Audio recording help needed

[geforcemx2000]

I need some help. I want to record some audio tracks (guitar only) but am somewhat confused on how to hook up my gear. I'm pretty much a plug and play type of guy (no pun intended), meaning I plug my guitar in and start playing. So I'm kind of clueless when it comes to audio equipment. But I am pretty good with computers..

First let me give you a list of the gear I own.

Jackson Electric Guitar
Ovation Acoustic Guitar
Digitech 2101 preamp as seen here: http://site188.webhost4life.com/ghmedia/2101/technical.html
AMD Athlon XP Computer

What I just bought:
Audiotrak Maya 44 MKII as seen here: http://audiotrak.de/eng/maya44mk2.html
Behringer Ultra GI100 DI Box as seen here: http://www.8thstreet.com/prod.asp?pid=11480
Cakewalk Sonar 4

OK that's my gear but now how do I hook this up properly without damaging something? I believe I've managed to get the Maya 44 MKII sound card working properly with Sonar 4 so I don't think that's a problem. As for the rest of the gear, all I want to do is go from my guitar, to my preamp, to my DI box and into my computer (direct) for recording and be able to monitor all this thru my headphones in stereo (not mono).

Here are some of the parts that are confusing me:

1) The DI Box and Maya 44 MKII card says something about phantom power but I'm not sure what this is and how to use this if I even have to.

2) I have four 1/4" jacks on my Maya card and when I hook up my headphone all I hear is audio on one side (mono). Do I have to use a Y cable for this to work?

3) What's this balanced/unbalanced I keep reading about? Does balanced have to go to balanced and vice versa? Is this something I have to worry about?

4) On the back of my Guitar preamp (as seen from the web site I listed above) I have XLR outputs and 1/4" outputs. The XLR outputs are labeled as balanced but not the 1/4" outputs. What outputs should I be using and does it even matter?

5) I'm a liittle confused about the term line level, can somemone give me a simple explanation of it? I'm guessing it means just preamp power, not power amp power.

I'd appreciate any help anyone can give
Thanks

 

[genob]

1) The DI Box and Maya 44 MKII card says something about phantom power but I'm not sure what this is and how to use this if I even have to.

Phantom power is used for microphones that require a 48volt (phantom power) supply. Your guitar won't need that...

2) I have four 1/4" jacks on my Maya card and when I hook up my headphone all I hear is audio on one side (mono). Do I have to use a Y cable for this to work?

Your head phones have a "TRS - Tip Ring Sleve" or "Stereo" type connector and only one of the contacts is being made in a mono type female plug so that's why you're only getting one ear. You might want to invest in a cheap headphone amplifier which can be found anywhere and run the mono out from your sound card in to the amplifier and then plug your headphones into the amp. Most sound cards can't provide enough current to drive headphones adequately. You don't want to overdrive the output of the card and burn out the channel.

3) What's this balanced/unbalanced I keep reading about? Does balanced have to go to balanced and vice versa? Is this something I have to worry about?

Balenced = 3 wires in the cable aka TRS - tip ring sleve or XLR. They use a differential signal on 2 wires and ground on the third. Unbalenced use ground and signal on 2 wires. Balenced give you less noise when recording, you should use balenced to balanced connections for quieter recordings. Your guitar will use an unbalenced cable which you can usually run into a mixer board or DI box to covert to balenced.

4) On the back of my Guitar preamp (as seen from the web site I listed above) I have XLR outputs and 1/4" outputs. The XLR outputs are labeled as balanced but not the 1/4" outputs. What outputs should I be using and does it even matter?

Use the balenced. Again, the actual guitar will have an unbalenced 1/4" output into the amp. Then the amp will have either an XLR or TRS balenced output or a 1/4" unbalenced output to go into a mixer or whatever you want to use. Balenced = less noise.

5) I'm a liittle confused about the term line level, can somemone give me a simple explanation of it? I'm guessing it means just preamp power, not power amp power.

I'm pretty sure line level is a 2 volt peak to peak signal. It's definately NOT what is referred to POWER AMP POWER. Never plug the output of your power amp into the input of your sound card or mixer or anything that takes in Line level inputs, you will blow out the preamp/input stage and kill the channel. Always be careful of that.

 

[geforcemx2000]

Thanks for taking the time to answer, you were very helpful.