Is my soundcard too wimpy?

[busboy]

The other day I finally got my fun stuff. I got an 8 channel Beringher mixer, a couple sm57 microphones, and a Gadgetlabs Wave/4 soundcard. The soundcard hasn't arrived yet, so I was using my new equipment with my factory installed Yamaha sound card.

Now when I was adjusting the levels on the mixer, the master VU meter was reading at a safe level, the recording VU meters in cakewalk showed that the levels were ok, and when I monitored the sound through the headphones (from the Beringher mixer), everything sounded just dandy. So, I started recording. But when I played it back, everything sounded EXTREMELY distored. As if all the levels were just cranked to their max. I had to turn my amp nearly off, and all the mixer levels WAY down to keep the recordings sounding somewhat clean. Only problem is that this made the tone really dead and thin...go figure.

So do you think that my little yamaha soundcard is just not beefy enough to handle the signal from the mixer? And do you think this problem will go away when I install the new Gadgetlabs soundcard?

thanks

 

[Eddie N]

friends ,

there are 2 separate set of level controls for recording and playback in windows , your editing program , and maybe even the soundcard... chances are you overlooked one of those level controls and it is up to high , and its distorting the playback... check ALL playback levels to be sure none are too high... all newer soundcards will record with out being very distorted , even the el cheapos ..the soundcard built into my motherboard even records well.. its just a matter of how many pops and how much hiss you can deal with..

also...ive been looking at the wave/4 .. but what turns me off to it is that it uses an ISA slot.. which is slower and older than PCI.. im assuming you know this already , and that you know you need an available ISA slot.. i only mention this because i know its easy to overlook... i did.. i was about to buy the wave/4 till i noticed it was ISA , and my computer doesnt have any ISA slots left.. hopefully im rambling for no reason..

happy recording...

- eddie -

[This message has been edited by Eddie N (edited 08-11-1999).]

 

[busboy]

yeah, I had checked the soundcard mixer levels. Everything SHOULD have come out sounding just fine. I think it's just the soundcard. I'm not too worried. I'm sure the new soundcard will fix this.

I knew about the ISA thing. My problem is reversed. I don't have any available PCI slots. In order to install one of the Event or Aardvark cards, I would have to take something else out. I'll manage.

thanks.