Do I need to buy a sound card?

M

morindae

New member
I have a cheap Ess soundcard in my computer which is awful for recording music. I was wondering if some of you could save me some time by answering this question for me. If I record tracks in the MR8 and then transfer them to the computer and use my plugins to do EQ and compression, etc, will the changes I made in the computer still be heard when I transfer the mixed tracks back to the MR8?
The reason why I am asking this is because my soundcard makes anything that I have recorded sound terrible. When I burn the final mix to a CD I would rather do it from the MR8. Thanks for you time.
 
You will not be using your soundcard at all when transfering WAVs to or from your computer. That's WHY I bought the MR-8, so I could bypass my soundcard and just transfer data (keepin it digital) because I had the same shitty soundcard problem.
 
Hi,
I have a cheap sound card too but I was amazed when I hooked it up to a decent pair of JBL monitor speakers !

rs8
 
I was thinking about getting monitors but then I just adapted one of the 1/4" headphone outs on the MR-8 to 1/8" and plugged in my subwoofer system I use for my computer and it sounds great.
 
Ok, so if I edit on the computer, the changes that I make will transfer to the MR8. In other words, if I put reverb and eq on a vocal in the computer, I will hear it on the MR8 once I move it back. I am not dependent on the plugins once the edit has been done.
 
As for transferring the music back to the MR-8, I have not done this yet so I really don't know. However, if you are using the computer's CD burner why do you need to go back to the MR-8? If you are recording onto the MR-8 and downloading into your computer as a wav file it is my understanding that you are not using your soundcard. I would say if your recordings are not coming out good it is because of editing or CD burning software not your soundcard. What software are you using?
One other thing. This is just a slightly educated guess. I would guess that if the recorded material is changed to a wav file that the changes would be there when you put it back on the MR-8.
 
Yes Gospel, that is my guess too. I haven't tried it yet, mainly because of time constraints. This is probably a really stupid question, but I had to ask it anyway. As for burning the CD, I would rather go straight into a separate CD burner than use the computer. So what I am thinking is that I could record my tracks into the MR8. Transfer them into the computer and use my N-Tracks to edit and mix. Move the final mix back into the MR8 and then burn to an external burner. In essence, what I want to know is, am I dependent on anything in the computer once I have used my plugins to alter any of the wave files. I wouldn't think so, but I am not very knowledgeable about computers. The one flaw in my thinking is that a good soundcard is important for editing, just like having a good set of flat monitors is. So I doubt I can escape the fact that I will probably have to get a decent computer with a good quality soundcard if I want to improve the quality of my recordings.
 
When some of the guys on here get around to reading your last post I believe you will get the information you are looking for. They know a lot more than I do. I've only had my MR-8 for a week. I will tell you what I have done that worked great and what computer I have. I have recorded on the MR-8 and put the recorded material via a digital cord to my minidisc and it worked great. I have downloaded music from cassette to my computer and cleaned it up using Goldwave and burned CDs that sounded almost CD quality. My computer is a Dell with a 1.7ghz celeron processor, 256DDR RAM and 20gig HD. It doesn't have a dedicated soundcard, it is integrated. That is what attracted me to the MR-8. It can be used with the computer I have. I plan on getting N-track so I can expand the number of tracks I can record and use the CD burner in my computer.

But, like I said, these guys on here will be able to enlighten you more than me. I plan on calling on them a lot in the near future.
 
Morindae,
Just because you are using your monitors to edit..ie soundcard, it's ok. As long as the digital signal does not enter or exit through your soundcard. That's where you run into trouble.


bd
 
Thanks for your replies guys. I think I have half of my question answered. What you are saying is any editing I do on the computer will be reproduced on the MR8. So for instance, If I record a vocal dry on the MR8 and then transfer it to the computer and drown it in reverb using one of my plugins the edit (reverb) on the wave file will be heard on the MR8 when I transfer it back. Am I correct in this assumption?
The second problem is this. Let's assume I have perfect monitors. I then eq the wave file in my computer. Will my soundcard interfere with the accuracy. In other words, does a cheap card color the sound in any way. Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated.
 
Here's what I would do regarding the first question....try it. Save your dry tracks and give it a go. You can always go back to the drawing board if the results are less than satisfactory. This is pretty much uncharted waters to the best of my knowledge.

The second part, the soundcard doesn't "color" so much as distort. It's more of a noise factor. Again....save your virgin and try it. You can always go back and do it over. That's the beauty of this wonderful technology we have.


bd
 
bdbdbuck, I hadn't realized this was unchartered waters. I obviously do plan to try this out. I am trying to save myself time and hassle by asking more knowledgeabe people than myself before I begin the process of editing my songs. Once I have finished working on my present song I will try it and let you know how it comes out.
Your comments on the soundcard issue have been helpful and lead me to believe I made the correct decision buying the MR8.
 
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