New soundcard

W

wessie3000

New member
Hello everyone,

Im thinking bout buying a new soundcard. I have a terratec phase 22 and its ancient i believe. Though it has always served me well.
I recently bought a guitar amp (fender mustang 1) which i can plug in via usb. My soundcarddoes not recognize it with its original drivers and i now use asio4all. It works but... all inputs are now one input (ext in) .

Is there a nice soundcard that works well together with usb instruments/soundcards/mics in a way that i can choose my input on a particular track.? Say one track usb input guitar and one track usb input mic.

I work mainly with ableton.
 
I don't know enough about the card, does it not have drivers for it? I really don't care for the ASIO4ALL unless as a last resort. If the card has ASIO drivers, and you can get it to work and you don't need more inputs, it looks like a capable card. PCI cards give the best performance for the most part.
 
Or you can get an external audio interface. Prices for what you're looking for start under $100. Try looking HERE for the right ins/outs/midi/adat/whatever you might need. Then pick a few, get prices, narrow the search and ask specific question about which are going to suit your needs best. As a starting point, considering what you've said already, look at Scarlett 2i4, Tascam US322, Steinberg UR22 and Native Instruments (NI) KA6.
 
So if i would have an usb soundcard like the tascam and at the same time an usb amp. Should ableton be able to see the amp seperate from an input from the card?
 
Wait...that card looks pretty okey-dokey. It might be ancient, but it was designed 96k/24 and has dual inputs + midi. You might have to buy a DI and a mike preamp, but that thing's specs look pretty darned good. Unfortunately, the website only lists drivers through 98/vista/xp. :( Hate when good kit loses support.
 
wessie3000 said:
So if i would have an usb soundcard like the tascam and at the same time an usb amp. Should ableton be able to see the amp seperate from an input from the card?
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean by a USB AMP. Let's be clear. If you have a USB interface that allows for Direct Inputs (DI) for instruments and Preamps with Phantom Power, then you probably shouldn't get a USB AMP. If we use the Tascam interface for example, it has DI inputs, XLR inputs with Phantom power, pretty much all you need for recording.

Your amp would then be mic'd or if it has some other output, you could use it as a DI. If you have a USB Amp, then you would have to select if in Ableton as an input when you want to use it. Under normal conditions, based on what I know, you can't use two different interfaces at the same time unless supported by the driver (ASIO) creator. Most don't support different units and when they do, they are from the same manufacturer.

Hope this helps.
 
Thanks for your reply... Well i have an fender amp with usb and it sounds awesome. I hoped that it could be used together with an usb mic. And that ableton then records two seperate tracks, one with mic and one with guitar. But i think its not possible. i hve a mixer and a di box but i just got fed up with all the cables behind and around my computer.
 
Yes, the interface does AD into your computer for the DAW to record from. It also does DA conversion back out to your powered speakers/audio amp. If you look through the options on the list, you'll find there are various setups that go from one mike and one instrument/line in clear up to 28-36 inputs and outputs so you can run mixers in via insert, and you can use ins/outs as external effects loops or aux busses. All of this will be functional with Ableton with the proper ASIO driver.

---------- Update ----------

And again, yes, you can mix the usb and miked sounds. Should work without problem. Just have Ableton get info for one track from the usb and another track from the interface's mike input.
 
BroKen_H said:
---------- Update ----------

And again, yes, you can mix the usb and miked sounds. Should work without problem. Just have Ableton get info for one track from the usb and another track from the interface's mike input.
Click to expand...

This looks confusing.

To OP - You can mix any source regardless where it comes from one you have it. You can't record from two different USB devices at the same time. You may have to for example, initiate the AMP, record, then exit the driver, then bring up the Mic interface, get it working and then record it. You may have to switch Ableton in the preferences to select the interface you want to use, then select the input from the track.

I hope this makes it less confusing.
 
BroKen_H said:
Sorry, true that. I was used to having my interface on FW! :facepalm: Just started using USB Tascam US1800...
Click to expand...

I am not an FW guy, but my understanding it, it behaves somewhat like SCSI interface it was originally intended replace. So it allows daisy chaining like SCSI, therefore it uses a single view by the OS with various hardware hanging off of it, like a network. That is why Windows treats it as a network protocol (1394).

USB treats each device independently. That is why each device needs its own driver.
 
Hi Wess,
just tried routing my USB mic internally to a second track using an M-A2496 PCI card and Samplitude. Does not seem to be possible.

I think you either have to stay with recording the amp via USB or bite the bullet and get an interface. The Mustang 1 has a "DI" output doubled as headphone out so that would be an alternative to micc'ing.

BTW it IS possible to record multiple USB devices, at least it is so in Samplitude but you have to use MME drivers and latency is poor and it is a bit of a "kludge". Best to get an AI that will handle the number of tracks you want straight up. For 2 mics and 2 line inputs the NI KA6 is hard to beat.

Dave.
 
I uninstalled asio4all and reinstalled it. Ableton now sees different inputs (??) I have played with it alittle and the latency is alright. Maybe they updated asio4all or something cause before the latency was not so good and couldnt get my buffer below 512. Now my buffer is 256 and thats workable. Ill try to add a mic later and let you all know.
 
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