Just getting started - a couple questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter arlowen
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arlowen

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A friend turned me to this site, and it's been a great resource so far. You guys are awesome, so I thought I'd ask for a little help.

Just a little background.. I've been playing guitar/singing for ~5 years. Using Audacity I've recorded some electric guitar tracks using the headphone out on my guitar amp. I've gotten some pretty decent recordings this way, but I've tried recording my acoustic/electric guitar this way and doesn't sound how I want it to. It would probably sound better if it were mic'd, and I'd like to start recording vocals as well. I also recently purchased a keyboard and would like to start messing around with recording keys and MIDI in the future.

So--I know I need an audio interface. I've been doing some research and I think I've narrowed it down to either the Steinberg UR22 or UR44 (the 44 seems to be a little above my needs at this point), or the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6. The KA6 has SPDIF in/out ??? I think I've also seen it labeled as coaxial on Roland products. I'm not sure what that could be used for in terms of input?

Are there any other interfaces I should look into? I've been steering away from Focusrite because of their higher latency. As far as budget is concerned, ultimately I'd like to keep it under $300. But I'd rather spend a little extra on an audio interface and not have to replace it anytime soon.

I have a Sennheiser e835 that a buddy recommended to me for live vocals, could that work for recording acoustic guitar, or should I look into getting another microphone?

Any other comments or suggestions are welcome as well.

-Mike
 
Hi Mike and welcome.
Yes, as you have found, DI'ing an acoustic rarely gives good results.

Your mic is reviewed here Sennheiser Evolution Series

And the reviewer is quite plain in calling it a budget mic but even so it seems it punches above its $$weight. It has a useful sensitivity of twice the SM57/58 (that's 6dB y'know) so recording an acoustic guitar with either AI mentioned would be quite possible. I have the KA6 and can record AC with an SM57, my noise floor being dictated by my room and surroundings.

If you can run to it I strongly urge you to go with the KA6. The mic amps are very clean (and jeeeust have enough gain for guitar as I said). You mentioned latency and you will not find better at anything like the price of the NI box. S/PDIF? Good to have and again, sub £200 there is not much else on the market that gives you 2 mic/line/instr ins, two more balanced line ins, MIDI I/0 and digital I/0 ....And! Cubase, Audacity is very good but you want to get shot for "serious" recording.

Second mic? Small Diaphragm Capacitor is the general reccy for guitar. Many to chose from, from £30 up (and some of the cheapies are said to be quite good) AKG P170, look at Rode, they are legion.

Dave.
 
jigfresh said:
I use the SPDIF input on my KA6 to plug in my GT10 guitar multi effects pedal. Not sure what others use it for.
Click to expand...

Many of the bigger synths have S/PDIF out so that frees up a stereo input.
Dubbing from CD, Minidisc, DVD Freeview recorders (might need a co-ax to optical converter, all of 15quid!)

There is a very excellent microphone pre amp the Audient Mico which comes with superb converters and digital out.

So, better to have than have not?

Dave.
 
Thanks for the responses!

I was leaning towards the KA6, but the D-PRE preamps on the Steinberg sounded interesting, maybe that's just good marketing. And yeah, the S/PDIF would be nice to have for the future too.

I'll take a look at the mics you suggested. I'll probably start off with the Sennheiser and see how recording guitar works out.
 
Hey arlowen,

In my experiences the Focusrite interfaces don't have any higher latency than any of the other ones. You generally aren't going to get the sound you are looking for on the acoustic guitar with dynamic mic because they lack the high end detail of a condenser. The Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 is very good for the money and actually has a low latency monitoring setting that allows to to monitor what you are playing before it gets processed through the DAW... and it has MIDI I/O. I use the Focusrite Liquid 56 and haven't had any problems with input latency.

I second the small diaphram mics for acoustic guitar recording... they really get the sparkle. The Rode NT4 is a great stereo small diaphragm condenser, so you would be able to get those nice full stereo recordings if you wanted.

Anyway, hope this helps.
 
"In my experiences the Focusrite interfaces don't have any higher latency than any of the other ones."

That^ is likely quite true bwest! But the KA6 has lower latency than anything else in its price class and quite a bit beyond.

I also agree that Direct Monitoring is a solution for most people but not viable if you want to play a dumb keyboard. Then, singers also like a bit of "ego" reverb and although, again, a DM mix CAN work, some vocalists are VERY delay sensitive!

But! I HAVE an 8I6 and the KA6. I must one day shift my lazy A and compare the two!

Dave.
 
When they update drivers, latency often goes down, so my take on it is that the interface is probably not the problem, latency wise, just the drivers. That all said, I've not had latency issues worth even mentioning in the last couple of years.

I've got a few different ways of getting audio int my computers, and I categorise them by inputs, rather than makes now - I'm happy with all of them.
 
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