is this possible?

[Foo-bu]

ok i have an old fostex 280 multitracker with 4 tracks and 8 channels. it also has 4 outs on the back as well as a AUX send which i plan on using to send a feed out to a delta 44 which has has 4 inputs. I currently have a sound blaster audigy platnium which has 1 input on it.

Idealy when i mic drums i would like to have each drum as a seperate track using at least 5 mics. I will be using cool edit pro to do the recording.

is there a way of making it so i could turn every drum into a seperate track using what i already have?

i know that the 4 outs on the mixer can go to the inputs on the delta 44 but that leaves out one mic which i think could go to the audigy. would i hafta use the pan options to isolate a certain track? is there a way to bump channels into tracks in real time if i cant send each drum out on its own? I'm new at this so any advice helps! thanks!!!

[knightfly]

The biggest limitation here is your sound card(s). The Audigy only has one (stereo) input, so the most you can record into separate tracks on your computer at one time is two tracks. In order to separately mic your drum kit, you need at least as many SIMULTANEOUS input channels to your computer as you have mics, so you would need an 8 or 10 channel interface, such as the Aardvark, Layla, etc. -

If the audigy has a SPDIF digital output and the Delta has a SPDIF digital input, you could concievably set the Delta 44 up to sync to the Audigy, which would make all tracks use the same word clock. Then you could use the Audigy for the other tracks. It wouldn't sound nearly as good as using a single interface with more inputs though.

If you try to use both the Audigy and the Delta 44 without locking one to the other as I mentioned above, you will get drift on playback, bad enough to notice that some tracks are out of time with others.

I'm not familiar enough (don't own either of them)with the Delta or Audigy to tell you whether you can clock the delta with the audigy thru the SPDIF connectors, or even if they HAVE SPDIF connections - but that would be the only way to achieve sync between the two cards. Check your owners manual on both cards, and if they allow it, most likely the Audigy will NOT sync to another card - this only leaves the possibility of syncing the Delta to external digital in from the Audigy, thru the SPDIF connectors.

Beyond that, the next step would be to trade up to a Q10 or a Delta 88. If you don't have a bigger mixer with more preamps, the Q10 has built-in preamps if I remember correctly. That would save having to buy a small mixer or more preamps in order to run more mics into the computer at once.

Depending on your room, kit, mics, etc, the only other thing I could recommend is to just mic the kit with a kick, snare, and pair of XY stereo overheads. This could be done with just 4 tracks, and the Delta44 could handle it... Steve

[Foo-bu]

well i dont have the delta 44 yet so thats why i was asking. i know the audigy does have a SPDIF so i guess that could help. i'd still like to have all the toms micd i was hoping that i could maybe get away with having a kick, snare, 2 toms, and one overhead. I've never heard of the Q10. who makes it. is it a soundcard or mixer? is the preamp any good?

[wes480]

Aardvark. Both. Yes.

www.aardvarkaudio.com