PC not registering level fr drm mach

[homerecordingch]

My PC is not showing any input level from my drum machine.

I am realy starting out here. Sound card is fine (it plays the Pro Tools Free Demo Session, music CDs, and Windows event sounds), connections are all fine (I plugged my headphones into every connection between the drum machine and the sound card line in and got audio at every point).

All I can think of is that the sound card is somehow not set up (at the OS level I guess) to accept input, if that means anything.

Any ideas?

BTW, this is the first time I've posted, so I hope the area I'm posting to is appropriate. let me know if I'm doing anything dumb here. Thanks.

Chris

 

[Jeyan]

When you write about soundcard please mention what card you are using and a general preview of your setup. Anyway assuming you have a control panel for yoru soundcard installed, go there and check for the wave in channel, if you are using creative soundcard, go to recording properties in there (click the little speaker icon on your down left) and select linein instead of mic.

 

[homerecordingch]

Sorry - even as a newbie I should have provided more information.

I have a custom PC - AMD Duron 800, 256 MB RAM, CMI8738 sound card.

I have a silly homemade switch to toggle between a pair of PC speakers and a pair of YSM-1. It's a silly arrangement because the homemade switch (you know the toggle pair - or maybe better to calll them breakers switches - that you can pick up from Radio Shack to toggle between two sets of speakers?) is mickey mouse (rinky dinky - cheap), the PC speakers only has one connection to go to the PC and then there is a wire between them - stereo never seemed to work properly on them - you get a kind of stereo effect, but you can't really pan between the speakers, the wire is cheap and thin so I can't strip it back far enough to get enough exposed wire to go nicely around the screws on the switch/breaker and ,of course, they sound crappy. I leave the breaker switched to that pair so my kids don't blow my YSM-1s.

When I am next in Toronto I will drop the 45 bucks at Active Surplus for a proper switch box. And I'll pick up a cheap pair of speakers with seperate speaker wires so I don't have this left-is-right/right-is-left problem).

For now my inputs are analog (miced guitar), electric guitar, and KAWIA R-50 drum machine.

Everything in my studio goes through a TASCAM PATCH BAY ( I have no mixer. I have a Realistic STEREO PRE-AMPLIFIER patched into the patch bay for anything (mic, elec. gtr?) that needs pre-amplification.

LINE IN , MIC IN, FRONT SPK from the sound card connect to patch bay via eight-inch stereo plugs/wire. Actually the adaptor to LINE IN is mono (shouldn't matter as I won't be recording two instuments simultaneously).

The amplifier at the end of the chain that sends signal to the speakers is maybe the silliest component in the studio - it's an old Panasonic RX C46 PORTABLE STEREO COMPONENT SYSTEM (a modest boom-box).

So, for what I'm trying to do now: drum machine > patch bay ("FRM DRM") > patched to sound card LINE IN ("To PC Line"). Then I want to hear it back via sound card FRONT SPK > patch bay ("FR PC") > patched to Panasonic RX C46 ("TO RCVR") > RX C46's speaker outs to breaker > PC speakers.

BTW, I did find a setting for recording from line and I successfully recorded some drum machine to MS Sound Recorder - now I'll have to try it to Pro Tools Free again.

Thanks,

Chris

 

[homerecordingch]

I'm OK now. I recorded for the first time with Pro Tools Free. Just a little drum pattern. It was exciting to hear it playing back!

However, it has echo (or repeat, if there's a difference) on one or more of the percussion instruments of the pattern giving it a sixteenth-note feel instead of the original eighth-note feel, which I don't want. I guess this must be Pro Tools Free default for new tracks (though I doubt it - why would Digidesign assume all new tracks would need echo?).

On the positive side, there seems to be some other processing that gives the pattern a more professional, polished sound than listening to the original pattern through headphones attached to the drum machine.

But all of this is for another post - I will look for answers in the Pro Tools Reference Guide (hoping that the info within applies to 'Free' as well as commercial versions). If I can't find the answer I will post to another area.

I don't know how to close this thread. Or are threads closed by the administrator after a certain period of inactivity?

Thanks again, Jeyan.

Chris