I know nothing. Please help.

  • Thread starter Thread starter dishwasherrat
  • Start date Start date
Well, this is just madness. Have double-checked my registry amendment and it's still set to 00, but I still can't hear the keyboard. Have tried this with both the speakers and headphones, and I'm still only able to hear the PSR on playback.

Right now, feedback sounds like a lovely idea!

No worries if you need to give up on this one, Hugo. I think I'll pick up that book if I decide to go the preamp/mixer route. Can you recommend a few affordable products for my fairly lo-fi purposes?

I'm really hoping this iMic with its line-in creation will clear up a lot of this trouble.
 
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I have to ask the obvious before I think about this some more. After you did the registry change, have you re-visited the mixer settings? I'm curious about that because there's an off-chance things might have changed.

Gettting a preamp will first lead to getting a mic, which means you have to decide 1 or 2, plus a budget :)

I really encourage you to get that book, you'll find life a bit easier as you get into all this stuff. It's not just about equipment, it's also about concepts and software use.

And if I can't get this solved, I have a recommendation for you about where to go next :)
 
Man, jimco's registry settings post had me excited because it was so comprehensive, but ... you know the answer.

I was able to do step 8, but not step 7 as "EnablePoPBypass" was not found in my registry. I revisited the mixer settings the first time I edited the registry and this time, too, but I'm still rolling with the same dice.

Most disappointing of all, the Microphone still doesn't show up in the Volume Control. And, sadly, it wasn't made available as an option to select in the Properties. See attached.

I guess I'll try to contact jimco and see if he has any further ideas. I hate that I've taken up as much of your time as I have.
 

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Hey, don't worry about the time. We've made good progress here. You've gotten a lot of different possibilities eliminated and undoubtedly learned some stuff. It'd be great if we could've fixed it all but now it's time to take it to the Dell forums. I think you'll probably get an answer there about getting your monitoring going properly.

When you've gotten that far, feel free to ask some more questions here if you need to. Dell can only help with the computer settings. The stuff you'll run into while recording's a whole different thing.

So, for now, I've got to wish you good luck on the Dell forum. And don't forget you can always call them, too!
 
So I guess I've had a bit of a breakthrough.

The iMic arrived and it works! Sort of.

When I record in Audition, I still have the I-can-see-it-but-I-can't-hear-it problem. But, snooping across the Web about an issue I was having with iMic static, I found someone's mention of changing the iMic settings in Audacity from stereo to mono (here). After making the change — and for the first time in Audacity — I was not only able to see the waveform, but I was able to hear it!

Eureka.

Unfortunately, I've been unable to recreate this scenario in Audition. But, for my rather lo-fi purposes, I guess Audacity will be fine, albeit without the convenience of Audition's workflow.

The only other issue now is how to eliminate the delay from keyboard to speakers. Any ideas on that and/or the silence issue with Audition?

Cheers,
dw.
 
I think the problem you are having is the same one I had when I started. Many consumer level sound cards don't work well with recording, and I don't mean in a nit-picking sound quality way. On many you simply can't monitor while you're recording.

The way around this is to buy another soundcard. The bad news is yes this is more money, but the good news is that you can buy a small USB "card" that has a MIDI port built in as well as a pre-amp.

Here's an example:

This is $100 and has one input but no MIDI:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FastTrackUSB/

This one is $130. Similar as aboave but nicer. I have the 2 port version of this. This has nice effects built in to the software.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TonePortUX1/

This about $150 and is similar to the ones above but it has MIDI also:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/UA20/

Anyway you get the idea. There are also firewire boxes that are more expensive, and also PCI card version, but you need a preamp for most of those - although some come with a box to connect to the card.

If I were you I would buy a USB card. The list I gave is not comprehensive, but all the brands I listed are pretty reliable.
 
Thanks for the information. I'm learning something almost on the hour now.

Although it's USB, I take it that the iMic would fall into that category of sound cards not suitable for non-delay recording?
 
In all honesty I have never heard of an iMic until you mentioned it. I don't think it's in the same league. I would imagine the iMic doesn't have a good preamp if any. If you aren't worried about a MIDI input, which I don't think you are, then I would try the Line6 model I listed. It's not ultra-pro quality, but it's a good bang for the buck. I like the way it sounds, PLUS you can record with its effects which are pretty good quality. I haven't seen any latency issues.
 
You're probably right about the iMic.

The Line 6 model sounds more like what I need.

Random as hell, but now I can't help wondering if I should just go with a four-track recorder. I've been looking at the digital ones and I wonder how much harder they are to use than their on-screen counterparts.

What's your experience been with computer vs. (digital) tracking?
 
As I see it, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

The advantage of PCs are that you have greater versatilty. You can add all of the plugins and tools your PC can handle. Plus everything is right there, and you can do waaaay more than 4 tracks if the PC can handle it.

The disadvantage is you have to worry about whether your PC can handle what you want to do. PC recording is harder to learn.

The advantage of outboard digital recorders is you're not dependant on your PC's capabilities. Many have built in effects too. I think you just export the files to your PC to make CDs, and I know many have built in CD recorders. There's also a smaller learning curve.

The disadvantage is that you're more limited in almost all respects. I suppose you could export tracks to your PC and combine them, but that's an extra step.


Personally I like PCs better. The TonePort from Line 6 also comes with a lite version of some recording software, but I can't remember which one, so you get a little freebee too.

I don't remember your specs, BUT you want to have over 256 MB of RAM or better yet at least 500 MB. As for hard drive space, remember you are dealing with wave files, so you want to figure 10 MB per minute per track.

If you have the RAM and the space go with the TonePort especially if you want to record your keyboard as audio. You can record it through the TonePort with reverb, delay, or whatever. PLUS if you want to sing, it's got some decent sounding mike preamps.

The advantage of this is if you want to expand, you can do it without haveing to re-buy a bunch of stuff like you would if you had a 4 track. Also if you decided you wanted 8 tracks of stuff it's no big deal.

Learning this stuff is a bitch. I'm an experienced newbie, so I'm no expert, but I've also gone through what you're going through now.

That's my 2 cents.
 
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