soundcard question in the cakewalk forum

[mjhigg]

I've got a technical question that I'm sure has been covered in the BBS somewhere, but I haven't been able to find it, so here it is...

I am a singer/songwriter/guitarist type who has been recording on a Tascam cassette 8-track for years, and recently, I started sending the stereo mix from my Tascam to SoundForge on my PC, where I compress, EQ, and add reverb. Then I open the tracks in Cakewalk, and mix to a single wave file. Then I reopen the wave file in SoundForge again for some final normalizing-type stuff. It's working out pretty well, except...

I have only been able to record two tracks using this method because of synch problems. When I send the mix from the Tascam, I pan the acoustic guitar hard one way, and the vocal hard the opposite way. Then when I get them into SoundForge, I separate them and I've got two tracks that I can modify individually, and are in synch. I've tried adding other tracks, and lining them up, but it never seems to work out, and two tracks of audio gets pretty boring, I gotta tell ya!

So I guess I probably need one of those soundcards that you can play and record at the same time on, no? I've seen some of those high-end soundcards with a number of separate inputs, and all. But really, I'd only be adding one track at a time, so I'm not sure if those are really for me. Basically this is pretty much new ground for me, so any input would be greatly appreciated!

[kennedy connor]

I recently started recording on the computer after many years with tape especially cassete. A year ago i started recording on a P166 on a 30$ card from creative labs. You will be amazed how much better everything will sound. If you have cake thats a good start and there are many cards for 200 or less that will work great. check the posts here and do it! Make sure full duplex for record and playback and stay away from mini jacks...a good card will have at least rca plugs....cakewalk has a good compatibility chart at their site

[garrigus]

Hi mjhigg,

Yes, you would need a full-duplex sound card. If you're just getting into this, then you might want to opt for a Sound Blaster Live (www.soundblaster.com) for a start. If you want to get a professional audio interface, then check out http://www.midiman.com or http://www.echoaudio.com.

Best,
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Power! and Sound Forge Power! books, and Publisher of the DigiFreq music technology newsletter. Learn about cool tips and techniques for your music software by getting a FREE subscription to DigiFreq... surf to:
http://www.garrigus.com/

[mjhigg]

Thanks for the post, Scott. I will look into the Soundblaster.
I just ordered a copy of your book on Amazon a couple of days ago, and I'm looking forward to the release of SoundForge Power! Thanks for the much-needed references!

-MJ