2 of the same Sound Cards, will it work ????

[rudibass2]

Hey ,


I read on here somewhere about a guy with 4 SB sound cards in a PC but can't seem to find it in the search engine .

If I install another Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS sound card in my PC will there be a problem with the PC and/or DAW ( Adobe Audition 1.5 ) recognising them as two separate I/O devises ??

I want to have two matched room mics via the sound cards to enhance the drum tracks I'm taking from a mixer via a Tascam US -122 now .

I installed a Phillips Rhythmic Edge card but the sound quality is to poor to get a usable stereo pair with the other SB card .

Is this possible to do or am I asking for recognition problems ??

I'm getting a nice mix now with my close mics and overheads mixed with a Mackie 1604 and tracking the mix from the mains to the Tascam .
I track one room mic from a sub into the sound card now but I would really like to get a pair for a better image .
Two room mics in conjunction with the mixer tracks would do me fine till I finally pull the trigger and upgrade the PC interface with an 8 track capability like the Pre Sonus FirePod or a Mackie 400F .

Thanks for any help you might have on this issue

 

[thajeremy]

the sound card you have now should have a stereo input, that means you can already get to seperate channels out of it. look in the track properties of Audition and you can choose to record in stereo, or just the left channel, or just the right channel. hook up your 2 mics to the mixer. use the inserts on the back to get your signal to the soundcard. you will just need to buy a stereo Y adapter with a 1/8 stereo plug to go into the soundcard, and 2 mono jacks on the other side to accept the signal from the mixer.

 

[rudibass2]

the sound card you have now should have a stereo input, that means you can already get to seperate channels out of it. look in the track properties of Audition and you can choose to record in stereo, or just the left channel, or just the right channel. hook up your 2 mics to the mixer. use the inserts on the back to get your signal to the soundcard. you will just need to buy a stereo Y adapter with a 1/8 stereo plug to go into the soundcard, and 2 mono jacks on the other side to accept the signal from the mixer.

You know , I went all through that before , using the mixer and a keyboard and could not get a complete stereo track , only the left side . Same in mono , had to select left track to get a signal . Well after I read your reply it struck me !!!!!

It's the balanced cables and or the left and right rca line outs on the key board . They're all tip hot and only feeding the standard left side . I figured the Y adapter would tap a hot tip or ring and feed one side of the chain or the other but that is not the case . To prove the card's line in is indeed stereo , I ran the balanced line from my mixer out of it's headphone jack instead , having a true tip left , ring right signal . Sent a playback track to the mixer from Audition and armed a track to record the returning headphone mix and voilà , stereo tracking in Audition !!!!

I just need to get a short patch cable and reverse the wiring on one end , like flippping the phase on a mic cable , and I'll get the signail routed to the ring on the sound cards line in jack.


Good news man , you just saved a ton of money on my car insurance !!
Thank You

 

[thajeremy]

it sounds to me like you are recording from one source to a stereo track. If this is the case...you are wasting hard drive space. When you mix down you should always mix down to stereo, but when you track, you should track in mono and pan left or right to get your stereo image. The only way you are gettina a true stereo track is if you use 2 mics and pan one left and one right.

 

[rudibass2]

Yes , I'm tracking two seperate room mic's . The idea of the stereo tracking was to use just one soundcard to record the room mic's
feeding from the direct outs on a Mackie 1604 mixer .

All the close drum mic's and overheads are mixed to the left and right main outs thru a Tascam USB interface and I'm tracking them as left and right mono tracks. I then mix them together with the room mic
( hopefully a pair of them ) to add a bit of ambiance to the mix . It makes a huge difference

I'm ordering a different Y cable from Pro Audio Solutions . This one I will know the spec's . Two mono females to a stereo male . The one I have must be stereo (TRS) to TRS .

If I get it working I'll do the same with the second card and take an extra track of the bass and snare so I can adjust the mix better or tweek them with drumagog.com .

 

[rudibass2]

the sound card you have now should have a stereo input, that means you can already get to seperate channels out of it. look in the track properties of Audition and you can choose to record in stereo, or just the left channel, or just the right channel. hook up your 2 mics to the mixer. use the inserts on the back to get your signal to the soundcard. you will just need to buy a stereo Y adapter with a 1/8 stereo plug to go into the soundcard, and 2 mono jacks on the other side to accept the signal from the mixer.

Ok , turns out that the Y cable I have is stereo out to 2 stereo outs . Probably made to split a single headphone line out . Since the balanced lines out of the mixer are TIP HOT I was only feeding the left side channel in the recording program .

I got a Y cable that has 2 female mono to a single stereo male plug and everything is tracking in stereo now !!

I was chasing my tail with this stereo to stereo Y cable till I checked it in a headphone jack and head that it was stereo in either side of the Y cable .

It messes up the whole balanced system I've put together but it's all just a short term fix till I upgrade to a 8 channel interface of some sort !
In the mean time I have 2 solo mono tracks of the kit mixed on a Mackie and a pair of summed stereo tracks . A left and right room mic stereo track and one with the kick and snare . I can always rip them into 4 seperate mono tracks if need be in Audition Editor .

Thanks again for the help !!