X
Xolo Rescue
New member
I got an acoustic guitar for my birthday. I gave my step-daughter a bass guitar for Christmas. She gave me a Yamaha MIDI keyboard for Christmas. We wanted to start a band. I posted for an electric guitar player who could also play mandolin. I got a bunch of stoners who showed up for one rehearsal and that was it. I bought myself a mandolin, a PA system, and two microphones off of MusiciansFriend.com. The PA system consisted of a mixer (4 in 1 out), two 75w speakers and a surprise bonus microphone. I also bought a Dean Markley acoustic pickup.
I found a stereo, an equalizer, and a DAT at a garage sale. The equalizer is the cheap kind that comes with an expensive home stereo system. The DAT is a gem- a Sony 75ES. Okay maybe it's more cubic zircona than diamond-in-the-rough, but it's a free DAT!
The bass guitar came with a 15w practice amp that no longer works, and besides it did not have a line out. I bought a guitar amp off of craigslist. I think it has 50w. It has two guitar inputs and a line out. I plugged the guitar and the bass into it. If you fiddle with the gain and tone knobs you can make the guitar sound more electric or more acoustic without affecting the bass guitar at all.
One of my singers also has a Yamaha keyboard with MIDI ports but she does not know how to use them, so she just uses it like a piano.
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Live Sound:
I ran the mixer into the equalizer left channel input. I ran the guitar amp into the right channel. I had to use adapters to get the 1/4" cables into the RCA plugs.
I connected the equalizer left and right outputs to the stereo input (RCA to RCA). The vocals came out of the left speaker and the guitar the right speaker. The stereo Phono In was a lot louder than the Aux In. I fiddled with the knobs on the equalizer to improve the sound quality.
@@@ So there it was! A rudimentary live sound system. @@@
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Adding the DAT:
I connected the equalizer to the DAT, and the DAT to the stereo... both connections using analog RCA. It didn't work until I pressed "Record" on the DAT. (there was no tape in the machine).
@@@ Live sound with recording capabilities! @@@
The mixer has 4 inputs, and I have 3 microphones, so I can plug Katy's keyboard into the 4th input. It is a 1/4 stereo line out going into a 1/4 mono line in, but I can use adapters, or just use a mono cable, right?
That leaves the MIDI keyboard. There is a "Tape" stereo RCA input on the equalizer, for which I already have a 1/4" stereo to RCA L/R adapter, but the equalizer only allows you to use either "input" or "tape" and not both at the same time. The DAT also has a bunch of digital I/O that I haven't figured out yet (coaxial RCA and an optical SPDF that shoots lasers if you take the cover off of it).
Live Sound Diagram: http://zigfried.com/live1.GIF
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Adding the PC:
Unfortunately, I blew up the stereo. I was unplugging the Lines going into the Phono to hook up the sound card. There was a sound like a gun going off, and a flash. And then the right input did not work anymore. Although if I plugged the DAT into the Stereo Tape Recorder IN, I could discern a very faint some coming out of the right speaker.
I found another stereo at another garage sale. This one only has two speaker outs (the first one had four), but it has a "surround sound" button, which, when pressed, sends the instruments and vocals to both speakers, without losing the stereo effect. It's actually a Casio something.
So now every time I rearrange the wires I cut off power to everything (except the PC) at the power strip.
-----------------------
Adding the PC part II:
This is with the Emu-44 (that's a 2 in / 2 out analog + digital PCI sound card). I got it off of Craigslist from someone who couldn't figure out how to stick it into the sound card slot on their PC. So I'm only the second stupidest music engineer in Texas. It comes with its own mixer software and a bunch of other goodies. The guy didn't have the CD with the goodies on it unfortunately, but I did find a card in the box with all the licenses.
I hooked the Emu 1/4" analog outs up to the RCA phono in on the stereo. At first I could not get it to play an MP3, but I was able to get it to work by fiddling with one of the knobs on the mixer software. Not a real machine knob - you have to mouse-click it to fiddle with it.
Now all I need to do is hook up the DAT! I was so close I could taste it! I started writing my Grammy acceptance speech, being sure to thank my Xolo for inspiring me. I ran an optical from the DAT (the laser output) to the EMU's optical digital input...
but nothing. I started sneezing so I took some Claritin and fell asleep. This was last night.
This is where I am at now. It seems like the digital inputs on the EMU only output to an ASIO channel on the PC, and not to anything physical. I am pretty sure this means the Cubase LE version that was included on the mysterious disappearing CD.
So here's my question... how do I get the digital output from the DAT to work with the EMU-44? The Radio Shack manager is putting his children through college just from me alone, as I will need to buy more adapters. I really want to get it to work with the Digital cable. I want to have the analog inputs available to add toys in the future.
Do I need Cubase LE? If so, where can I get it? I have the license card, so it wouldn't be stealing if I download it, right?
PC Recording Diagram: http://zigfried.com/pc_audio.GIF
I found a stereo, an equalizer, and a DAT at a garage sale. The equalizer is the cheap kind that comes with an expensive home stereo system. The DAT is a gem- a Sony 75ES. Okay maybe it's more cubic zircona than diamond-in-the-rough, but it's a free DAT!
The bass guitar came with a 15w practice amp that no longer works, and besides it did not have a line out. I bought a guitar amp off of craigslist. I think it has 50w. It has two guitar inputs and a line out. I plugged the guitar and the bass into it. If you fiddle with the gain and tone knobs you can make the guitar sound more electric or more acoustic without affecting the bass guitar at all.
One of my singers also has a Yamaha keyboard with MIDI ports but she does not know how to use them, so she just uses it like a piano.
-----------------------
Live Sound:
I ran the mixer into the equalizer left channel input. I ran the guitar amp into the right channel. I had to use adapters to get the 1/4" cables into the RCA plugs.
I connected the equalizer left and right outputs to the stereo input (RCA to RCA). The vocals came out of the left speaker and the guitar the right speaker. The stereo Phono In was a lot louder than the Aux In. I fiddled with the knobs on the equalizer to improve the sound quality.
@@@ So there it was! A rudimentary live sound system. @@@
-----------------------
Adding the DAT:
I connected the equalizer to the DAT, and the DAT to the stereo... both connections using analog RCA. It didn't work until I pressed "Record" on the DAT. (there was no tape in the machine).
@@@ Live sound with recording capabilities! @@@
The mixer has 4 inputs, and I have 3 microphones, so I can plug Katy's keyboard into the 4th input. It is a 1/4 stereo line out going into a 1/4 mono line in, but I can use adapters, or just use a mono cable, right?
That leaves the MIDI keyboard. There is a "Tape" stereo RCA input on the equalizer, for which I already have a 1/4" stereo to RCA L/R adapter, but the equalizer only allows you to use either "input" or "tape" and not both at the same time. The DAT also has a bunch of digital I/O that I haven't figured out yet (coaxial RCA and an optical SPDF that shoots lasers if you take the cover off of it).
Live Sound Diagram: http://zigfried.com/live1.GIF
-----------------------
Adding the PC:
Unfortunately, I blew up the stereo. I was unplugging the Lines going into the Phono to hook up the sound card. There was a sound like a gun going off, and a flash. And then the right input did not work anymore. Although if I plugged the DAT into the Stereo Tape Recorder IN, I could discern a very faint some coming out of the right speaker.
I found another stereo at another garage sale. This one only has two speaker outs (the first one had four), but it has a "surround sound" button, which, when pressed, sends the instruments and vocals to both speakers, without losing the stereo effect. It's actually a Casio something.
So now every time I rearrange the wires I cut off power to everything (except the PC) at the power strip.
-----------------------
Adding the PC part II:
This is with the Emu-44 (that's a 2 in / 2 out analog + digital PCI sound card). I got it off of Craigslist from someone who couldn't figure out how to stick it into the sound card slot on their PC. So I'm only the second stupidest music engineer in Texas. It comes with its own mixer software and a bunch of other goodies. The guy didn't have the CD with the goodies on it unfortunately, but I did find a card in the box with all the licenses.
I hooked the Emu 1/4" analog outs up to the RCA phono in on the stereo. At first I could not get it to play an MP3, but I was able to get it to work by fiddling with one of the knobs on the mixer software. Not a real machine knob - you have to mouse-click it to fiddle with it.
Now all I need to do is hook up the DAT! I was so close I could taste it! I started writing my Grammy acceptance speech, being sure to thank my Xolo for inspiring me. I ran an optical from the DAT (the laser output) to the EMU's optical digital input...
but nothing. I started sneezing so I took some Claritin and fell asleep. This was last night.
This is where I am at now. It seems like the digital inputs on the EMU only output to an ASIO channel on the PC, and not to anything physical. I am pretty sure this means the Cubase LE version that was included on the mysterious disappearing CD.
So here's my question... how do I get the digital output from the DAT to work with the EMU-44? The Radio Shack manager is putting his children through college just from me alone, as I will need to buy more adapters. I really want to get it to work with the Digital cable. I want to have the analog inputs available to add toys in the future.
Do I need Cubase LE? If so, where can I get it? I have the license card, so it wouldn't be stealing if I download it, right?
PC Recording Diagram: http://zigfried.com/pc_audio.GIF
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