanks.
湖口鄉新竹縣台灣 Hukou Township, Hsinchu County, Taiwan
Behringer X32/Dante + Soundcraft Ghost + X32ReaperAutoMate
English/中文
This site is hosted at Dathorn: https://dathorn.com/index.php?r=489
https://www.youtube.com/@phoenixmediaforge
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pvannatto
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Re: U-Phoria 1820

Post by pvannatto »

sylva1 wrote: Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:16 pm No, I DO NOT WANT SURROUND capability.
I think you misunderstood my reference to surround. From a live audio perspective, surround involves discrete FOH outputs beyond the standard Main L, R, sub, centerfill and has nothing to do with surround decoding (eg. Dolby, etc.). I've configured my X32 Rack for special events that required this setup. My initial response said that I didn't think that the UMC1820 supported this. But I had a look at the manual and it does in fact support multi-track (discrete) outputs. If you are using Windows, this requires the ASIO drivers (found here, under Product Library, Software on right side). Mac and linux do not require drivers, since all Behringer products are core compliant.
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