Multi-Tracking w/ Audigy2 ZS Platinum & Adobe Audition

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BillyBo

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i know, i know, before someone reams me out for using a soundblaster, i chose that card for it's versatility, no specifically for recording-only. I also use Adobe Audition to record my vocals.... i'm a hiphop artist, so really all i do is lay down vocals and backups/harmonies to beats i make.

My setup is pretty simple -
MXL 990 Condensor Mic
Nady SMPS-1 Phantom Power Supply
Radio Shack Mixer something similar to this one, just older
To the Line-In on the Audigy2 ZS Platinum

That's just in case anyone needed that information.

The question is... if i ever wanted to record more than one track at a time (if i ever got into recording bands or more than one vocalist at the same time) how would i do this using my equipment, or what other equipment would i need... granted i would NOT be buying a new soundcard. I am assuming that a firewire multitrack recorder would do the trick?? is this right? if so, which one would fit a stingy budget? maybe only 4 or 8 tracks would be all i need.

also, in my setup, i was told that a pre-amp would help. should i get a pre-amp?? or is my mixer acting as one?

in my opinion, my recordings sound great. i've been told by many people that it sounds studio quality even i was using a $30 RadioShack omni-directional mic.

I've also been using A.A. since it was CoolEditPro, so i'm pretty familiar with it if i would have to change some settings in order to do multitrack recording.

finally - sorry for the long-winded post. i wanted to make sure you had more than enough info to help me.



Bless.
 
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"Firewire multi track recorder" :confused: I've not heard of one of those? Are you sure you don't mean firewire interface?

You'd need a multi input interface or card to get multiple channels in to the DAW. There's no way of getting more than two simultaneous tracks into the comp with that card. So if you want multiple ins you'd have to upgrade your card. Of course overdubs would be OK.

The cheapest 8 in firewire interface i can think of is the Presonus firepod which is around $600. The M Audio Delta 1010LT which is an 8 in/out PCI card will cost around $200.

You could hunt around for a 4 in F/W interface or the M Audio Delta 44 (4 in/out PCI) is $150.

Yeah the mic ins on your mixer will have preamps built in but they probably don't have phantom power which you need for condensor microphones (like your MXL mic).
 
yes, i did mean firewire interface. i guess i'm a little lost when it comes to those. my Audigy Platinum has a firewire port in the front and back (and my computer has a front 1394 port as well...).

i guess i assumed that if i got a firewire interface (like one of the M-Audio's) that i would be able to use that to control recording more than one track at a time in A.A.


i'm a sorry noob when it comes to "professional" audio. i have been recording for years, but i'm just now trying to get more into "doing it right" and get better equipment.



bless.
 
does anyone else have any ideas??

like i said, i hate to sound like a retard, but here it goes...

what is a firewire interface capable of?? can you have X amount of inputs and X or Y amount of outputs coming through the firewire connection in order to record multi-tracks or not? i guess that's what it boils down to.


anyone?
 
Yeah exactly. All of your mics and instruments hook up to the breakout box of the interface. The interface then sends the seperate tracks to the comp via a single firewire cable.
 
Any multichannel interface will have multiple ins and outs. Thats why its a multichannel interface, it can be PCI, firewire, usb, whatever
 
for clarification...

so i can grab a firewire interface with .. say -- 4 in/outs.. and run that into my soundcard's firewire port, and be able to record (in this case) 4 tracks at a time?

i know i'm confused, i'm just making sure... also: are there any settings i have to change in Adobe Audition in order to record multi-tracks? or do i just hit the "R" in front of however many tracks i'm recording?
 
My advice would be to ebay the audigy, get a decent (TI based) firewire card and get a real sound interface. Who knows what POS firewire chip the audigy uses.

When I had an audigy years and plugged a firewire device into it, it killed the whole soundcard.
 
well, like i said earlier, the Audigy is for multipurpose things, not just recording. and since i need a card for more than just recording, and i just recently got the Audigy, that's kinda out of the picture.... i still have a 1394 port on the front of my computer that has nothing to do w/ the Audigy though.
 
... or just scrap the idea of mutitrack recording until i actually have the need for it. this is just for a future probability.
 
The firepod is a good option. Has 8 ins with mic pre’s. other cards have 8 or more in’s but you need a pre amp for each input which can get expensive. I’ve heard people have recorded with their audigy or stock sound card with good results. Then when they upgraded to a recommended audio interface their recordings didn’t come out as good as it did before. I don’t know why but I’ve heard that.
 
yeah, i'm definately NOT disappointed in the quality of recording from my Audigy over my stupid on-board sound (reluctantly i used on-board sound for a few years, i'm much happier w/ my new card)...

i have now realized the soundcard doesnt matter for what i'm trying to do w/ a firewire interface since my Audigy wont be rendering anything ... my firewire port will be the "controller" for incoming audio.

still need one last detail answered, but i might need it reposted in the CoolEdit section -- do i need to do anything special in Adobe Audition in order to record multiple tracks at once using a firewire connection?

and i might as well ask again since i'm tired and too lazy to look... what's a good/cheap firewire choice?? other than the firepod that was mentioned??


thanks for the help.
 
BillyBo said:
if i ever wanted to record more than one track at a time (if i ever got into recording bands or more than one vocalist at the same time) how would i do this using my equipment, or what other equipment would i need... granted i would NOT be buying a new soundcard. I am assuming that a firewire multitrack recorder would do the trick?? is this right? if so, which one would fit a stingy budget? maybe only 4 or 8 tracks would be all i need.
Click to expand...

firewire interface,or usb or pci card are ALL SOUNDCARDS!!!
so by you saying you are NOT buying a new soundcard...makes this little piece i quoted from you...well....rather pointless!
 
i realized that if you read above... it doesnt matter if i have a soundcard (PCI) or not because the firewire will be controlling the audio.

thanks though.
 
You can get an "Alesis 16 Channel Firewire Mixer" which will let you record 16 Simutaius Tracks to your PC for about $600 US and from what I hear it has Fairly good sounding Pre-amps (8 of them) and it is a Pretty Stable piece of Hardware and has Good quality A/D D/A Converters and can record 24 bit 48Khz....You can also use it like a Standard 16 Track Mixer....

It is Probably the cheapest way to get 16 Seperate Channels of Recording to your PC with 8 Good pre"s....

Cheers
 
thanks for the advice - but anything cheaper than that?? i'm sure i could search the forum for items, but my budget is fairly strict. no set amount, but i was hoping not more than $300-$400
 
Well you could get the Delta 1010 which has a couple Preamps and will let you record 10 tracks (Includeing Midi and SPDIF) at once and it has 10 outputs so you can rout signals through Outboard Hardware....

You can get a 1010 for about $300 or so or you can get the 1010LT for about $250 which doesn"t have the advantage of the Breakout Box....

Cheers
 
Minion said:
Well you could get the Delta 1010 which has a couple Preamps and will let you record 10 tracks (Includeing Midi and SPDIF) at once and it has 10 outputs so you can rout signals through Outboard Hardware....

You can get a 1010 for about $300 or so or you can get the 1010LT for about $250 which doesn"t have the advantage of the Breakout Box....

Cheers
Click to expand...
The 1010 doesn't have the two preamps, that's just the 1010LT. it's probably also worth saying that all the ins/outs on the 1010LT are unbalanced, on the 1010 they're balanced. Not really much of an issue in a small studio with short cable runs though.

I don't know where you get your prices from but at sweetwater the 1010 is $400 and the 1010LT $200.
 
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