Setting up my equipment

[ShdwKnght]

Hi, I have set up my computer so I can record myself singing to karaoke tracks. This is just something I do for fun, so I am not looking to buy any new equipment. Before switching from Windows 7 to Windows 10, I was able to hear my voice in the headphones and record it as a separate track. Now I am not sure how to do that.

The equipment I am using:
Behringer Xenyx 1202FX mixer
Samson C01 Condenser Mic
Computer with Sound Blaster Audigy fx
Windows 10
Audacity

The way I have things connected:
Mic is plugged into mic plug on mixer
Cd/tape in – from sound card green out
Cd/tape out – to sound card line in
Headphones – phones plug on mixer

Now the problem.
When recording if I have only:
cd/tape to Ctrl button pressed:
• I can hear the music - Good
• I cannot hear my voice - Bad
• My voice is recorded – Good

Cd/tape to mix button pressed:
• I can hear voice and music - Good
• Voice and music are recorded together – Bad

Fx to ctrl button pressed:
• I can hear my voice - Good
• I cannot hear the music - Bad
• Only my voice is recorded - Good

I want to be able to hear my voice and the music in my headphones at the same time, but have my voice recorded as a separate track. What am I doing wrong?

 

[mjbphotos]

You don't want to hear this because you said you didn't want to buy any more equipment, but ... what you need is an audio interface, this will give you the monitoring/recording options you want.

 

[ShdwKnght]

Would that take the place of my mixer?

 

[ecc83]

Would that take the place of my mixer?

Yes!
And no. Mike is of course quite right, you have backed yourself into a mediocre equipment corner with a gaggle of gear that does not play well with a modern OS. There are things you could try with the present setup..

Have you got/are there W10 drivers for the S(of a) B card?
If that gives no joy try ASIO4ALL.

Audacity is a great free audio editor but not really suited to duplex recording. Try Reaper.
We, son and I went the mixer/soundcard route many years ago but found out very early on that standard PCI soundcards were rubbish for music work. Playback quality is very good as a rule but they are just not designed for easy working.
I bought an M-Audio 2496 card and a Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer and this combination worked very well. We then upgraded the mixer to an Allen and Heath Z10. This combination gave us decent audio quality and low latency. The gift of a laptop saw me buy an M-A Fast Track Pro interface. That simplifies the whole process mightily but latency was not so good and the pre amps are ***t.

Still have a spare 2496.....?

Dave.

 

[ShdwKnght]

Hi Dave,

I do have the win10 drivers for the Audigy. I downloaded Reaper and looked it over. That is a lot more program than I will ever need. I also have Adobe Audition, but I haven't installed it since switching to Win10. The equipment I have worked well for what I need, and was was a huge upgrade from the $9 RadioShack mic that I started with. Until I upgraded to Win10.

Before upgrading to Win10, I only had a cable running from the Main out on the mixer to line-in on my sound card, and everything worked great. I could hear myself and the music when I sang. And when I recorded, the vocal and music were separate. Now I cannot hear my vocal when I am singing. I really don't need a bunch of professional equipment because this is just something I am playing with for myself. Usually I don't record, but when I do, I like to be able to go back and turn off the music in parts and hear just the vocal to see where I can improve. But no one else will ever hear these recordings.

Would a usb audio interface bypass my sound card?

 

[ecc83]

Hi Dave,

I do have the win10 drivers for the Audigy. I downloaded Reaper and looked it over. That is a lot more program than I will ever need. I also have Adobe Audition, but I haven't installed it since switching to Win10. The equipment I have worked well for what I need, and was was a huge upgrade from the $9 RadioShack mic that I started with. Until I upgraded to Win10.

Before upgrading to Win10, I only had a cable running from the Main out on the mixer to line-in on my sound card, and everything worked great. I could hear myself and the music when I sang. And when I recorded, the vocal and music were separate. Now I cannot hear my vocal when I am singing. I really don't need a bunch of professional equipment because this is just something I am playing with for myself. Usually I don't record, but when I do, I like to be able to go back and turn off the music in parts and hear just the vocal to see where I can improve. But no one else will ever hear these recordings.

Would a usb audio interface bypass my sound card?

Heh! You obviously haven't looked closely at Audacity! It is quite a serious editor. I have AA 1.5 and it works in W7/64 but I have not tried it in W10. AA is a pretty big DAW as well! What I am trying to say is that with ANY DAW you just find the bits YOU need and stuff the rest.

TBH that mixer/SB card/W10 combination SHOULD work just as it did in W7 AFAIK. I have not investigated sound in 10 to any great degree but I know my M-A 2496 worked fine and so did my Native Instrument KA6 USB interface. Have you investigated and "compatibility" settings in ten? This has to be just a matter of setting ins and outs!

But the answer to your last question is yes. A USB interface would completely take over all sound repro duties* and you could frisby the SB card!

In fact, if you bought a USB AI I would strongly suggest you pulled the SB card, uninstalled its drivers and any and all software to do with it (had one pre PCI slots! Left a ***tload of crap behind!) then run Ccleaner to clean out the Registry (you will be shocked)
Reboot then start the interface process. N.B. The interface will have mic preamps but you might like to keep using the ones on the mixer. This is fine you just need a couple of jack to jack leads to go into the AIs line inputs.

Dave.

 

[arcaxis]

As suggested an interface and better DAW will be better.

When you 'upgraded' to Win10 did you check in your Audacity the settings shown below? I seem to recall having a similar issue at sometime in the past that was affected by these settings.