How to Monitor Vocals with USB Mixer - HELP!!!

  • Thread starter Thread starter erickalm
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erickalm

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Hi everyone! I just received my Xenyx Q502USB in the mail and I am having trouble setting it up. I am trying to record through Audacity. IS there an easy way to fix this? I want to record while simultaneously listening to instrumental fed from computer and my voice being recorded at that time. I have noticed when I record it creates a latency issue and the track echoes. It is currently recording music and my voice on one track, but I want voice only. I see people saying to hook RCA Y Cable to computer. Does this work? Please help!!

Thanks,
Ericka
 
Your mixer doesn't have the right facilities to do the job easily--most basic interfaces have a facility called "direct hardware monitoring" which sets this up easily but the cheapie mixer is sadly lacking in routing options.

However, you might make it work by hitting the "USB/2 track" button to the "headphones" setting. This will route whatever is coming out of the computer to your 'phones but not to the main mix. For this to be properly useful, you'll need to be able to set up a headphone mix on your DAW software--I don't know if Audacity can do this but I suspect not. It's probably worth downloading and trying Reaper (free to try, only $60 to buy). I'm not a Reaper users but I'm pretty sure you can select what tracks will be routed out for monitoring.

Alas, latency will be an issue, particularly if you're using a generic MME Windows driver rather than a specialist ASIO one. On the Behringer Driver download page HERE they list a generic ASIO driver for all their USB devices (except for a couple but you mixer isn't one of the exceptions). I'd download it and see if it works--if so, ASIO should help your latency issue.

(FYI, the generic MME drivers are part of Windows and share processing time with everything else running. ASIO drivers are dedicated to just one audio device and designed for the lowest possible latency.)

Hope some of this helps.
 
The attached should give you some idea of how to sort the routing*.
But I agree with Bobbsy, you really need a decent interface. The mixer will still come in useful, spare headphone amp, talkback, doorstop.

No! I jest! A wee mixer is probably one of the most useful bits of kit the home recording bod can get once they have a good basic setup.

*Much the same will be possible in Reaper or any other DAW software.

Dave.
 

Attachments

Well, a wee mixer CAN be useful in addition to a proper set up but I have to disagree slightly. Too man...indeed, most...small USB mixers make themselves pretty useless because they're very limited in their routing options. One of the first things to be left out are aux channels which make monitoring a dream, they almost always imply they have X channels but only allow the main L/R mix to go to the computer and, most seriously, frequently only let you route the USB return to the main mix (which is one of the stupidest choices ever.

At least this one lets you route the USB return to headphones but still relies on you to do the actual mix in your DAW. This means it lacks a facility that even pretty basic interfaces offer.

I'm a mixer fan but I think most of the modern, cheap designs are planned more to rip off people who don't understand what they need than to be useful tools.

Yeah, you've hit a sore point for me...and I'm also in a bad mood because we're moving on Tuesday and I've spent the last two days packing. I hate packing. Next life everything in my house will be flightcased! (The new house does fulfil a lifelong ambition by giving me my own palm trees though.)
 
Thank you Bobbsy!

As the UK suffers the worst floods in over century and here (NN5 5P* GOOG) it has not stopped a cold, windswept rain for days....YOU talk of bloody palm trees!.....Heh!

But! The sun is now shining and the wind has dropped a bit so I forgive you. Now, mixers and their utility! I did say "mixer", not "usb" mixer. I agree, these are not useful for home recording and are all crappy 16bit jobs that tend to be noisy.

But the basic mixer itself, such as the X802, can be useful. I must point out that this is in the context of an already established setup. AI, computer and monitors all working happily together. Now, maybe another muso wants to join in? The mixer can take two mics, line ins from pedals, keys whatever and the result panned into the AI . There will be two headphone feeds, one from mixer and one from AI so both parties can harken.

My own 802 did sterling service into an M-A 2496, now replaced by an A&H ZED10 it is now velcro'ed under the back bedroom window where it will amp up the mics in the garden for the CCTV on the wildlife for my wife.
I shall get this all working again once the weather improves!

Dave.
 
Mixers haven't been the same since Soundcraft stopped making their little notepads! Now THAT was a baby mixer that deserved to be called a mixer!
 
Bobbsy said:
Mixers haven't been the same since Soundcraft stopped making their little notepads! Now THAT was a baby mixer that deserved to be called a mixer!
Click to expand...
Hah! 4 years or so ago I wanted a Compact 4 but couldn't afford one. When I could I could not find one, or a ten!

Dave.
 
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