All 24 bit digital setup is MONO RECORDING ONLY? HELP!!

[IHRec1ATL]

I'm stuck right now being able to record with 1 channel i guess only? In mono? In Magix Studio 05/Audacity both, the bottom level audio is FLATLINE! The top only is picking up. And the output just doesn't sound right. I'ma include actual visuals in a minute with how its hooked up.

SMH @ MYSELF. A friend of mine came thru, wanted to record a song and this is the only proram i have to work with(Magix Music Studio Deluxe 2005! IT COULD BE a setting on the computer or recording software or with my driver on my audio card(M-Audio Delta 44? Perhaps a connection (input or output) with my M-Audio Audio Buddy preamp? Does the mic plug straight into the preamp THEN OUT to the 44's BREAKOUT BOX 1 or 4 inputs and BACK OUT to whatever your speaker/output is playing to hear overall audio? Or does it go to the breakout box THEN the preamp?

I've checked the settings on the input/record section. I may have a selection incorrect(Delta 44 1/2 + Delta 44 3/4 + Delta 44 Multi etc).

Please help if you can. I'm currently about to try to uninstall the 44, start there. Reinstall with the newest driver from the site. I can't locate the actual disc from buying the audio card directly. I'd really prefer that one if i could find the disc. =(

I will be posting this to the M-Audio/Magix and other forums to help on the audio card/recording software side, but no help has come yet. Thanks in advance guys!

^^^ Real talk.^^^^ I'm bout to step out the door and meet Mr. Swisher
just 2 relax off this. I'm at a loss at to whats going on.

These are images plus text included on how i have them hooked up. Hopefully this gives you an idea visually. Yall help me out. I know its late in the evening, but, maybe someone can look out for me, help me figure this out.

Ima try to screen shot the settings to further help someone see if my settings to record are wrong which is why I'm only getting 1 channel.

Screenshots coming on :
1) settings in my recording programs(Magix and/or Audacity) record screen / options & settings screens
2) XP Control Panel>Sounds>Settings>M-Audio Delta 44

If you need me to post up a pic of another area screenshot-wise or anything to help squash this, let me know. I've got all the posts open, sitting in front of the pc.

Thank you so much for your time and I sincerely appreciate your time looking thru and potentially helping me.
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***EDIT / UPDATED W/PHOTOS&SCREENSHOTS***

Well, I uninstalled a 1394 pci card out of the other slot, took the 44 out and slapped into the 2nd and last pci slot where the 1394 was. Looked in the Device Mgr under sound cards, no 44 was there. Just the icon in the control panel that never seems to go away after you uninstall it.

Cable 3 from the ALL CORDS SHOWN photo in post above is going from the mic, to the mic's phantom power box. Cable 2 is a MONSTER CABLE FEMALE XLR plugging out as MIC OUT from the phantom power box as w/an XLR MALE on the other end plugging into the M-Audio Buddy rear panel into the Ch1 of "MIC IN". To route the mic from there, it has the 1/4" jack MALE plugging out from Ch1 output(balanced/unbalanced) of the Audio Buddy to A 1/4" MALE into 1st channel of inputs on the Delta 44 breakout box. Routed out of ch1 on OUTPUT on B/O Box TO the amp is a dual 1/4" MALE blk/silver unbalanced plug(see photo below)

The amp is virtually my speaker. That part really doesn't affect it actually picking up vocal/recording stereo signal though.

I rebooted, the found new hardware wouldnt pickup, yet it had recognized it earlier before we had messed around with it. This has happened before! LAST TIME when it installed CORRECTLY, the computer recognized it AUTOMATICALLY AS "Delta 44 Multimedia Controller" or whatever it exactly stated. It picked up, installed on its own. Only thing i had to do was go to M-Audio and get the latest driver for it and it should've been ready. All the connections are as described.

SCREENSHOT of the Settings panel under magix2005

SCREENSHOT of the inside of my pc, where the 44's plugged in, SPLIT with a shot @ Sounds and Audio Device properties. It should show the 44 but nothing there. This is after the reinstall on the 44's pci card. Still not installed correctly for some reason. If I download the driver and run THAT program, will it THEN decide to pick up the 44 once ITS installed? But exactly which driver download update is BEST? Running XP Pro SP3.

This is where I currently stand. Where to go from here? Help.

 

[IHRec1ATL]

*bump* for pics & updates

 

[altitude909]

maybe I am missing something but why do you expect a mono source (the mic) to record in stereo?

 

[IHRec1ATL]

Idk bout all that but, its been stereo before without all of this stuff going on. You may have a point, but once it goes thru the 24 bit audio card/BO Box which is 24 bit digital max, it should be technically switched over 2 stereo. At least when it worked, thats what i assumed it did. At this point, im considering pluggin in the presonus bluetube dp with the blown channel, using the good channel and seeing if it will do something there. This is seriously frustrating.

 

[IHRec1ATL]

Is this proper driver for it? I remember one time before,i talked to an m-audio rep on the phone and they had me download a different version which got it working correctly.

On the screenshot with the mixer tab open, notice the levels. i hit the wall to the closet/booth, jumped the levels so yall could see what was what on the monitor.

what gives?

 

[Farview]

Here is what is happening: You were doing it wrong to begin with (using a stereo track on a mono source) and now you accidentally started doing it right and you freaked out.

What you need to do is set up a mono track to record your audio. A mono track will give you a pan control so you can pan it anywhere in the mix. You will also use only half the hard drive space doing it this way.

BTW, That is a power supply for the tube mic, it isn't phantom power. Tube mics need there own power supply because the tube doesn't run on normal phantom power.

 

[IHRec1ATL]

this shit crazy. but its workin now. took 1 cable out of the equation. female xlr plug runs from phantom power box straight to Audio Buddy front panel INSTRUMENT INPUT CH1 power on front pushed ONLY. THEN on rear of Audio Buddy, 1/4" balanced gold plated dual end 1/4" male plugs from Audio Buddy Output Balanced/UnBalanced Ch1 to M-Audio Delta 44 B/O Box ch1. Standard unbalanced 1/4" dual male end cable, could be used as speaker outs, guitar cables, etc., THAT runs out to the amplifier.

So thats what it is? 1/2 settings is still 1-sided.

 

[mattr]

So thats what it is? 1/2 settings is still 1-sided.

Its only doing what is perfectly expected of it when you say its recording "1-sided"!

You are trying to record a mono source, yet you have your computer set to record a stereo track (which is probably taking L from input 1 of your soundcard, R from input 2, hence why the the signal from the input is playing back on one side). You mentioned the input settings "Delta 44 1/2" and "Delta 44 3/4" which refer to stereo tracks using inputs 1+2, 3+4 respectively. All you need to do is to set the track to record as mono from the single input your require.

That's it.

But what then confuses me is you seem to only be outputting one channel to go to your amp / speakers, so you're monitoring in mono anyway ?

 

[IHRec1ATL]

Ahhh... i need a kit kat cause i sure need a break....

As it stands right now, I'm wondering if its a driver issue, yet m-audio guys say thats the correct driver. Because all of a sudden, I have zero input signal from the mic. Everythings set in mono.

Current config is
1) mic power unit xlr out to audio buddy 1/4" front panel instrument ch1 input w/a balanced Monster LR to 1/4" TRS Cable
2) 1/4" TRS male to 1/4" TRS male from audio buddy balanced/unbalanced output ch1 to Delta 44 B/O box ch1 input.
3) unbalanced standard 1/4" male to 1/4" male for overall output.

I'm almost tempted to roll the driver back to the original driver to see if this is an issue. Granted M-Audio gives an updated version to D/L for my PC(xp sp3), I just don't know. At one point, the configuration was working WITH this driver, WITH this same hookup, now its not working.

I'm pretty frustrated at this point to where I've even dug out my old bluetubedp to replace the audio buddy and see if something worked, but nothing.

Prior when it was working, I was able to hear the vocals live over the amp/speaker, which let me know the mic was working, the hookups were correct, etc. Now, thats not even happening.

The issue with the live playback lays in the hookup. My daughters got ahold of my orig. headphones with the 1/4" plug, destroyed them. so the headphones I have are a headset/mic combo with a usb plugin for the time being. I noticed when using these, it made the settings go haywire and recording would not play active playback of vocals in phones.

I've googled and read problems w/headphones w/the usb hookup will not allow live vocals playing back in your phones where having a pair with the reg. 1/4" plugin would, since the headphones would absolutely bypass playback from the 44 which is where the mics run thru, the headphones would be pulling the output from a completely different area, so i understand why that is an issue. Just wonder what the deal is if the logitech headphones/mic headset messed anything else up? I've already checked control panel/sounds/settings to make sure the 44 is still set as 1/2" for recording, had the logitech selected as the playback.

As of now though, i've completely unhooked the logitech phones/mic from the system, just to get back to getting the mic right and operable by plugging the sound output BACK into the amp/speaker, tryna work on the mic. But thats where im at. Now nothing works. I've even took apart my mic, replaced it with a backup 12AY7 tube just for the hell of it to see whats up and nothing.

Maybe the hookups wrong, but ima let yall know what the input levels/specs are like from 44/audio buddy manuals in a sec. Ima chop thru there and slice out the pertinent stuff.

Audio Buddy Info&Specs(straight from .pdf manual)[/size]
* IMPORTANT: Whenever one of the front panel high impedance inputs is used, the associated back panel XLR is disabled. The Audio Buddy also has built in phantom power which can be switched on or off for both channels. When the rear panel phantom power switch is in, phantom power to both channels is turned on and the front Phan(tom) power LED will light.
IMPORTANT: Since the phantom power switch turns phantom power on or off for both channels, there is no way to turn phantom power on for one channel and off for the other channel. If you are using the high impedance inputs the phantom power switch has no effect.

Front and Real Panels​

Front
- High Impedance Input 1: High impedance (100K) input for Preamp 1. This input is optimized for guitars or high impedance microphones where you don’t want to load down the source. When this input is being used XLR input 1 is disabled.
IMPORTANT: Because the high impedance input jack is switched, the XLR input cannot be used whenever something is plugged into the high impedance input.

- Phantom Power Indicator LED: When the phantom power switch on the back of the unit is in, this LED will light indicating that phantom power has been turned on for both XLR in 1 and XLR 2.
IMPORTANT: Phantom power is turned on for both preamps, i.e. there is no independent phantom power control for each of the channels.

MY QUESTIONS:
1) Should the button in back of unit even be messed with? I don't have it turned on. Just the power on the main front panel.
2) Should the mic be going in the front panel's high impendance input listed as "Instr. IN?" Or should it be ran straight into the rear panel XLR/1/4" input listed AS Mic 1? I can plug EITHER the XLR or the 1/4" into the same slot on ch1.

Rear
- Outputs 2 and 1: These are the main outputs for the dual Audio Buddy preamps. They provide unbalanced outputs if a tip-sleeve 1/4” plug is used. Or, they provide balanced outputs if a tip-ring-sleeve (stereo) 1/4” plug is used. The level of these outputs are independently controlled by the front panel gain controls. Remember, Preamp 1 and Preamp 2 are completely independent.

- Phantom Power Switch: When in, phantom power is turned on for both XLR In 1 and In 2. When in, the front panel phantom power indicator LED will light showing that phantom power is on.

- XLR-In1&2: (#15 is 1; #14 is 2) Balanced XLR inputs for preamps 1 and 2. When the rear phantom power switch is in, phantom power is turned on to both jacks.
IMPORTANT: If anything is plugged into either of the frontpanel high-impedance input jacks, the corresponding XLR input will be disabled.

Specifications
• Frequency Response: 5 Hz to 50 kHz, +0, -3 dB / • Mic Gain: 60 dB max. / • Mic Input Impedance: 1 K ohm. / • Guitar Gain: 40 dB max. /
• Guitar Input Impedance: 100 K ohms. / • Approximate weight: under 1/2 lb. / • Power supply: 9 VAC; 500 milliamps.

THOUGHTS&QUESTIONS:
* Ive had the mic plugged into the Audio Buddy as this: balanced monster cable xlr female as OUT from mic's power suppy to xlr male IN on the rear panel of the A/B. Don't recall me pressing in the rear power button, which according to the above, maybe why THAT particular setup didn't work? But since it didn't, i discontinued use of that particular cord and went from the mic's power supply with another cable, the monster cable balanced xlr female from mic power to 1/4" TRS cable to instrument input ch1 on front of A/B. I can recall this setting previously working, but, now its not? Ima shed an e-tear in a minute....... arghhhhhhhh


DELTA 44 INFO
[url]http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/manuals/Delta44_Manual.pdf[/url]

I'm just kinda numb right now. I'll up some screen shots of the settings soon.

 

[Farview]

You can stop putting up screen shots. Just read the answers to your question that you will find on this and the other 27 forums you asked the same thing. There is a reason why you keep getting the same answer.

 

[NL5]

You can stop putting up screen shots. Just read the answers to your question that you will find on this and the other 27 forums you asked the same thing. There is a reason why you keep getting the same answer.

Yep, if he spent 1/10 of the time it took to right that giant post, he'd know what was wrong (or not wrong in this case).

Sounds like maybe he has his inputs set to stereo though? That's why only one side is working.

 

[rabiteguy]

the microhpone is mono and only requires a mono track to record. Recording a mono signal on a stereo track will record just that, pickup the mono signal for one side and nothing from the other since there is nothing plugging in. Exactly what everyone else on here already stated. There is a way to record your mono microphone to a stereo track but it wont be stereo since the signal will be identical for both left and right audio thus wasting 50% of space required. Also using a stereo 1/4 cable for a mono 1/4 jack will only produce the signal from the half of the cable that is inline with the jack. So depending which way you hook up the other end of the stereo cable it could be possible to lose the signal all together depending on how that jack is wired. This is why you should always use a mono cable for a mono jack.

 

[dgatwood]

Let me try explaining this.

Your audio interface only has mono inputs, period. Professional audio gear almost exclusively uses mono inputs. With professional gear, a stereo recording means using two mono inputs as if they were a single stereo input.

When you record in stereo with your interface, the DAW software is getting the left side of the stereo signal from input 1 and the right signal from input 2. If you record a stereo track with a mic plugged only into input 1, the right side is silent because that is coming from input 2.

If you want a mono signal from a single microphone to come out both channels on the output, you have to use a mono track in your DAW so that it is capturing a signal exclusively from input 1 instead of from inputs 1 and 2. With a mono track, you have a pan knob that you can use to pan the mono signal to either side or to the center.

You can't do the same thing with a stereo track. The pan knob on a stereo track just changes the relative levels of the left and right sides, and since the left side is the only one getting a signal from input 1, no matter how much you boost the right side, it will still be silence (and noise) because its signal came from input 2.