digital out/midi out of BR-8

[daveyo]

My BR-8 has these outputs on the back of the unit, my
soundcard (awe64) has only a stereo line-in, no digital-in.
There is however a midi-in for a joystick/midi device.
If I connect the output of my BR-8's midi out to my
soundcard's midi-in, can I record a digital signal???

Thanks for any help!
Daveyo

[tawalker]

Hi Daveyo,

If by "digital signal" you mean "digital audio", unfortunately not. MIDI is used for information such as note details (on/off/pitch/velocity, etc.) and synchronisation between recording devices; the latter is the main use which the BR-8 has for MIDI (though you can also use it to trigger "proper" drum sounds from the Rhythm Guide). My BR-8's MIDI Out allows me to run my Cakewalk PC sequencer in sync with the BR-8 - very handy for saving audio tracks.

AFAIK, if you want digital audio transfer from the BR-8 to your PC, you'll need to add a digital I/O card, or upgrade to a soundcard which includes an optical digital input. I've heard some bumf about a mismatch between sample rates on the BR-8's optical out and the optical in on the SB Live! Platinum (which I use), which is supposed to result in some loss of sound quality, but I'm a monkey's uncle if I can hear any difference... ;-)

So, short answer: Unfortunately, you can't transfer digital audio over MIDI. There's supposed to be a new interface standard in the pipeline, mLAN, which can do both, but it's not in general use yet... but that's another story!

Hope that's of use - sorry I didn't bring better news...

Tim

[72fender]

You can use a patch cord that has 2 RCA males on one end to a 1/8" stereo plug, the 1/8" end goes into your soundcard.