T
tawalker
New member
Hi y'all...
I just joined the Home Recording BBS, and was wondering if anyone here could help with a slightly complicated home studio problem:
I am currently assembling a MIDI/digital audio home recording setup, based round my Win98 PC (CPU: AMD K6-200) fitted with a SoundBlaster Live! Platinum card. MIDI sequencing is handled by Cakewalk Professional v6, and all the MIDI sounds are produced by the SB Live! (GM and SoundFonts), with no external sound modules. For various reasons - but mostly lack of CPU horsepower - I've chosen not to record audio on the PC, and am awaiting the arrival of a Boss BR-8 digital portastudio for that purpose (with Cakewalk to be slaved to the BR-8 via MTC). If possible, I want to mix and master on the PC as well, using Cool Edit 96 as my audio recording/editing package.
There are a couple of problems I've identified with this setup, and probably a couple which I haven't thought of, but here are the ones I know of:
For starters, is it possible for me to route the Cakewalk-driven MIDI sounds from the SB Live! directly into Cool Edit using the Windows mixer, or will I have to use a line-out and send this back into a spare line-in on the Live! card?
Secondly, there is the question of how to add the sound from the BR-8 into the mix. The machine has an optical output, which I can feed into the optical in on the SB Live!'s LiveDrive panel; however, I don't know which of the following (or neither) would be the best way to make use of it:
(1) Send the line-out from the SB synth to the line-in on the BR-8, use the BR-8's mixer facilities to blend the MIDI and audio, and send the mixed output from there to the PC via the optical link.
(2) Send the optical output from the BR-8 to the PC, and use the software mixer in Windows to blend the MIDI and audio, and route this into Cool Edit.
I would prefer option 2, as (a) it's arguably tidier; (b) the signal stays in the digital domain; and (c) I don't know if the BR-8's inputs can be used as auxiliary inputs during mixdown. I want to avoid having to go for an external mixer if at all possible, doing as much as I can on the PC itself.
Can anyone please suggest the best route to take here, bearing in mind that the hardware & software listed above is what I have to work with? (Apologies for the epic post this time - hopefully future ones will be rather shorter!)
Many thanks!
Tim Walker.
I just joined the Home Recording BBS, and was wondering if anyone here could help with a slightly complicated home studio problem:
I am currently assembling a MIDI/digital audio home recording setup, based round my Win98 PC (CPU: AMD K6-200) fitted with a SoundBlaster Live! Platinum card. MIDI sequencing is handled by Cakewalk Professional v6, and all the MIDI sounds are produced by the SB Live! (GM and SoundFonts), with no external sound modules. For various reasons - but mostly lack of CPU horsepower - I've chosen not to record audio on the PC, and am awaiting the arrival of a Boss BR-8 digital portastudio for that purpose (with Cakewalk to be slaved to the BR-8 via MTC). If possible, I want to mix and master on the PC as well, using Cool Edit 96 as my audio recording/editing package.
There are a couple of problems I've identified with this setup, and probably a couple which I haven't thought of, but here are the ones I know of:
For starters, is it possible for me to route the Cakewalk-driven MIDI sounds from the SB Live! directly into Cool Edit using the Windows mixer, or will I have to use a line-out and send this back into a spare line-in on the Live! card?
Secondly, there is the question of how to add the sound from the BR-8 into the mix. The machine has an optical output, which I can feed into the optical in on the SB Live!'s LiveDrive panel; however, I don't know which of the following (or neither) would be the best way to make use of it:
(1) Send the line-out from the SB synth to the line-in on the BR-8, use the BR-8's mixer facilities to blend the MIDI and audio, and send the mixed output from there to the PC via the optical link.
(2) Send the optical output from the BR-8 to the PC, and use the software mixer in Windows to blend the MIDI and audio, and route this into Cool Edit.
I would prefer option 2, as (a) it's arguably tidier; (b) the signal stays in the digital domain; and (c) I don't know if the BR-8's inputs can be used as auxiliary inputs during mixdown. I want to avoid having to go for an external mixer if at all possible, doing as much as I can on the PC itself.
Can anyone please suggest the best route to take here, bearing in mind that the hardware & software listed above is what I have to work with? (Apologies for the epic post this time - hopefully future ones will be rather shorter!)
Many thanks!
Tim Walker.