Keeping it to a minimum (budget)

  • Thread starter Thread starter charlie69
  • Start date Start date
C

charlie69

New member
Please help a newbie !

Hi, This is my first post. Im new to home recording and I need a lot of help. I’m using Win 98 SE and Cakewalk Home Studio 9. My PC has Celeron 566 with 128 MB ram. I just spent a frustrating week making recordings with a lot of sizzle in the background. (I was plugging my condenser mic directly into the mic input on the sound card.) Finally I found homerecording.com and began to learn what Im doing wrong. I ordered the Behringer MX602a mixer, and now I need a better sound card. Im considering the Delta 44 and my question is this: I think I’ve read that there is no midi port on the Delta 44. I think this might be ok, because I wont be using midi keyboards, but I do want to record midi files that are already on my HD as wave files in Cakewalk Home Studio 9. Will the delta 44 let me do that without any additions? I cant keep my current sound card in addition to the delta because I have a mini tower with no extra PCI slots. Here’s what I want to do. Im recording on two tracks only. First Im recording the midi accompaniment (which is already on my HD) to audio and then inserting it on track 1. Then I am playing the melody on an ocarina (it’s a flute like instrument) and recording it on track 2. Seems simple enough, eh? I sure hope so. I don’t think I need 4 inputs and outputs to do this, so is there a smaller (less capacity and cheaper) sound card that will give me a good clean (low noise) recording that I can then burn onto a CD?

Is there a safe way to plug my Altec Lansing ATP3 pc speakers into the Behringer MX602 without blowing anything?

Also what I’ve read says if you don’t need PSDIF then the delta 44 is comparable to the 66. Do I need PSDIF to do the recordings Im planning? Under what circumstances would you need to use PSDIF or not?

Thanks for any and all advice.
 
Last edited:
If you are going to be recording two tracks at a time,check out the M-Audio Audiophile($170).It has two analog ins and outs,midi in and out,s/pdif in and out and it sounds killer.
 
Thanks Randy, I was already starting to lean towards the Audiophile 2496. Is there any trick to replacing my old card with it? What about cables to connect the audiophile to the Behringer 602. Can you tell me what I need to order with the sound card so I'll be ready to go when it gets here?

Thanks,
Charlie
 
Hi Charlie,

There wasn't any trick in installing the Audiophile.I'm really very new to computers but it went well for me.I just took out my old card,put in the new one and when it gave me a choice of drivers I chose WDM because my recording program(Home Studio 2002) says to use them when they are available.

As far as cables go,all you need is a couple dual rca jack to dual rca jack cables.Take one cable and attach it to the rca outs from the 602 and attach the other end to the analog rca inputs on the Audiophile.Then take the other cable and run it from the Audiophile analog outs to whatever you are going to use to monitor with?I am guessing back to a stereo channel on the mixer.

Read the manuals that come with your new equipment and it should help ya out with your configuration.If you run into problems you can either post here or shoot me an e-mail.Even if I can't help,I might be able to point you in the right direction.
 
Wow, this is great! So now for a dumb question. So far I’m only looking at a picture of the 602 (mine is supposed to arrive tomorrow). I see 4 RCA outputs on the front panel, and they say tape in (L & R) and tape out (L & R). So when I come out of the audiophile analog out back to a stereo channel on the 602 to monitor, won’t this end of the cable need to have a standard ¼” jack to plug into the 602, or are there some RCAs on the 602 that I can’t see?
 
Buy some 1/4 -male-to-rca-female adapters at Radio Shack ($4 or so??)--you'll need 'em! :D

I beleive that you can use the tape ins on the 602-- you just have to push the button ("2tk to control room") to route the signal to your monitors/phones (they use the same gain knob). It works that way on the 802 at least.

If you want to monitor through a stereo channel, you'll need rca-to-1/4 adapters from Radio Shack. Then you just need to make sure that your monitor signal is not heading back into your sound card with the audio you are recording... in which case you'd need more 1/4-rca adapters so you can send the signal to be recorded out of the aux send instead of the tape or main outs...

If I were to monitor through my board (I often don't, heh) I'd send the signal to be monitored to the tape in and send the tape in to the control room/phones. Then you hook your monitors up to the "control room outs" (which may require 1/4-rca adapters...). I THINK all these suggestions apply to the 602 as well as the 802. I haven't had all that much caffeine yet... ;)

One more thing: Check your unit out VERY carefully when it arrives. Behringer's quality control can be iffy. The first unit I got was junky, but the second one was solid.
 
thanks esactun, So what kinds of quality control problems should I look out for when the 602 arrives?
 
You're welcome, charlie69! :D

I had a 602 for a short while. It arrived with bent connector pins on the power supply (I bent them back). When plugged in and running, the phantom power would not shut off once turned on without unplugging the unit. (You don't want to plug/unplug mics with the phantom on.) Also, the knobs were all at different tensions-- some were loose, some were tight, with no rhyme or reason. (Normally the EQ knobs would be set similarly, the aux knobs set similarly, etc.--this one was random, kinda "junky" feeling.) The pres were also pretty noisy. Stuff like that. Your unit may be just fine, just keep an eye out just in case. I "traded up" to the 802 and it's been just fine, no QC issues. (The 802 is the slightly-larger model.)

Shoot your MIDI/PSDIF questions over to the MIDI forum, folks over there can help ya! :)

With what are you accompanying the ocarina? Just curious about your sounds.
 
i got a 2004 mixer and when you turn the phantom power off the light dims and stays on for a while.(even after you turn the power off) Other than that dont turn your pres gain past 11 o'clock because they tend to get hissy.
 
I had the accompaniments in score form in Finale and saved them as MIDI files from there. Im using an assortment of instrument sounds (but only one on each song): harpsichord, acoustic guitar, organ, vibes, piano. These songs are all in music books that I sell with the ocarinas I make, so my plan is to make companion cds for the books so that people who buy the books with their instruments can then listen to me play the songs and then play along with the accompaniment only on the second half of the cd.
 
detuned6 said:
i got a 2004 mixer and when you turn the phantom power off the light dims and stays on for a while.(even after you turn the power off) Other than that dont turn your pres gain past 11 o'clock because they tend to get hissy.
Click to expand...

Hey there d6... sorry I didn't respond to the PM sooner. Didn't get to the DF show Sat. due to girl trouble (argument).... anyways... the 602 I had, I waited for the light to dim, thinking that might be the issue. But the unit I had, the light just never dimmed or went off! The 802 dims and shuts off properly. Good thing to mention though, so I don't get charlie69 worried about his phantom! And you are so right about 11o'clock on the pres. How's the demo coming? Mine's done, I like the songs, but it sounds lousy-- though now I know WHY it sounds lousy ;) . I started remixing a bad-tracked outtake and it sounds way better. I guess it's possible to spend TOO MUCH TIME mixing!

charlie69: Cool idea there! If you are only using essentially one MIDI track, and doing all inside your PC, I don't *think* you'll need to get into PSDIF. (But bear in mind that I'm MIDI-impaired!) Your project should be easy to mix as well. Good luck!
 
thanks esactun
one more question: I haven't bought any cables yet, so is it better to buy 1/4 to RCA cables or buy all these adapters you mentioned? How important is gold plating? oops, I guess that was two questions...oh well, I'll have about a million more. :)
 
charlie69 said:
thanks esactun
one more question: I haven't bought any cables yet, so is it better to buy 1/4 to RCA cables or buy all these adapters you mentioned? How important is gold plating? oops, I guess that was two questions...oh well, I'll have about a million more. :)
Click to expand...

1/4-to-rca cables are the better choice, IMHO--less stuff to buy! :) As far as I know, the gold plating is more of a gimmick than anything, and can even cause problems (connecting two different metals electrically--such as gold and steel--can *eventually* cause corrosion and bad connections. I just had a headphone adapter crap out on me over that, and left a ring of corrosion on my headphone jack!:eek: ) Gold is OK if the whole connection is gold-plated, but I wouldn't spend extra cash on it. I think you need serious gear before that stuff really comes into play. If gold is the only option, it won't be a serious issue. It took a few years of abuse for my adapter to go, and adapters are cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top