pc speakers into delta 44 question

[Sacredgrooves]

Hey everyone,

I purchased an M-Audio Delta 44. Will this will completely take the place of my POS stock pc sound card for listening to music/dvd's, in addition to what it brings with recording I/O?
if so, I have klipsch pro media pc speakers...4.1 set. would I just hook them up to two of the output jacks on the delta's breakout box(with 1/8" to 1/4" adapters)?

if I cannot, would I just run the delta and the original soundcard, leaving speakers plugged into the original for playback?

one other question: is a standard guitar cable balanced or unbalanced(I have spectraflex cables)?

some additional information....I also purchased an audio buddy, and a shure 58 and all this will be running on a windows xp pc 3.2ghz, 512 mb ram, 160 gig HD. I eventually plan on upgrading to monitors over the klipsh and adding another 512/gig of ram.
I record guitars direct with a pod 2.0 and some other toys, but have plans on going back to a head/cab and mic'ing in the next couple years.
none of this is hooked up yet, and I would really like to do it only once if possible. I will be getting a midi keyboard, have an analog keyboard. will also be recording guitars,bass and vox. thanks! Dave

[cmhansen]

If your Klipsch speakers are powered then just go out of the breakout box to your speakers. If not your going to have to have a amp in there between them. The delta is 1/4" output jacks, as you know, so if your speaker system is 1/8" plugs, you'll have to either get an adapter or cords specifically made to go from one to the other.

You can do your second suggestion to, but I think you'll have to change the PC settings for the soundcards each time you switch from one to the other. It may not sound like a big deal, but you'll get sick of it after you do a couple of times.

As for the guitar cable questions, you might try the guitar forum here. I'm not that well versed in the balanced / unbalanced stuff. I just usually read the manual and go buy what it tells me. I know boring, huh.

[AlChuck]

Guitar cables are not balanced.

You could use the original soundcard for playback but if you want to overdub (listen to wgat's already recorded while you lay down the next track) this probably won't work well.

A already suggested, the Klipsch speakers being PC speakers means, I assume, that they are powered speakers, so that should work for you,

[Sacredgrooves]

thanks everyone. the klipsch work, although surround sound does not seem to be supported. the only other issue I am having is the vocals I recorded last night only record in mono....using cool edit pro, shure 58 through audio buddy/delta 44. are they supposed to record in stereo?

[AlChuck]

Mics are monaural devices, as they should be. Recording properly in stereo with mics is difficult and not for the beginner. Stereo is the result of a bunch of monaural tracks being mixed to stereo.

[Sacredgrooves]

thanks for clearing that up! Dave

[andycerrone]

Since this is a question about the delta 44, i am having a problem with it. See, when I put it in, it makes it so no other soundcard can work, and says that there is no soundcard available in the "Audio Properties". But if i take it out, then the program suddenly reappears to be able to play music and stuff. Anyone else experience this or know what to do? I'd call M-Audio but i bought it on Ebay. Thanks.

[rayc]

BUT why would you use PC speakers with a reasonable audio card?
Cheers
rayC

[altitude909]

Since this is a question about the delta 44, i am having a problem with it. See, when I put it in, it makes it so no other soundcard can work, and says that there is no soundcard available in the "Audio Properties". But if i take it out, then the program suddenly reappears to be able to play music and stuff. Anyone else experience this or know what to do? I'd call M-Audio but i bought it on Ebay. Thanks.

You need to go to control panel/sound and multimedia/audio and set your perfered playback device

[scrubs]

Trust me, the Delta card is superior to whatever onboard soundcard that came with your computer, so you should use it for both recording and playback. You can connect computer speakers directly to the card with the correct adapter cable (only outputs 1/2 on the Delta can supply the main monitor mix, so you'll have to use them). However, I would recommend getting a small mixer or headphone amp for routing your speakers and headphones. I'm using the Presonus HP4, which takes the main outs from the Delta Card and lets you connect your main studio monitors and up to 4 additional pairs of headphones and/or multimedia speakers. I have a couple of sets of computer speakers hooked up to it to check mixes on, in addition to my main monitors. A very handy little unit.

[scrubs]

Originally Posted by andycerrone

Since this is a question about the delta 44, i am having a problem with it. See, when I put it in, it makes it so no other soundcard can work, and says that there is no soundcard available in the "Audio Properties". But if i take it out, then the program suddenly reappears to be able to play music and stuff. Anyone else experience this or know what to do? I'd call M-Audio but i bought it on Ebay. Thanks.

That is the way it is supposed to work. You can download the pdf manual from the m-audio site.

[altitude909]

That is the way it is supposed to work. You can download the pdf manual from the m-audio site.

Not quite.

I use a Delta in conjuction with the AC97 (which is connected to my comp speakers, delta was giving me issues with some windows things) and all you have to do is to select the AC97 for default in the control panel/sounds and both soundcards should be available as choices. They actually play quite nice toghether and I have had no issues at