channels and hook up...confused?

M

martinepiphone

New member
ok lets see how i can put this. say i have a mixer with 8 channels, and i have a soundcard with 4 ins and 4 outs that are 1/4 inch...how could i plug in my acoustic guitar in channel one and my software pick up that as 1 track, and hook something else into channel 2 and that be another seperate track...i know this is possible but i dont know how to hook it up that way...do you use the outs and ins on the soundcard? ok that is one question, heres the other: the only out on my mixer to hook to the soundcard is an rca out...so i go from the rca out to the in on my computer, and whether the in on the soundcard is rca, or 1/4, is one or the other a better sound quality, or is the rca connection just fine to run into the soundcard. i know its better than 1/8, but out of the rca, and 1/4, is one a better quality connection than the other, because my mixer only has rca outs. or pertaining to the first question, do i run my instrument directly into the computer and the outs to my channel on the mixer...if someone understands all of this blah, then i would greatly appreciate it if youd help me out, thanks guys!
 
What you can do depends on the number of output busses on your mixer.
Let's assume you have only the main stereo buss, which gives you 2 mono outputs.
To get channel 1 on the mixer into track 1 of your recording software, you plug the left main out from the mixer into input 1 of your soundcard. Pan channel 1 hard left on the mixer. In your recording software, assign track 1 to input 1 of your sound card.

To get channel 2 on the mixer into track 2 of your recording software, you plug the right main out from the mixer into input 2 of your soundcard. Pan channel 2 hard right on the mixer. In your recording software, assign track 2 to input 2 of your sound card.

If you have an aux buss on your mixer, you can plug the aux outs into inputs 3 & 4 on the soundcard, assign two channels to the aux buss, and pan them as above to route to input 3 & 4 on your sound card.

You'll need rca to 1/4" converter cables. There's no issue with this, it just means you can't use balanced cables.

Plug all your instruments, mics etc. into your mixer, & from there to your sound carrd
 
usb connection

so if you use a usb connected inferface with a lot of ouputs, is it possible to assign each of these to different tracks on your software?
 
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