Soundcard for Cakewalk under $150?

miracle whipkey

New member
I have searched the forum for threads on sound cards and most of the ones I read were reccommending cards that were at least $200 and up. My budget is a little tight right now, so I was wondering if anyone had any positive experiences with using any sound cards under $200 (preferably under $150) with Cakewalk.

I am running windows 2000 professional, athlon 1700xp processor, 512 mb ram. Cakewalk Home Studio 2002 XL.

The card I have right now is a Creative Audigy, and I think its the model thats made for gaming. The only way I can get the mic input to record is using the Creative sound recorder. The standard windows sound recorder doesn't work, and in Cakewalk, I set the input to the Audigy card, but the record button is grayed out, so I can't even record at all.

I have read that Creative cards are not too good for recording, but I was figuring it would be good enough for demo stuff. Since it won't even record at all, I need to get a better card.

I don't have any particular NEED to have a lot of inputs. Just about everything I record will be me, so I don't think I would ever need to record more than one thing at a time.

Any recommendations for inexpensive sound cards, that you know will work with Cakewalk, would be VERY MUCH appreciated. I am totally new to recording in general, not just computer recording.

Thanks,
Clay
 
Midiman Delta Audiophile 2496. Under $150, decent card. You will find it recommended by many people. Definitely beats SB cards.
 
...and in Cakewalk, I set the input to the Audigy card, but the record button is grayed out, so I can't even record at all.

In Cakewalk, you need to ARM the track before recording... Have you done so ?

Mic Input will give you crap. believe me, you won't use it. Get some external Preamp (or mic preamps come with your external mixer), and hook it to your Audigy's Line Input, you'll get ALOT MUCH better quality this way. In addition, you'll need to select the recording source to Line In instead Mic Input to make it work. Use either Windows mixer or Creative's Mixer to do so.

;)
Jaymz
 
thanks

Sounds like my real issue might be that I need to get a preamp/mixer.

James, I saw that tweakhead link on another thread, but most of those cards were really expensive (if only I could find a bag o' money... that would be sweet).

I didn't ARM the track. I might be an idiot, but I just went to the section of the manual called Recording and Audio Track. It didn't tell me to ARM the track first, though. I guess I'll have to go through the manual from the very start. My bad.

What's a good preamp/mixer (if I'm saying that right)? If you know of a single object under $100 that I could buy that would help me record with an SM58 into my SB Audigy, that would be fantastic. Again, I'm not try to win a grammy for best producer, I'm just wanting to record demo stuff for the rest of my band to use to learn the songs. That, and to learn how to record. At a future point I will probably upgrade the equipment and get more serious about it.

Thanks.
 
Re: thanks

miracle whipkey said:

What's a good preamp/mixer (if I'm saying that right)? If you know of a single object under $100 that I could buy that would help me record with an SM58 into my SB Audigy, that would be fantastic. Again, I'm not try to win a grammy for best producer, I'm just wanting to record demo stuff for the rest of my band to use to learn the songs. That, and to learn how to record. At a future point I will probably upgrade the equipment and get more serious about it.

Thanks.

Good and under $100 don't necessarily go together, but that is my budget too. The Behringer Eurorack 602A should be under $100 ( I paid $150 CDN). Functional preamps, all the features you need to get the job done.

and yeah: reading the manual is a must. Go through the tutorials.
 
If budget is in your mind, you may want to keep an eyes on E-Bay for cheap but usefull second hand gear. I suggest you to get some small mixer (Mackie, Soundcraft, etc...). Average price for 1202 type (12 input, 2 bus, usualy come with 4 mic preamps on the strips ) would be around $70 ~$120 in good condition.
And you know what ? I produced Michael Jackson & Britney Spears using SM58 Beta with Mackie 1202 and SB Live! card (Along with Delta 66). :cool:
























kiddin'...:D
 
thanks again

Thanks all.

Yeah, Ebay is my grocery store... when I have approval from accounts payable (a.k.a. my wife) to make a purchase.

Thanks for getting me on the right track.

This place rocks. Y'all rock. I was so surprised to find a forum like this, for such a seemingly specialized interest, with such a large and helpful community. Even with the internet as big as it is these days, a board like this is not common.
 
James Argo said:
I produced Michael Jackson & Britney Spears using SM58 Beta with Mackie 1202 and SB Live! card (Along with Delta 66).
Wow that's incredible! It even beats what MacGyver could do with an empty baked beans can, a length of string and a rubber band! ;)

--
BluesMeister
 
Back
Top