Hi There, I use an M-Audio Mobile Pre. I run it on a PC, and use Acid 6.0, Sound Forge, Reason, and BFD. I just want to clean up my sound a little bit. I'm mostly working with MIDI and Loops and samples. Would upgrading my soundcard help clear things up? If so what are some soundcards that you guys would recommend? Any help would be much appreciated.
Would upgrading my soundcard help?
- Thread starter lucky13
- Start date
Stealthtech
LOGIC ABUSER
meaning that your using your stock PC soundcard ?
if you want a better quality output then yes, an upgrade would be in order.
if you want a better quality output then yes, an upgrade would be in order.
Stock soundcards are made with $1 worth of parts for beeps, boops and light gaming.
Think you'll get good music out of that???
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the stock soundcard.
Good recomendations here:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
Think you'll get good music out of that???
#1 Rule of Recording: You MUST replace the stock soundcard.
Good recomendations here:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/soundcards_for_the_home_studio.htm
Yes it does.
My first thought when you said you want to "clean up" your sound, was that you need something with nicer mic pres. But if you're mainly doing MIDI work, then that won't matter, and my guess is the MIDI ports on all those devices are pretty much the same. Can you describe in anymore detail what the issues are with your sound?
My first thought when you said you want to "clean up" your sound, was that you need something with nicer mic pres. But if you're mainly doing MIDI work, then that won't matter, and my guess is the MIDI ports on all those devices are pretty much the same. Can you describe in anymore detail what the issues are with your sound?
lucky13 said:
How are you monitoring?
Are you using a keyboard as a MIDI controller? I suppose a bad MIDI cable could introduce some noise, but I don't know, since you're not actually sending any audio through that connection.
Maybe your high noise floor is caused by the type of MIDI samples you're using (a lot of overdrive stuff?), or bad audio connections between your Mobil Pre and monitors/headphones. Maybe you just have your monitors turned up too hot.
I'm monitoring with M-Audio Studiophile monitors. The keyboard I use as a MIDI controller is an Axiom 49 key that connects to my computer via USB. Most of the MIDI stuff I'm doing is done in Reason, and I do use some overdrive stuff, but generally my music is all over the place as far as different styles go, and the noise is still there on some of the ambient stuff. After doing more research, I'm thinking it might be a multiplier effect from no power conditioning, not the worst but not the best cables, the soundcard, and just my entire signal chain. Does that sound plausible?RAK said:
lucky13 said:
It does. I would lean more towards dirty power/bad cables more than the soundcard though. Are you actually hearing a hum or buzz? (otherwise known as a 60 cycle?) That would a power issue.
Unfortunetly is seems that the 1/4" outputs on the MobilePre are wired for unbalanced plugs. I'm assuming you have just a TS cable (like a guitar cable) between the MobilePre and Monitors. Maybe getting a TS->TRS(or XLR) cable will help, but I'm not positive about that. Also, I think you're not really supposed to plug a TRS cable into a TS-only wired jack, but maybe nothing disasterous would happen. I know I've plugged TS cables into TRS-only wired jacks with know problem (usually they're wired to accept both, like your Studiofile monitors are)
Have you tried listening back through the headphone output? Is it the same thing? A Power Conditioner or Iso Transformer might work if it is a power issue.
lucky13 said:
No problem. I hope you can pinpoint the problem. Just curious, if you disconnect the cables from the MobilePre to the Monitors (or I guess just turn your monitors off) and then listen on headphones (so that's the only thing connected to the mobile pre, other than the USB connection of course)
Do you still hear the buzz then?