Basic Soundcard Question...Audiophile 2496

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Popcorn

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Hi,

I'm really bad with technical stuff so humor me with this silly question of mine. I've recently purchased the Audiophile 2496 and wanted to know if the two analog inputs labeled L & R respectively can be used in the same manner that I've used my former soundcard. Explanation: My former soundcard has one red mic input and one line level input. I have always used the line level for my guitar and have been given the option via my sequencing program (Cubasis VST) on whether I wanted to record the guitar as a mono track or a stereo track. In other words my ability to record either stereo or mono was driven by the sequencer....why are the two inputs labeled L & R? Does this mean that if i want to record my guitar to both channels(stereo) that i would need to have a cable running from my guitar with a split end and use both the L & R inputs for one instrument.. Please tell me this aint so. I really need to have one available input at all times connected to my sound module so that i can mess around with it as i play my guitar or vocal. I just got the card today and haven't installed it yet. Thanks in advance...
 
Popcorn,

Well the bad news is the Audiophile 24/96 has only left and right inputs, (analog) left and right outputs, (analog) midi in and out, spdif in and out, your line in on your old sound card is stereo 1/8" and your mic in on your old sound card is stereo 1/8". So if you want to record your guitar in stereo you would have to get a stereo splitter (RCA) and you will not be able to run your sound module, unless you can run it midi, my recommendation is to purchase a nice mixer and then you can run your guitar and your sound module into the mixer then into the computer.

Carter

P.S. The audiophile 24/96 is a very nice card and has nice sound, keep it and buy a mixer
 
I've got an Audio Buddy

Thanks Carter,

Gosh...i am pretty bad at this. So what your saying is that my particular problem can be solved with a mixer? Well..right now i dont have a mixer, but i do have a Audio Buddy which is a preamp with two inputs and two outputs. This would work. I can always mix levels within the program. Does a mixer only have one out?
 
The Audiophile card has no mic preamp built in as your old soundcard did. The audio buddy will provide the gain you need in the short term, so you should be set. If you are comfortable with doing all your mixing in the computer, you don't need a mixer as such. However, to drive the line-level inputs on the Audiophile, you do need something to act as a preamp- and the audio buddy will do that just fine. It's strictly an entry-level piece, but the best thing is that you have it and it's paid for...

The R and L are for convenience. You should really think of the sound card as a 2-channel input/output device. There's nothing wrong with treating the inputs as two separate items, and putting vox in on one, and guitar in on the other, recording them onto separate tracks, and mixing them to your heart's content later.

I just put an Audiophile 2496 in my DAW to use as the MIDI interface and the monitor output (with Cubase). It's a very good card for my needs, although I'm using it in a completely different mode than you are. You ought to be able to do very well with it in the short term. Then as you learn the art, and decide you need more, you can snag more hardware. Right now, it's all bout using what you've got and getting used to it...
 
Thanks

Thanks Sklippy,

I really feel alot better knowing that I'll be able to continue working as i have; i'm sure the card can be an improvement on how i normally work, it's just a matter of getting to understand the card and its possibilities. Is my understanding of stereo wrong? Perhaps i just never gave the idea much thought, but stereo to me has meant the same sound coming out of a left and right speaker. I suppose this is too simplistic a view. Can you give me a better definition of stereo so that i can move forward with understanding the card? Thanks again for your help Skippy, it is really appreciated.
 
Well, it's probably best to think of stereo as two *related but non-identical* sounds coming out of two different speakers. If the identical sound is coming out of both speakers, you have mono from two speakers, which isn't very satisfying. Stereo creates a sense of "space" by creating specific differences in the signals sent to left and right.

The two channels in a stereo signal have related material. However, for example, differences in the volume level of an instrument between the two channels will make that instrument appear to move around in the soundfield from side to side (panning). Subtle differences in the phase relationships between the channels can give the sound a sense of "depth", which creates additional spatial effects above and beyond the 2-dimensional effect of panning.

Anyway, many people who use most consumer soundcards will never use it for anything more than working with a stereo signal, as in recording the left and right channels of audio from a CD to a simple pair of channels. So the manufacturers call the input channels "left" and "right". However, for our use, you might as well label the input channels "A" and "B", or "soup" and "nuts".

For multitrack recording, the input channels will quite often have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, as you record individual tracks- like (as a contrived example) recording guitar and kick drum simultaneously, and then going back and recording vocals and tambourine simultaneously. Only when you mix these four individual mono tracks down to your final stereo pair after all the recording is done, will the "left" and "right" on the outputs mean anything. When you mix, you might assign the kick drum to be panned to center, the vocal to be panned to center, the guitar panned a little left, and the tambourine panned a little to the right: creating a "stereo pair" of related-but-not-identical signals from your collection of individual (mono) recordings. And (and this is the fun part!) creating an auditory "space" that didn't actually exist when you recorded each individual component...

Just the same: let's not talk about 5.1 surround sound just now, okay?(;-).
 
It seems your Audio Buddy has 2 1/4inch outputs...just get a cable that goes from 2 - 1/4 inch mono plugs to 2 - RCA plugs(or 2 separate 1/4 to RCA plugs...go from the Audio Buddy to the soundcards L and R inputs...
 
Thanks

Thanks Guys!

Sorry i couldn't reply sooner. My computer had a major crash...just got back up. Nightmare.
Just recently i've tried getting an education in audio cables. Wow....materials, metals, terminators. Have you made any of your own cables? I'm going to try it...it's a good way to get good quality cable inexpensively. All you really need is a soldering iron and wire strippers, terminators. The cool thing about this is that you can cut your own lengths and have it all color coded so that so that wires are more easily manageable and at the exact lengths you need. I've been thinking that it's probably a good idea to have all stereo terminators; since your never certain when you may need stereo. The information i've gathered claims that if you have stereo connectors you can always revert to mono, but that you can't do the reverse...ie..(mono to stereo). Wonder if this is correct thinking? Take care.
 
Here is another place where the word "stereo" can easily get misused. I hate the term "stereo connector". Truth be told, just about the only place you'll ever see a "stereo connector" in studio work is the plug on your headphones, and the jack it goes into.

Call that connector a TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) connector, and you'll be closer to accurate for our purposes here. Stereo implies two different-but-related functions in a single connector. However, for studio use, we'll generally deal with connections that have only one function- but one that may take either one or two wires.

You'll often see "balanced" and "unbalanced" talked about here. Unbalanced, or single-ended, signals are run over a cable with two wires, like a regular guitar cable, or on RCA patch cable from your stereo. They have a "hot" that goes up the center (the tip), and a "shield" that surrounds it and provides the ground return (the "sleeve").

Balanced signals are another kettle of fish: they use 3 wires to perform the same function: they have a hot (the tip), a cold (the ring), and the shield (the sleeve). The important thing here is that the signals on the hot and cold are exactly opposite one another. Whent the hot swings positive with respect to ground, the cold swings negative. It's the same signal, but the opposite polarity. This is called "balanced differential", and if your equipment has balanced inputs, it can achieve better noise rejection (hums and crud) than if it used single-ended inputs.

Problem is, a balanced differential 1/4" TRS cable looks just like a headphone stereo cable. It just has a wholly different function.

There are other uses for 1/4" TRS connectors that aren't stereo- like the insert point on a mixer, where the send goes out the ring and the return comes in the tip. That ain't stereo either, and neither is it balanced: even more kettle of even more fish...

Anyway, you can (and often have to!) mix single-ended and balanced signals. Here's a great reference for cable building, design, and plugging this gozinta into that gozouta and stil having the damned thing work afterwards:

http://www.rane.com/note110.html

And when you get completely through that one, look up this site:

http://members.nbci.com/studio_tech

and scroll down to the "wiring and grounding" section.

Those links are more effective than my typing ever will be. There's a lot to learn in order to be effective with this art, but you'll find that it is worth it...
 
Information

Skippy,

The "Sound System Interconnection" article is really good. I'ts the sort of article worthy of printing up and archiving in a special binder i've created. This weekend will be devoted to some quality reading time. Thanks again.
 
There is an absolutely ungodly amount of information available via the links on the studio_tech web site. Bookmark that one, because it has well-documented answers to just about every possible question that comes up for new recordists- and old ones as well. We all owe that gent a debt of gratitude for pulling all that together.

Have fun reading, and then have _more_ fun recording!
 
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