Please help

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Hnngh

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Right, basically I have a Xonar Essence STX soundcard, which I purchased so I could have decent latency for my keyboard's input in to my PC. The soundcard is pretty decent, although I do occasionally get this loud high pitched eeeeee and severe distortion, but that's very rare and this thread isn't about that.

Basically I decided I'd like to try my hand at amateur voice acting. Now I did a little reading, and eventually got (I WOULD HAVE POSTED THIS AS A LINK BUT I NEED TEN POSTS: www limelight org uk/dm-868 html "this microphone" (I've simply removed the dots from the url)) for Christmas. It had decent reviews, and a special magnet (that helps to make vocals record better or something) that is usually only found in more expensive microphones. I think - I am a complete newbie here. D:

Anyway, the problem is, having got this microphone, and the right leads to plug it in to the card, I get both channels just fine, but there's a noticeable hiss in the background of recording with mic-boost on. If mic-boost is off, the microphone is completely inaudible if I try to record in Audacity. I did some reading as the card's manual says it contains a 'high quality preamp' for mic-in, but what I've read suggests that the card is not really designed for high quality audio input, only output. Apparently is uses AC-97 codec hardware stuff, and is better used with cheap microphones and so on.

I apologise for any heavily botched technical descriptions above, this is a new area for me. :P

Does anyone hear have any advice? Thanks.
 
Your soundcard isn't designed for recording. A USB or Firewire interface designed for that purpose should solve your problem - and will likely yield better results for your keyboard as well.
 
brother rat said:
Your soundcard isn't designed for recording. A USB or Firewire interface designed for that purpose should solve your problem - and will likely yield better results for your keyboard as well.
Click to expand...

Okay, do you have any suggestions with regards to those?
 
What's your budget? You can get a Tascam US-800 during the big clearance sale for $99.00 (heard that there are problems with Windows 7, though). A M-Audio Fast Track Pro for $149.00
 
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Well I'm in the UK, and I'd like to not spend over £40 if I can help it, although the soundcard did cost around £100...
 
Sell that xonar on ebay, or if it's new, take it back and try your luck for a refund.

£40 is not going to go far on an interface in the UK.

You might get a used maudio fast track or alesis io2 for £50/£60, but i don't even know if they're any good.
Anyone know?
 
The IO2 is a decent bit of kit. If you can stretch your budget I'd recommend the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 for £119 though.
 
I did wonder about whether or not it would be worth selling my Xonar STX and getting another piece of equipment. Please bear in mind, I am a complete novice here. I'd really like to maintain low latency input from my keyboard, which is a Yamaha DGX 500. I connect it with this handy little Yamaha MIDI to USB cable. I'd also like to have my microphone work as it should.

This, " maudio fast track", "Alesis IO2" or "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2", they'll do the above will they? And will sound on my PC still be okay? (ie will I need to still keep onboard sound disabled, etc I play video games and would like how they sound to not be too badly affected by this new hardware.

And assuming the above is all okay, if I can stretch to it I should go for this "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2" rather than the IO2 or the M-Audio Fast Track? Also what are these exactly? External soundcards? External pre-amps? The page for the Fast Track says it's an 'External Audio Interface' which implies the former to me.

Alternatively, would it work with the soundcard I currently have (assuming my external soundcard assumption is wrong) if I didn't sell it? Would that be advisable or would this external audio thing necessitate it's removal?
 
Hnngh said:
I did wonder about whether or not it would be worth selling my Xonar STX and getting another piece of equipment. Please bear in mind, I am a complete novice here. I'd really like to maintain low latency input from my keyboard, which is a Yamaha DGX 500. I connect it with this handy little Yamaha MIDI to USB cable. I'd also like to have my microphone work as it should.

This, " maudio fast track", "Alesis IO2" or "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2", they'll do the above will they? And will sound on my PC still be okay? (ie will I need to still keep onboard sound disabled, etc I play video games and would like how they sound to not be too badly affected by this new hardware.

And assuming the above is all okay, if I can stretch to it I should go for this "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2" rather than the IO2 or the M-Audio Fast Track? Also what are these exactly? External soundcards? External pre-amps? The page for the Fast Track says it's an 'External Audio Interface' which implies the former to me.

Alternatively, would it work with the soundcard I currently have (assuming my external soundcard assumption is wrong) if I didn't sell it? Would that be advisable or would this external audio thing necessitate it's removal?
Click to expand...

Being a newbie myself, I made the exact same mistake. I also bought the Xonar STX in hopes of being able to record at a superior level, and a xenyx mixer (to hook up my condenser mic). But the electro magnetic interference within the machine was ruining anything i recorded. So I'm also looking to buy an external interface. Was looking at the Tascam US-800, but if you're working out of a 64bit W7, chances are, you'll run into trouble.

As for the Xonar cart, I was thinking of selling it, but I figured it would be best to just use it as the output device (though you can do that with an external interface) for my desktop, and use the external interface for recording on both my desk and laptop. Besides, you probably won't get a good price on it, and it works fine.

Good Luck,
Nelson
 
Yes, these are audio interfaces - they function as the soundcard when you are recording. Meaning they do the analog-to-digital conversion (and back again for you to monitor). Any latency you have is due to your DAW (recording software) settings. Read the Tweaks Guide and the stickies at the top of this forum.
 
Okay, this may be a radical change of plan, what if I decided to sell the microphone I got, and went with this instead, with a built in DAC and so on:

www amazon co uk/gp/product/B002VA464S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_3?pf_rd_p=103612307&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B002OO333Q&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=0QH09J2F2NXTY3TMRZNN

This ten post minimum thing to post URLs is quite annoying (although I understand the need for protecting against the spam bot scourge), just put the dots back after the www, amazon, and co. ><
 
Sorry for the double post. After some consideration I've been looking at the different audio interfaces people were suggesting, and I like the look of the Fast Track as it is within my price range(from here (www amazon co uk/Fast-Track-USB-Interface-Software/dp/B002QZ402Q), in case anyone hastily points out I'm going for the 'wrong' Fast Track, I am aware there are different variants like 'Ultra', etc).

My main concerns are that it is compatible with both Windows 7 64 (raincomputers com/windows-watch/ suggests it is and there are drivers on the M-Audio website for Windows 7, but it lists both just 'Fast Track' and 'Fast Track USB'. Are there two different versions of the standard Fast Track? I thought there was just the USB version) and Audacity. I'm also curious about how good/bad the bundled software, and if it is bad whether or not I can avoid it, and whether or not the device will work with other software or is restricted to working with the bundled software only.

If anyone has any experience with this device, please reply with your opinions if you can, thanks. :)
 
mjbphotos said:
Go with the Fast Track Pro. There are W7 drivers.
Click to expand...

There seem to be Windows 7 drivers for the standard one (I was just unaware that there seems to at least at one time have been a non-USB version as well as a USB version). Also the Fast Track Pro is nearly twice the price of the standard Fast Track, and as it is I doubt I'll make full use of the standard Fast Track's features (for example I don't need two sockets that can take XLR input....assuming those sockets on the Pro can take that input, they look different to the XLR socket on the standard Fast Track). Is there any big reason why I would want to go for the Fast Track Pro over the standard Fast Track?
 
For anyone interested who happens to be in the position I was, I ended up getting an MIC800 (www behringer.com/EN/Products/MIC800.aspx). Audio quality sounds fine with this beyond it picking up the sound of my PC fans. :)
 
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