does old 4-track mixer work?

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caleb69

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I got my PC(p4 3GHz, 1GB, 160Gb) last week, can't afford much yet, need a MIDI keyboard and a audiophile 2496, a shure sm57, cubase sx3 hopefully! Just want to use it all for a good audio sketchpad!

Hanyway, for now I'm stuck using the onboard soundcard (using asio4all to get the latency down to 12ms) and cubasic just to try it all out. I'm taking signals (guitar or guitarFX or radio) into my 4-track (audio cassette based(!) Tascam Porta7) and into my line-in socket on the card.

The signals are very very low level on cubasic and on the guitar rig demo, but register as normal on the 4-track, and they sound fine coming out the PC speakers. Do I need a proper mixer (I was thinking maybe a 4-channel Behringer if I need it)? Is it an impedance issue? All my input and output volumes are up to the top.
 
how are you going from the four track to the computer?
 
1/4" jack from the effects send output on the 4-track into a mini-jack line-in input on the soundcard
 
I've used a Yamaha MT120 (4 track tape) as a preamp/mixer. Instead of using the efx send, use the mix outs. On mine these are RCA jacks, all it took to connect was a 1/8 stereo to 2 RCA plugs cable. (about $4 from Radio Shack) I'm not sure what kind of jacks are on your machine but you need to go from the mix out to the line in on your soundcard, get the approporate cables/adapters and you should be good to go. This wont be as good as a mixer/preamp designed for computer recording but it should work untill you can afford a better one.
 
Thanks a lot for replying, I've ordered the cable from Amazon! What would you consider to be a good affordable mixer/preamp designed for computer recording?
 
You need to check this out. http://www.tweakheads.com/guide.htm There is a wealth of info about how to and what gear is best in almost any price range. Find something that sounds like what you want/need then ask the guys who are using it what they think.
 
Still not working properly! Went from line out(stereo phono) on the 4-track to line-in(1/8" jack) on the soundcard and exactly the same problem. output fader on full - I can get a response in Cubasic but only if I crank the input to unusable levels on the input channel.
Also, I constantly hear the input played through the speakers, no matter what program I'm in, can I stop this without muting the channel? I know it's only a crappy AC97 but I want to get the basics down before I get my keyboard and Audiophile2496.
Also, Asio4all - reduced the latency (according to guitar rig), but it seems incompatible as no sound is being produced at all. Are there any other ASIO drivers I can try??
 
Double left click the speaker in the lower right corner and go to options/properties/recording and unclick everything but line-in. That should take care of the input/output problem. Try moving the fader on the line-in channel up to increase the recording volume.
 
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