A lot of questions from someone who is immune to computers

B

Bagsida

New member
HI Peeps, i just registered in this forum to see if there is anyone out there who would take some time to answer a bunch of admittedly mostly stupid questions.
So i have been doing folk, alt and punk music for 15 years now, playing live, playing in bands, playing in my room,.... i have wanted to record forever but im kind of a dreamer and very slow when it comes to realising projects so it took me years to find out that music is made in studios and with computers and even longer to find out that there is actually a thing called DAW. so i got myself some audacity (im chronically broke) and a friend gave me a 60D machine that i could plug into my guitar and connect it the computer via USB. that thing has some nobs for volume and stuff and i even found out that i have to activate the +48V thing for acoustic input. now that machine has to input plugs which i like to use simultaniously to record voice and guitar. i recently moved to another country with that machine in my bag and over there i also bought a new computer. since then, i havent been able to use it, whenever i plug it in and open audacity there is no signal at all or just pure noise. i tried using different cables, switched plugs and everything, i even opened the case and checked for lose cables or broken solder joints. but to be honest im quite sure the problem is either the software configurations or a mistake from my side because every once in a while i manage to get a signal (although if i get a signal its always stereo but with both chanels recording the same input which is only more confusing). So yeah, that audio interface is a swiss sonic UA-2X2 from Thomann. One more thing, i seem to be magically immune to vocabulary so a lot of these technical terms are very hard to understand for me. ive tried to find a post in here that matches my topic but didnt have any luck (maybe because of the technical terms that i encountered). Also if anyone takes the patience and try to help me out, i have like a miollion more questions about plug ins and stereo and background noise and mixxing and so on but i think this on is enough for now. thank you for any hints in the right direction, i appreciate any kind of input!

UPDATE: After your insightful input, i tried using it with Reaper and i also tried changing the settings in audacity but both didnt work.
 
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In Audacity, you need to select the appropriate input and output. Those are next to the microphone and speaker icons. You might also try switching the driver (assuming Windows) between WASAPI, DirectSound and MME, just to the left of the input and output menus.

See if that does anything and report back. There's a pretty good chance we'll get you going, but it might take some fiddling with settings.

Oh, and you shouldn't need phantom power (48v) for a guitar connected by a normal guitar cable unless there's an active direct box involved.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
In Audacity, you need to select the appropriate input and output. Those are next to the microphone and speaker icons. You might also try switching the driver (assuming Windows) between WASAPI, DirectSound and MME, just to the left of the input and output menus.

See if that does anything and report back. There's a pretty good chance we'll get you going, but it might take some fiddling with settings.

Oh, and you shouldn't need phantom power (48v) for a guitar connected by a normal guitar cable unless there's an active direct box involved.
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Hey thanks a lot for the quick response! Actually ive been playing around with exactly these settings before but confusingly it didnt change the outcoming result in 9/10 cases. occasionally it did, though. would be really nice to know what exact settings i can rely on and how to find out what those are. i dont know what an active direct box is but my acoustic guitar has this little thingy where i can turn on the tuner and also adjust bass treble and phase which is also connected to the cable input and its run by a battery. the problem is definetly not the battery because i i tried changing the battery with no differenet outcome.
 
I would expect the input and output menus to list your interface by name, but I suppose it might just be under a generic name. Perhaps you could unplug your interface, look at the name of the input and output options, then plug the interface back in and see what shows up. You may need to restart Audacity after unplugging the interface and reconnecting it to get the lists to update, not sure.

Some driver options might simply follow what audio device you've selected in Windows.

Honestly, although Audacity is "simpler" in certain ways, it's very limited. It's not really even a DAW, it's an editor. You might be better off trying a proper DAW. The stock suggestion is to give Reaper a try. Although it's a far more advanced program, it might be easier in the long run. For one thing, Audacity can't use the ASIO drivers most decent interfaces come with. Audacity is simpler in the same way a 1929 Chevrolet is simpler, but no one wants to start their car with a hand crank or operate a manual spark advance or figure out why there are four foot pedals.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I would expect the input and output menus to list your interface by name, but I suppose it might just be under a generic name. Perhaps you could unplug your interface, look at the name of the input and output options, then plug the interface back in and see what shows up. You may need to restart Audacity after unplugging the interface and reconnecting it to get the lists to update, not sure.

Some driver options might simply follow what audio device you've selected in Windows.

Honestly, although Audacity is "simpler" in certain ways, it's very limited. It's not really even a DAW, it's an editor. You might be better off trying a proper DAW. The stock suggestion is to give Reaper a try. Although it's a far more advanced program, it might be easier in the long run. For one thing, Audacity can't use the ASIO drivers most decent interfaces come with. Audacity is simpler in the same way a 1929 Chevrolet is simpler, but no one wants to start their car with a hand crank or operate a manual spark advance or figure out why there are four foot pedals.
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hey thanks a lot for the insight. ive always been very satisfied with audacity because honestly my recording technique is not much more than stacking some tracks to a click, add some delay, compression or whatever and adjust the stereo a little but to make it more roomey. everything that goes beyond that is just out of my range. i just downloaded a bunch of free DAWs this morning from this list https://blog.landr.com/best-free-daw/
it deosnt contain Reaper, though. i might try that one out.
 
rob aylestone said:
American cars have four pedals? How do you do that with two feet?

seriously though, in that list ableton probably for you would be best,
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thanks for the reply, i downloaded ableton lite earlier this morning and will try to figure out how to record some music with that. im just confused and overwhelmed everytime i see parameters and waves that i have to adjust so im always scared about more complex (while propably also more better) software.
 
You don't need to be a computer person - maybe getting them set up needs a few basic skills, but a logical head usually works.

The thing with computer music production is that some people have the mindset that all they want to do is hit record. Hit stop, and then if it's not perfect, do it again .... and again. My concert pianist friend was like this, but one day after watching me edit his music, he went home to his artist version of Cubase, and 'discovered' editing - taking a few notes and editing them, taking the best phrases from ten takes and making one that was perfect. He discovered how good he could become, how to spend less time recording and know when little slips could be fixed, and when they couldn't. His productivity went drastically upwards! He started to realise he could have different piano sounds to suit the piece - different reverbs, different balance between his hand, even things his piano cannot do. He has a lovely Yamaha C3 grand, but his room is not nice. He bought a good 88 note weighted keyboar that feels like his grand and after trying loads of sampled and synthesised pianos, we now both use Pianoteq - which is a synthesised piano. His Mozart can sound different from the Chopin as he thinks fit, and often I'll replace his selected sound with one he'd not tried and sometimes he hates my idea othertimes he loves it and adds it to his list. With popular music, being able to copy and paste verses and choruses is a real winner. with your music - which is repetive little motifs and riffs an editor that works in bars and beats not time makes editing so much more easy. You can have a four bar sequence, and you edit it to make the timing spot on, then drop it in blocks where needed. Drums are easy to make tight. An audio editor can copy and paste, but one little hi hat a bit early migt be impossible to fix. A proper DAW lets you edit with time, beats and bars and often allows the stuff to be indvidually edited. A whole new world really. Then they can record your vocals. Clever ones even let you pitch shift, shrink and stretch too!
 
rob aylestone said:
You don't need to be a computer person - maybe getting them set up needs a few basic skills, but a logical head usually works.

The thing with computer music production is that some people have the mindset that all they want to do is hit record. Hit stop, and then if it's not perfect, do it again .... and again. My concert pianist friend was like this, but one day after watching me edit his music, he went home to his artist version of Cubase, and 'discovered' editing - taking a few notes and editing them, taking the best phrases from ten takes and making one that was perfect. He discovered how good he could become, how to spend less time recording and know when little slips could be fixed, and when they couldn't. His productivity went drastically upwards! He started to realise he could have different piano sounds to suit the piece - different reverbs, different balance between his hand, even things his piano cannot do. He has a lovely Yamaha C3 grand, but his room is not nice. He bought a good 88 note weighted keyboar that feels like his grand and after trying loads of sampled and synthesised pianos, we now both use Pianoteq - which is a synthesised piano. His Mozart can sound different from the Chopin as he thinks fit, and often I'll replace his selected sound with one he'd not tried and sometimes he hates my idea othertimes he loves it and adds it to his list. With popular music, being able to copy and paste verses and choruses is a real winner. with your music - which is repetive little motifs and riffs an editor that works in bars and beats not time makes editing so much more easy. You can have a four bar sequence, and you edit it to make the timing spot on, then drop it in blocks where needed. Drums are easy to make tight. An audio editor can copy and paste, but one little hi hat a bit early migt be impossible to fix. A proper DAW lets you edit with time, beats and bars and often allows the stuff to be indvidually edited. A whole new world really. Then they can record your vocals. Clever ones even let you pitch shift, shrink and stretch too!
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hey thanks for the nice and encouraging reply! i totally agree and i already try to implement some of the benefits of digital recording and DAWs, i have worked 40+ hours on a 4minute song that i wrote just to get the most out of it. the result is still shitty though haha!! but thats ok as long as i have fun and feel like having a creative output. i understand that it might take just a little bit more than just hitting record but i still want to try and keep it to a minimum because a. i am very slow and b. i write my songs on the guitar or piano, not the computer. i wanna be able to play my own songs after i mixed them. anyways, i still havent figured out what the problem with my audiointerface is...
 
Since it is a new computer, perhaps you need to download the drivers for that interface?

This thread needs to be moved from the Studio Building section to the Newbies section.
 
mjbphotos said:
Since it is a new computer, perhaps you need to download the drivers for that interface?

This thread needs to be moved from the Studio Building section to the Newbies section.
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the audiointerface came without drivers when i first bought it, its a very simple and cheap product and it has been working from the very beginning when i first plugged it in
 
UPDATE:

thanks for all answers, youve all ben very helpful! yesterday i couldnt take it anymore so I went out and bought a new audiointerface, a focusrite scarlett 2i2 3rd gen. it was way out of my pricerange and cost more than my guitar but it came with some plugins and headphones and a microphone that was better than the one i had used previousliy so i thought to myself now or never. i plugged it in and went through the set up that was provided. it was actually vey simple. i downloaded ableton live lite but when i figured out how to record in ableton, i faced a new problem: while the monitor sound is very clear and clean, the sound that gets recorded is about 1 and a half halfsteps down and is like very electronic and distortet. i played with the nobs a little bit and eventually went back to use audacity again but it didnt change anything. also i tried using another jack cable, restart the computer, unplug and plug in again, nithing helped. as the monitor sound is good, i figured it must be the usb cable so i changed that one too, without a different outcome. any ideas? thanks a lot for the patience!!!

EDIT: Also i have problems authorising ableton live lite, i have no idea how that would work. i saw on the website that they want a code but i dont know where or how to get such a code. it said it somes with some hardware devices but the list didnt include my new focusrite scarlett. is there any way to get a code elsewhere?
 
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bouldersoundguy said:
Check the information on this page.

help.ableton.com

Using an ASIO audio driver on Windows

Live Versions: All Operation System: Windows There are a variety of audio drivers available for Windows such as ASIO, MME/Direct X, Realtek, Direct Sound and Direct Capture. We recommend using a...
help.ableton.com help.ableton.com
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hey thanks a lot for the link. it says that, quote:"Note: If you are using a Focusrite interface from the Scarlett Range, ASIO4ALL seems to conflict with Focusrite's proprietary driver." although during the setup of the focusrite, i was explicitly told to go (in ableton live lite on windows) options - preferences - audio and set the driver type to ASIO. so here we got focusrite and ableton conflicting each other and im, as a real tech-dummy, am left confused haha...
ill really appreciate any kind of help on this one! thanks a lot!!!
 
ASIO4ALL is a special driver meant to be an improvement over stock Windows drivers, but it's technically not a real ASIO driver. I think as long as it's not loaded on your computer it should not be a problem. You should definitely use the Focusrite ASIO driver.

Your description sounds like a sample rate mismatch, like the interface is set to 48kHz and the project is running at 44.1kHz. But that's odd since with a simple setup like that the interface should simply follow the rate set by the software. I'm not sure how to diagnose that without being there in person. Is there a "control panel" or something for the Scarlett? Maybe it will say what sample rate it's set to.
 
Bagsida said:
hey thanks a lot for the link. it says that, quote:"Note: If you are using a Focusrite interface from the Scarlett Range, ASIO4ALL seems to conflict with Focusrite's proprietary driver." although during the setup of the focusrite, i was explicitly told to go (in ableton live lite on windows) options - preferences - audio and set the driver type to ASIO. so here we got focusrite and ableton conflicting each other and im, as a real tech-dummy, am left confused haha...
ill really appreciate any kind of help on this one! thanks a lot!!!
Click to expand...

Load the FOCUSRITE ASIO drivers, not ASIO4ALL
 
Thanks for the help, i got it solved and it was indeed the wrong driver (ASIO4ALL instead of focusrite ASIO)
 
I dont know about etiquette in this forum but admin might close this tab or archive it if thats how youre doing it here. however I would like to open a new tab about recording in DAW. Thanks a lot, you have been really helpful!!!
 
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