Cowart's combined musical and technical skills have helped the Grayslake campus take advantage of the latest digital technology. Recently, TASCAM's US-20x020 USB audio/MIDI interface, which features a wealth of inputs and outputs, eight TASCAM Ultra-HDDA mic preamps, and a built-in DSP mixer, has become an increasingly important part of the band's audio infrastructure.
 
"We're using a couple of US-20x20s," Cowart specifies. "We have a keyboard that has an amazing feel but the sounds aren't so great, so I send MIDI from its 5-pin DIN MIDI Out to one of our US-20x20s. The MIDI data goes to a computer running Ableton Live, which I'm using as a sort of container for virtual instruments, such as Native Instruments Komplete. The audio from the virtual instruments comes back to the US-20x20, where we submix the instrument sounds and send the submix to our front-of-house and monitor console. So we're using the US-20x20 as a MIDI interface, a submixer, and an audio interface."
  

Like countless musicians, Cowart started using TASCAM equipment back when it seemed everybody had a four-track TASCAM Portastudio. For a few years after that, he admits, he wasn't paying much attention to the company. "But I feel what TASCAM has brought out in recent years has been great," he enthuses. "I've been really impressed with the US-20x20. It sounds great, and it's really easy to use. The programming was also very simple to set up. We had no problems, concerns, or questions. The US-20x20 has been super stable, too; we've had no issues. The design is good, and I like that TASCAM includes the rack ears. For the price, and for what it does, the US-20x20 blows away anything else. I'm really excited about seeing just how far we can take this."