Recording Two Tracks at Once?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cliff
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Cliff

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I'm trying to record my acoustic guitar using a microphone and the signal from a pickup. I have a cheap Yamaha 724 soundcard that only has one input. I assumed that since it is stereo that I could record two tracks at once though. Here's what I've tried so far with no success. I run the signals into two different channels on a Mackie 1202 and send one channel to Aux 1 and the other to Aux 2. Then I plug an adapter that converts two 1/4" male plugs into a 1/4" female into the Aux 1 and Aux 2 outputs. From there I take a 1/8" stereo cord with a 1/4" adapter into the female input connecting both Aux channels and send the other end into my soundcard. In the cakewalk program that I am using, I choose one track's source to be the right, and the other track's source to be the left. When I arm the tracks I am picking up the pickup signal and the mic signal in both tracks though. I feel like the problem is coming from the y-connector that I am using (2 1/4" male to 1/4" female) and for some reason that isn't giving me a stereo signal. I've also tried this same setup panning one track to the left and the other to the right and that didn't help. What do I need to make this work?
 
The first thing to check is that your Y adapter is stereo, and that all adapters after the Y-connector are stereo (the 1/4" to 1/8" adapter).

You will have to hard pan each track and tell cakewalk to record a stereo track.

Then look into your AUX channels. I typically just use the line-out on my mixer to the computer.

Slackmaster
 
Cliff, You've probably already thought of this, but I would record it in one track and then add either chorus or reverb to get the desired stereo effect from the patches that come with cakewalk.

By-Tor
 
To follow up on S2K's good advice...a stereo plug has 3 metal sections on it...tip, ring, and sleeve. That's why they call it a TRS plug!
 
I know that the cord I am using is stereo (TRS) the thing I don't know is whether or not the Y-adaptor I have converts the two mono signals into a stereo signal or if it just combines them into a single mono signal. I got it from a professional sound store in my hometown and they said it would work for the purpose I wanted it for but they specialize in live sound rather than recording and I'm not so sure they knew exactly what I was looking for. I haven't tried to setup Cakewalk so that it knew I was recording in stereo. I didn't know that I had to. I thought if I picked one track source as the left and the other as the right, it would be taken care of. By-Tor, as for your suggestion, I want to apply effects to the two signals separately so I need them as two seperate tracks.
 
Ah, I just re-read your question and am guessing that since your adapter has a jack on it, you're not sure whether that jack is stereo or not, because you can't see inside it, right? Maybe not.

Anyway, when I was referring to the TRS, I was talking about your adapter, not your cord. The way you wrote it, it's kind of hard for me to tell from here whether the adapter has two plugs and a jack or two jacks and a plug. But I'm going to start with the latter since it makes more sense.

Now, if the plug is TRS, then the jacks are clearly mono and it's doing the right thing...combining two mono signals on a single TRS plug for stereo.

If the adapter has a single jack for output, you can't tell wby looking whether it's stereo or not, so test it. Plug a stereo cord into it and into something else (not your computer) that can take such signals on the other end, and see if you're getting the same thing on each channel or not.

You have to troubleshoot this way because you sound a bit like you're new to all this, and I have no idea whether you have the software set up right to record in stereo. So you're better off testing with lower-tech hardware until you know what's going on.

Let's get back to basics here in case you didn't read https://homerecording.com/sound_card_basics.html

You keep saying "only one input on your soundcard" and that you are assuming it is stereo.

Is that a line input or a mic input? Mic inputs are mono with a stereo jack, and line inputs are stereo with a stereo jack.
 
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