Delayed playback during 2nd track record

[amusedbytune]

I am using:

Hardware: AMD processor (1GHz), 512 MB RAM, 70 gig HD, Hercules Game Theater XP sound card, Peavey Escort 2000 Mixer

Software: Cakewalk Music Creator 2002


I am multi-track recording. I am using the line input for input and my computer speakers for main audio out from the sound card.

I have 1 track laid down. When I go to lay my 2nd track I push record and the first track plays as I play the 2nd track.

The problem I am having is that what I'm playing comes out delayed!! It's driving me nuts.

Is there a way to only hear track 1, and not my live input?

Also, should I be using a monitor for recording? I don't have one and I really don't understand what their purpose is. Do ANY speakers hooked into the soundcards line out serve as a monitor?

THANKS.

-w

[AlChuck]

Sounds like you are monitoring what you play after it's passed through all the processing. You need to monitor it from your source or not at all (that is, just listen to your playback).

What are you recording, and what's your recording source? If you're recording a solidbody electric guitar through a POD or an amp or something, it might have a headphone output. Listen to that as you record, not to the guitar track as it's being written to the hard drive a few milliseconds later.

Some soundcards also offer a way to directly route the input signal to the outputs.

Re your monitor question, monitors are, in a word, speakers. In this field they are not truly interchangeable words, though. Speaker usually is used to refer to a speaker from a stereo system or a guitar amp, "monitor" usually is used to refer to so-called "studio monitors," which are speakers that are made to sound as neutral as possible so that the sound they reproduce is a close to accurate as is possible. (Stereo speakers are usually made to sound pleasing, with hyped bass and a lot of coloration, and guitar speakers are not very hi-fi at all.) "Monitor" is also a verb (I used it as a verb in my first sentence above) -- when you listen to something critically or for cues to respond to, you are monitoring.

ANY speakers hooked to a soundcard can serve as monitors, but not necessarily good ones. That's the difference. If you use cheap home stereo speakers or computer speakers, you will have a very hard time hearing what's been recorded accurately enough to be able to do a good job of mixing. Because of all the coloration, they tend to force you to make a mix that seems to sound good on those speakers; then when you play them elsewhere, they sound different, because the range of difference in coloration of consumer speakers is vast. Your only real hope is to start with a neutral reference point so you can hear everything clearly and accurately. It's a real art, and I don't claim to have mastered it, nor do I really care too -- I'm much more interested in the music itself.

That said, two years ago I did buy a pair of "real" monitors, after using some small Bose home speakers for years. Wow, I could not believe the difference it made in clarity, detail and in the stereo imaging...

[amusedbytune]

....i am recording and electric acoustic guitar through the mixer into the sound card. the first track is the same instrument.

you wrote: Listen to that as you record, not to the guitar track as it's being written to the hard drive a few milliseconds later.

- r u saying listen to myself playing track 2? i need to hear track 1 as i play track 2. i need to hear both.

i will mess around some more and see if i can find a way to stop the output of my currently recording track.

thanks for the ideas and explanation of monitors. they sound like a necessary item for realistic recording. suggest a cheap one please.


w

[AlChuck]

I'm suggesting that you listen to the prerecorded tracks and the input of the 2nd track that you are currently recording.

There are no cheap monitors. Well, there probably are, but the least expensive I've seen are about $400 a pair.

[amusedbytune]

one solution i have found is adjusting the latency in Cakewalk audio properties. that solves the problem for my ears, but probably not the most effective way to do it for recording quality? who knows.

i am still trying to find the control and/or jack for listening to the input of track 2 (before it is processed).

just for kicks.




thanks for the tips AlChuck

w


ps damn, monitors are expensive! that sucks.

[AlChuck]

There won't be such a jack on a consumer sound card. Try the Windows mixer, and look for the Line In playback control (in the window that shows when you launch it) and enable it. That should route the input signal to the output.