Ok, here's a few simple questions

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carlosguardia

carlosguardia

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I have a 1.6 GHZ PIV with 512MB RAM, 2 40GB HD at 7200 and record with Sonar. I'm using the SB Live Platinum 5.1 (duck for tomatoes... I know).
Here's my question, maybe the answer to it is very simple but here it is anyhow. Let's say I want to record some acoustic drums into my Computer. I set up the drums in my studio, try to obtain the sound I'm looking for and then place microphones where I believe they'll capture each part/piece of the set with accuracy; most likely it'll be a few SM-57's, SM-81's and a Bet52 for the kick. Ok, and say I use a total of 8 mics. Then I plug in every output of every cable of every mic into a "snake" that then takes the signals into my control room. Now that sounds like up to now everything is going to be alright but here's the question. The other end of the snake has 8 xlr male plugs (each one is numbered and each one is, as I said, representing the output of a mic that's strategically placed on the drum set). Now what do I do with these XLR male plugs in order to connect them to my PC??? I want to assign each mic to a different track in Sonar and I don't want to play around with the signal too much and don't want to lose impedance. I know that I'll most likely get a reply that'll read somewhere along the lines of "...dude, get a Delta 1010..." and that's cool, I've already started saving for that piece of hardware or something similar, but what I want to know is how is this going to work (how to set it up etc)? is this the ideal piece of hardware for what I want to do? how do I go about connecting the male XLR outs into 1/4" ins without losing impedance? Does the 1010 come with software that's compatible with Sonar and will I be able to record 8 simultaneous tracks with it?
Again, Much Thanks for your help,
Carlos
 
A couple of things you need. First, you already mentioned. You need a soundcard with as many inputs as you need to record at ONE TIME. You want to record eight mics, you need a card with eight inputs. The next thing you need is either a mixer or stand alone mic preamps to get the mics up to line level. Just make sure whatever mixer you decide on has either direct channel outputs or at least channel inserts that can be utilized as direct outputs. Stand alone mic pre's can be a step up in quality but can be a little more expensive.
 
Sorry if I sound quite ignorant here but I just want to make sure I don't screw up and misunderstand you. Let's start with the sound card issue... I don't want to get rid of the SB Live Platinum for a couple of reasons; 1) soundfonts 2) the digital in/out that I plug my new Roland DS-90A's into; but can I get the Delta 1010 and use them both? Is there any other soundcard that has more inputs? Now to the mixer issue, I understand that most AFFORDALE mixers send their direct channel outputs only post-fader but not post-eq so maybe I would be paying for stuff that I'm not using on the mixer... I dunno. And stand alone mic pre's... hmmm are there any respectable affordable ones... and will I need 8 of them for 8 tracks?!
Carlos
 
The mixer will be cheaper and more flexible than standalone pre-amps. However, some will argue that the pre-amps in a mixer are not as good as you can get in standalone pre-amps - so alot will depend on your pocketbook.

My suggestion would be to get a Delta 1010 and a small Mackie mixer. The Mackie's have pretty good built-in pre-amps. Maybe something like the 1642.

The 8 XLR's from you mics will go into the mixer, and then you will run 8 cables (1/4" X 1/4") from the Dircect Outs on the mixer into your sound card's inputs.

I believe there are sound cards with more than 8 inputs (MOTU??), but I don't think you will really need more. Eight is just the limit you can track at one time. You can always go back and add more tracks as an overdub.

And yes, you can use the Delta 1010 with your existing sound card. And yes the Delta 1010 works fine with Sonar. (In fact, that is almost the identical same setup I am using.)
 
Sounds great, and once again, answered my question. Gracias otra vez :D

One more dumb question if I may:

I have been able to download a few free plug-ins for use with Sonar, and have bought a couple others to cmplement the ones that came with Sonar. They work great and love them all, HOWEVER, I know only how to use them with the audition feature (for 25 seconds max) and cannot alter their faders/knobs on the fly; all I can do is GUESS where/how much I want of any given plug-in and then audition to fine tune until I'm somewhat happy. The question is, how, if possible, can I set up the plug-ins so that I can use them on the fly. This would be very handy for many things such "seeing" a spectrum analyzer, or for using the bbe sonic maximizer; and I wouldn't pay for the iZotope Ozone if I can't use it on the fly....

Thanks once again,
Carlos
 
You are using the effects in the wrong way. You should use them as "realtime effects." This will allow you to tweak to your heart's content with no time limit. However, it will require more CPU usage.

In the Track View you should see some tabs at the bottom left part of the screen. Click on the one labeled FX. Now look at the track you are working on and you should see a box with Fx at the left of it. Right click with your mouse in the box, and you should get a pop-up menu. Choose Audio Effects and then pick the effect you wish to use. That should cause the effect to open up. Now hit the main Sonar Play button. The music should begin playing, and you should be able to adjust any parameter of the effect.

Enjoy.
 
Unless you are using some of those famous Latin Costa Rica percussion devices:), eight drum mics is a bit ambitous. Most recording setups would use between three and five max. And then mix em down (via a mixer) to a a couple of seperate tracks or even a single stereo track.
 
dachay2tnr

You have made me the happiest Costarican!!!!!! HA HA HA HA HA
I have been enlightened!!! This is awesome!!!! I can process in real-time!!! I love this!!!! AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!

Carlos
 
Paul881

Yes, I think that 8 mics might be a little ambitious and that was just an example. But still, if I was to record a string quartet playing "live" in the studio, and decided to use a separate dynamic mic for each player plus a couple of condensers for the whole group, I would NEVER mix them into a couple of tracks or a single stereo track; for editing and mixing purposes I would want to have each mic assigned to an individual editable track. Or even for recording the lead guitar for a song; if I wanted to use an SM-57 close to the cone of the mic and a couple of SM-81's picking up the "rebound" from the studio, I would want to have them each assigned to an individual track and maybe even run a direct line from the amp straight to another track to fatten the sound and hell, maybe even another mic close to the actual guitar picking up the sound of the fingers on the fretboard... or... whatever. And I wouldn't want to pre-mix anything. I have never seen any engineer premixing stuff and I have been taught that it is a big NO NO to premix... as long as you have enough available tracks (and I do) why premix?! Especially when recording drums, I would always want to have the kick drum on one track, the snare on another, hi-hat on another, ride on another, cymbals on another, cowbell on another, floor tom on another, etc etc... Just my 2 cents.

Carlos
 
Carlos, looks like you know what you are doing, no offence intended. But drums are often mixed before going into a DAW, it depends on the circumstances. In the old days, many instruments were mixed, Motown would only have three tracks; drums, bass and percussion on one, all other instruments on the second and vocals on the third.:D
Now we all have lots of tracks and inputs, we have lost the art of realtime and wet mixing.
 
Paul, I wasn't offended; it's all cool. There's many ways to go about recording stuff and sure, in the old days, everything was recorded wet, live and onto mono... but along came the Beatles, and things changed; some for better and some for worse. Punching in and out, overdubbing, auto-tuning, copying and pasting, recording fast runs at 1/2 the speed, transposing etc are all useful tools but can sometimes "take the art out of the music". I think, however, that the more tricks you know, the more tools you have, and the more rules you learn, if you apply (or omit) them tastefully, the bigger the posibilities you have of producing something innovative and spicy. Cheers,

Carlos
 
For your 8 inputs I recommend Q10 ($750) because it already has mic-pres and 8 XLR plugs. I'm a happier person since I upgraded to that soundcard 3-4 months ago. I don't need a mixer. I like it better than my LynxOne card (2 xlr in) which I now use only for playing back the recorded tracks. (So I guess you can still keep your SB for other purposes.)

As for your soundfont need, you can use LiveSynthPro ($50 upgrade?) in SONAR to play them. But I don't know how convineince it is to play soundfonts with SB.


disclaimer: I'm not a pro... :D
 
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