Concerns...

[EvanE]

Ok so I have some new equipment and I'm very confused on how to hook everything up and record some songs with it. Mainly because when I do hook everything up, it won't play back, I have no audio period. I've been able to record and see my vocals show up on the track but when i hit play, I can't hear anything.

Equipment:
Soundcard: Audiophile 192/Sound Blaster Audigy 2 (both in comp)
Preamp: PreSonus TUBEPre
Conpressor/Gate: Behringer Autocom Pro-XL MDX1600
Mic: MXL 990 Condenser
Programs: Cool Edit Pro 2.1
Cables: 4 XLR cables - 2 XLR to 1/4" pin adaptors
Mixer: Behringer EURORACK UB802

Right now I have it hooked up:
Mic > Preamp > Conpressor/Gate > Comp (Audiophile Soundcard) > Mixer

I have to convert into mono to record then back to stereo to edit so I'm doin that, but I can't edit anything because I can't hear anything. Why am I not gettin any sound or playback?

[ssscientist]

You probably don't hear anything because you don't have any monitor speakers.

If you just forgot to include them on your list, the outputs of the mixer need to go into the speakers (for actives) or into the amplifier (for passives). You can use headphones too --- just don't do any mixing with them.

Also, eliminate the compressor/gate from your input chain. It's only getting in the way.

.

[Massive Master]

(A) I can't understand why you'd make a mono source a stereo track to edit it. It's a mono source. Just leave it mono. Making it "dual mono" doesn't make it stereo or anything... It just makes it twice as large and takes twice the CPU.

(B) Agreed - Get the Berry out of the input chain.

[EvanE]

aight well...

I do have monitor speakers, the thing is I have two soundcards runnin at the same time. If I keep just the audiophile in I can't hook it up to my monitor speakers or the mixer to use my headphones (which I know about, but thanks). Then if I keep just the Sound Blaster in I don't get the same quality and I can't hook it up to the mic because I have xlr cables running from my preamp into my soundcard (currently the audiophile 192) -- The XLR doesn't go straight into the audiophile though, I have a plug in adaptor that is XLR on one side and 1/4" pin on the other so it plugs into the "L Mono Input" from the soundcard. I only have the choice of "R Input" and "L Input" on the soundcard and there might be a "Main Input" but I think there's only a "main output" so that's why I have to record in Mono then switch to stereo to edit. Anyway, is it bad to have both soundcards runnin at the same time cause I can't do one or the other. My monitor speakers wont plug into the audiophile, only the sound blaster...

So basically here is the set up in short.
Audiophile works with Mic, not with speakers
Sound Blaster works with speakers, not mic

Can I make them work together? Or what do I do with that problem?

[EvanE]

anyone know?

[Minion]

Go and get the right adapters and cables so you Can hook your monitors up to your audiophile card and then you should be able to hear out of the Audiophile card.....

You can also try going into your windows audio hardware settings and setting the Audigy as the Playback device and the audiophile as the recording device which might work but you are better off just connecting the monitors to the audiophiles outputs....


Cheers

[EvanE]

and those adaptors would plug into the MIDI I/O or the S/PDIF I/O?

[heroics321]

just buy the appropriate cables to run the audiophile's 1/4 inch outs to your monitors. midi doesn't pass audio, and s/pdif is a digital stereo signal. if your monitors have an s/pdif input, you could use that, but otherwise just use your red and white analog outputs. there's no reason you can't use the audiophile for simultanious recording and playback. i'm not sure how cool edit works, but make sure you've got the appropriate drivers selected for playback.

[TragikRemix]

no offense or anything, but it would be much easier if you got a real soundcard, meant for studio work.

[heroics321]

Originally Posted by TragikRemix

no offense or anything, but it would be much easier if you got a real soundcard, meant for studio work.

The audiophile isn't a bad card, and I don't think a "real" soundcard would help someone who's having basic routing issues... it would probably make things worse.

I would say save up the extra $100 and get a Delta. But the 24/96 is a fine card and has the basics + a MIDI port.

Definitely a card people should start out on rather than a stock sound card/soundblaster.

[Harvey Gerst]

To record, we found we hafta open up the M-Audio software and set the sync to external. When we want to play back, we hafta go back in and set the sync to internal.