can I use two soundcards at once, without hurting the recording process?

[bball_1523]

I was wondering if it is possible to use two soundcards at once. I have an M-audio firewire solo and am planning on buying the SB Live 5.1/7.1. I use the firewire solo for guitar recording, but I want to use my cheap mic that has it's own power and neither my firewire solo or my onboard audio works with the mic. So I was thinking about using an SB live soundcard for the mic.

Is this a good idea and will it work out fine?

 

[thajeremy]

I wouldnt really call it a good idea because of the lack of quality of the SB, but it should work fine.

 

[bball_1523]

I wouldnt really call it a good idea because of the lack of quality of the SB, but it should work fine.

well I used a soundblaster 64d pci card with my old computer and my current cheap mic, and it sounded fine to me, well I know it sounded like crap, but it fitted me well for what I wanted to do.

I just got a new PC that is a billion times faster than my old one and got an M-audio firewire solo. The mobo has onboard audio as well and I tried using my mic, but it doesn't work right when I try to voice chat with people over AOL or yahoo messenger. Rather the input is the m-audio and not the onboard audio.

Do you know how to configure the onboard audio to be the input while voice chatting, while using the m-audio firewire solo for playing guitar?

 

[dctoms]

I have a soundblaster and a Delta 1010lt installed. I can use them together in separate applications but if I route to both of them simultaneously from a single application there are catastrophic audio problems. I don't know if you would have a similar result with pci & firewire instead of 2 pci cards.

I would scrap the soundblaster im using altogether except for its midi implementation. Its quicker, for example, to preview midi riffs using the soundblaster than import into Sonar and set up a VST.

You could also buy a Behringer UB-502 for about $30 and take your mike into the Solo that way. Or even better, buy a better mic!

I wonder why your mic won't work with the Solo though. Do you have an adapter to go into the XLR mic input?

 

[bball_1523]

I have a soundblaster and a Delta 1010lt installed. I can use them together in separate applications but if I route to both of them simultaneously from a single application there are catastrophic audio problems. I don't know if you would have a similar result with pci & firewire instead of 2 pci cards.

I would scrap the soundblaster im using altogether except for its midi implementation. Its quicker, for example, to preview midi riffs using the soundblaster than import into Sonar and set up a VST.

You could also buy a Behringer UB-502 for about $30 and take your mike into the Solo that way. Or even better, buy a better mic!

I wonder why your mic won't work with the Solo though. Do you have an adapter to go into the XLR mic input?

I don't have an adapter to convert it from 1/4" to XLR, but I'm afraid to buy one because I tried using the mic into the guitar input and I could bear hear anything out of it. So I'm guessing it won't work in the mic input either.

I really don't wanna dish out $100 for a decent mic with XLR cable. I mean I am willing to get one down the line, but for now I need a quick fix until I can make some more money.

Do you know how to configure the soundcards to be used at the same time? It seems that my audio properties auto-changes what is the primary input/output, even if I select the realtek onboard for mic use.

What is weird is that I was using adobe audition and selected the mic input from the realtek onboard audio to record and used my firewire solo for my guitar input while using Guitar Rig, and it worked perfectly fine. So I am still thinking that there's gotta be a way to use it with AIM voice chat, and other applications.

 

[brzilian]

I was wondering if it is possible to use two soundcards at once. I have an M-audio firewire solo and am planning on buying the SB Live 5.1/7.1. I use the firewire solo for guitar recording, but I want to use my cheap mic that has it's own power and neither my firewire solo or my onboard audio works with the mic. So I was thinking about using an SB live soundcard for the mic.

Is this a good idea and will it work out fine?

This question has been asked and answered repeatedly in this forum. A search on the topic would have given you your answers.

You CANNOT use 2 cards simultaneously unless they were designed to do so because of clock sync/drift issues.

 

[bball_1523]

This question has been asked and answered repeatedly in this forum. A search on the topic would have given you your answers.

You CANNOT use 2 cards simultaneously unless they were designed to do so because of clock sync/drift issues.

either there's advanced search guidelines to find exactly what I'm looking for specifically, or I just couldn't find the right answer by searching for "two soundcards." That's why I created a new thread, and plus I'm not sure if anyone has ever asked a specific question as I have concerning mic inputs and guitar playing, simultaneosly.

If the 2 cards were not designed to play with each other, then how do you explain how Adobe Audition used the mic input of the onboard card to record, while I was using my M-audio to play guitar through Guitar Rig, all at the same time?

 

[brzilian]

either there's advanced search guidelines to find exactly what I'm looking for specifically, or I just couldn't find the right answer by searching for "two soundcards." That's why I created a new thread, and plus I'm not sure if anyone has ever asked a specific question as I have concerning mic inputs and guitar playing, simultaneosly.

If the 2 cards were not designed to play with each other, then how do you explain how Adobe Audition used the mic input of the onboard card to record, while I was using my M-audio to play guitar through Guitar Rig, all at the same time?

Record 4 mins worth of material simultaneously on both cards and then see what happens when you try playing the tracks...

 

[fraserhutch]

either there's advanced search guidelines to find exactly what I'm looking for specifically, or I just couldn't find the right answer by searching for "two soundcards." That's why I created a new thread, and plus I'm not sure if anyone has ever asked a specific question as I have concerning mic inputs and guitar playing, simultaneosly.

If the 2 cards were not designed to play with each other, then how do you explain how Adobe Audition used the mic input of the onboard card to record, while I was using my M-audio to play guitar through Guitar Rig, all at the same time?

I think what Braz is trying to say is that while technically you *can* use them together, you'll get wierd phase issues (sooner or later) because their clocks will drift out of sync.

The result will be degraded audio, and let me tell you, when you don't know what the issue is, it's a bitch to debug. I had this happen to me when I first started with digital recording.

If I recall correctly, there are cards that can support multiple instances in that they distribute the clock between the cards.

Certainly you can record with them independently, but I would not use the simpultaneously for playback.

 

[bball_1523]

Record 4 mins worth of material simultaneously on both cards and then see what happens when you try playing the tracks...

I did that and get a lot of noise because my mic sucks, and I expected that. I can still hear myself playing the guitar though.

How about this: Is there anyway I can get my guitar rig to play directly through a voice chat feature in AIM or yahoo messenger? all i really wanna do is let my friends hear my play my guitar patches through guitar rig, over the internet. I can either do it by buying a new mic, configuring my mic with the onboard audio (that is what I'm trying to figure out right now), or fix it up with my M-audio firewire solo and Guitar Rig's setup.