Connecting to sound card from J-station

[gjb3]

I want to make sure I'm doing this right...the J-Station has a mono 1/4" output and my sound card has a stereo 1/8" line in. Do I need anything other than a cord with the proper ends (1/4" mono and 1/8" stereo) to connect this (i.e. does it matter that the signal is starting as mono but coming into the soundcard via a stereo connection...will the signal be affected)? Also, in N-Tracks...in the "Select Audio format" dialog, should it be set for "mono"?

Thanks in advance...feel free to post answers with questions so I can increase my lousy post count.

-J

[SPINSTERWUN]

Originally posted by gjb3
....Do I need anything other than a cord with the proper ends 1) (1/4" mono and 1/8" stereo) to connect this....

2) (i.e. does it matter that the signal is starting as mono but coming into the soundcard via a stereo connection...will the signal be affected)?

3) Also, in N-Tracks...in the "Select Audio format" dialog, should it be set for "mono"? ....

1) No.

2) No.

3) Yes.

[gjb3]

Thanks, spin...

[Tom Hicks]

If you connect a mono 1/4" plug output from the J to a mono 1/8" plug into the stereo line in jack of your soundcard,although the level will be ok,the stereo part of the effects like ping pong delays etc will be lost.Radio Shack has the adaptors you need to get a real stereo signal to the line in jack.
Using the S/PDIF output on the J results in an amazing 24 bit signal digitally injected into your pc without going through AD DA converters.The sound has noticably better headroom when recorded this way.I saw a usb s/pdif input device for $99 in the Musician's Fiend catalog that came today so that is getting pretty cheap.
Tom

[SPINSTERWUN]

Originally posted by Tom Hicks
....
Using the S/PDIF output on the J results in an amazing 24 bit signal digitally injected into your pc without going through AD DA converters.The sound has noticably better headroom when recorded this way.I saw a usb s/pdif input device for $99 in the Musician's Fiend catalog that came today so that is getting pretty cheap.....

Great response, Tom Hicks.

[KingV1474]

hey...
..if ur card has stereo in.

You know ur Jstation has 2 1/4" out jacks.
one for left, and one for right. If u setup the stereo option in Jedit (or Utility mode) on ur Jstation.

Go to radio shack and tell them you need a Y cable.
that has 2 mono connections (male) and one stereo connection (male)....and a 1/4" stereo to 1/8" stereo convertor.

Or, if u know how to solder, u can make ur own.
Heck even if u dont know how to solder, a local guitar tech can do it for u, cheap probably. They did it for me when i needed a similiar custom cable.
again, 2 male 1/4" mono jacks 3 conductor (shielded) wire, and a stereo 1/8" jack.

And of cousre, turn stereo funtion on ur jstation on.
And be sure in ur softwar eto have one track for left and one track for right.

Of course, the S/pDIF would be a heck of a lot better. I'm trying to find something for that myself. possibly a hoontech DSP value something or other er . www.hoontech.com

[TimOBrien]

Tom and King are right on using the stereo cable. But if you're using a soundcard with a 1/8" jack (an SBLive I'll bet???) you've probably got a mediocre card anyway.. think about jumping up to a good 24-bit card.

And right about SPDIF. I'm running my J-Station into my Echo Mia using SPDIF and it's tons better. Noisefloor is down to -100db.... dead quiet and sound quality is superb.

[gjb3]

Thanks for the responses, but I'm a bit confused. I though it was better to track in mono and add effects later, rather than to record with effects (stereo or otherwise). That's why I was going mono from the J-Station. I was going to record several mildly distorted guitar tracks, panning to give fullness, and adding reverb or a touch of chorus as needed later. Advice?

Also, re the soundcard, its a Creative Labs PCI-64 (??) which is mediocre but it will have to do for now. I'm hoping to upgrade to something better at a later date.

-J

[AlChuck]

gib3,

You're right, if you're not using the J-Station's effects for tracking but adding them later, mono tracks are much easier to deal with in mixdown.

I presume like most of these devices the J-Station has one jack that will send a mono signal if that's the only two of the pair connected.

I'm not sure what's best here. Probably the most flexible thing is to connect it via S/PDIF, bypass the effects and just record a track from either the left or the right side of the S/PDIF port.

[KingV1474]

i guess if ur not gonna use any of the stereo effects, feel free to use mono.

if ur gonna pan...ur gonna make copies of the track ur record?

well..whatever man.

But, if i had stereo ins, I would use 'em.
U dont need to use the effects on the jstation if u dont wanna. U can add those later. or have them already in the signal w/ the jstation.

S/PDIF allows u to take a dry track or the wet track.
S/PDIF ...is the best choice. Dry/wet/mono/stereo....its the best.
U should REALLY look into upgrading ur soundcard to one that has S/PDIF in. I am.

alchuck= the Jstation has 2 1/4" jacks. In mono mode, it sends the same signal to each out jack. Currently, I'm sending one signal to my power amp, and the other to my sound card (mono card )

In stereo, one out jack is left, the other right.
The s/pdif ...is stereo, and can be tapped dry (before effects) or wet (after)