first post, question about uploading to PC

[deadhead1981]

This looks like a great forum, and I'm glad to have stumbled upon it. Just too bad I didn't know about it earlier. Well, here's what led me to here.

I picked up a Fostex VF-16 a few months back. I've been fooling around with it and just got done with my first completed rough draft of a song. I want to upload it onto my PC, but have no idea how. The instructions are extremely wordy and confusing, and this coming from someone with a BA in english. I have a midi output, an aux send, an ST out and and SCSI output as well. What kind of cable should I purchase to conect with my PC? I know very little about electronics. The instructions make it sound like I have to buy an external hard drive, but that doesn't seem right. Do I need any software, or will windows media player recognize the file as a wav file? I know I'm asking a lot, but I am a complete novice here. I would like to be able to enter this song in the broadjam contest due FEB 7th, so I know this is going to be a tight fit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[aznightwolf]

Use the master stereo out on the back, they look like RCA jacks to me, get an RCA to 1/4" cable and put that to you mic input on your soundcard

 

[altitude909]

Welcome to Japanese manual translation world (see my sig)

I would get a EMU 1212 (199$) sound card since then you can dump via ADAT

 

[Creamyapples1]

You may want to check your soundcard, some of the newer straight sound PC cards have a line in as well.

 

[deadhead1981]

Hey thanks everyone for responding so quick. I see the two master stereo outputs on the pack of the recorder, but I don't see a 1/4 input on the PC. I do have an input with a picture of a mic on it I found just now on the PC, however it looks like an rca input. Will this work? do I just need a 2-1 splicer? What I don't see is the sound card input your talking about, where would that be? I have to run off to work now, so I'll check back later. Thanks again.

altitude909 your sig hit the nail on the head . I've been trying to get into technical writing since I got out of school, but I don't have the proper experience. Something tells me I could do better than that.

 

[aznightwolf]

what kind of sound card do you have?

 

[altitude909]

I would really just do it right and get an adat card. They can be found on ebay for less than a c-note or buy a good sound card with adat (like the emu). That way everything stays in the digital realm (good) and you will get 8 channels in and out of your computer via the mixer (very good) directly into your DAW. The adat port is between the midi and footswitch jacks on the back.

Adat should not be confused with optical spdif, which is just stereo and is not compatable with adat. My motherboard has optical spdif and it is easily the most useless thing in the world

 

[deadhead1981]

I feel like such a novice, I don't even know what kind of soundcard I have. It's an older computer and an e-machine to boot, so I doubt I have anything high tech in there. Really for the time being I'm just looking for a quick fix to upload it onto the computer. I don't have the funds to drop 100-200 on a sound card. Do I have to open the computer up to get to the sound card input? Is there a splitter wire I can buy to go from the two stereo outputs on the recorder to the mic input on the PC? Thanks for helping me out here, and bear with me, I'll catch on sooner or later.

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

Are there no other audio inputs on the comp? From the Fostex you will be getting a line level output. If you put this line level signal through the mic input on your stock soundcard the quality will be really crappy. It'll have a (really crap) preamp for boosting the low signal level that a mic puts out (hence 'mic' input) but a line level signal doesn't need this boost.

Really you need a line input. And yes if your stereo outs are on 2x RCAs you'll need the y lead. They're readily available.

Sounds like the ADAT interface would be ideal though.

 

[deadhead1981]

The problem is, I really don't know what the audio inputs would look like. I have usb inputs and an unidentified input on the back, similar to a printer hookup, though it's only labeled with a symbol I don't recognize. It sounds like I'll have to look into the ADAT, I'm just looking to load it this week, my deadline is a few days away. I appreciate the help though.

 

[altitude909]

Similar to a printer hookup

Thats the SCSI

The ADATs are the little square ones between the foot switch and midi connections

 

[travelin travis]

your sound card should have at least a green, blue, red/pink jacks.

green = line out
blue = line in
mic = re/pink

you want to connect the master outs of your recorder to the line in of your sound card via a 1/8" mini to 2 RCA female adapter and a pair of RCA cables.

the adapter:

your sound card may have a mic/line combo jack. i just talked to someone in another thread that has one. it is switchable between line and mic via the sound card's software.

typical sound card jacks (7,8, and 9 in the picture):

http://www.aaevp.com/techniques/techniques_images/computer_connectors.jpg

 

[aznightwolf]

Check this out

 

[travelin travis]

the list on that is $35! will probably retail around $25-30. that should be a good seller when it becomes available.

 

[deadhead1981]

Hey thanks everyone. That little Behringer piece looks like something to look into. I might be able to bring my recorder to my friends house and upload it on his computer it turns out, but for the long run I'll be taking the advice on this thread and look to upgrade to something better than my default omputer hardware. I appreciate all the help.

 

[AlChuck]

...but I don't see a 1/4 input on the PC.

That's because it's a 1/8" jack you should be looking for. Also known as miniplug, same jack that an iPod or a WalkMan CD player has on it for a headphone jack.

Also, something which everyone seems to have been leaping past is the title of your post. You asked about uploading your recording to the PC. Uploading means sending the existing digital data from the Fostex to the computer as a WAV file or other file format. What everyone has been describing to you is re-recording your song on the computer.

From what you describe, the Fostex has only a SCSI port. If that means the Fostex is a SCSI device itself, you could connect it to your computer and it could see it as a storage device -- if you had a SCSI interface on your PC, which you most likely do not. Or, it's to connect a SCSI drive to the Fostex itself only -- that is, the Fostex has the drive controller but is not itself a SCSI device. Either way, all this is useless to you if you do not have a SCSI interface on your computer.

 

[travelin travis]

That's because it's a 1/8" jack you should be looking for. Also known as miniplug, same jack that an iPod or a WalkMan CD player has on it for a headphone jack.

Also, something which everyone seems to have been leaping past is the title of your post. You asked about uploading your recording to the PC. Uploading means sending the existing digital data from the Fostex to the computer as a WAV file or other file format. What everyone has been describing to you is re-recording your song on the computer.

From what you describe, the Fostex has only a SCSI port. If that means the Fostex is a SCSI device itself, you could connect it to your computer and it could see it as a storage device -- if you had a SCSI interface on your PC, which you most likely do not. Or, it's to connect a SCSI drive to the Fostex itself only -- that is, the Fostex has the drive controller but is not itself a SCSI device. Either way, all this is useless to you if you do not have a SCSI interface on your computer.

Just guessing but I'd say that the scsi port is for an external drive.

 

[deadhead1981]

Thanks for replying Alchuck. Here's a link to the back of my Fostex, it's on page 20.

http://www.fostex.com/support/pdf/fostex/vf16/vf16_owners_manual.pdf

That's exactly what I'm looking to do, load it onto my computer as a wav file. Is there a splitter I can get going from the master stereo outputs to the USB inputs, or to the 1/8 input you describe? Is that Behringer piece still applicable for what I'd like to do, or is that for re-recordnig as you pointed out?

 

[AlChuck]

That's exactly what I'm looking to do, load it onto my computer as a wav file. Is there a splitter I can get going from the master stereo outputs to the USB inputs, or to the 1/8 input you describe?

The USB port is a digital port. You cannot wire an analog signal into a digital port and expect it to get magically converted into digital data along the way. That's what audio interfaces are for.

Looks like with that unit your only options for data transfer are

(1) to attach a SCSI drive, copy the song to it, then put the SCSI on a computer with a SCSI controller (clumsy and tedious but it works).

or

(2) Connect an ADAT cable between it and a computer that has a audio interface with an ADAT port (nice and clean, the best alternative).

No cheap solution if you are lacking the necessary hardware. Then, re-recording from the line outs is your only solution.

The Behringer dohickey has an S/PDIF digital interface, but your Fostex does not, so that's out.

 

[deadhead1981]

As for the SCSI drive, I know I'm being kind of a pest here, but would you mind looking at this link to ebay and informing me if this or any of the other drives up for bid would work. I know you get what you pay for, but I am for now at least trying to just go cheap. I just recently picked up the recorder, a 60 watt acoustic amp, mic's and cables etc... and I'm spent for the moment with student loans starting there repayment. As far as the SCSI drive goes, I would run the info from the recorder to the drive, and presumably run the drive to my USB port? I'm just trying to picture how it will all work. If that's the case, it doesn't sound too complicated. Will I need any software with the SCSI drive or will Windows media player recognize the wav file? Thanks for helping out a true newbie.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Zip-Drive-SCSI-...57186709QQcategoryZ116251QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem