Sb 16

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badassmak

badassmak

Herbi-Whore
hehe so i have this piece of crap sb 16...I want to make stereo recordings, I have all of my instruments running through a behringer 802a mixer then lining out to the soundcard...the mixer has left and right 1/4 line outs...do I have to get some funky adapters and crap to plug this in to the card? if so obviously i want another card...
 
With that particular P.O.S.,you need a stereo mini jack on one end (the same type of connector that's on Walkman type headphones) that fans out into two 1/4" phono plugs.
 
sounds like a lot of splicing and crap to me lol, looking around I think my next best bet is the audiophile 24/96...Im wondering how well this interacts with n track tho
 
all things considered (all things being money) I think I'll be making my way to the radio shack shortly, for adapters n splicers n stuff...frick
 
It also is not a full-duplex card if I'm not mistaken, meaning you can't overdub and hear what you already recorded...
 
hmm well ive recorded some stuff on n-track already, and been able to record over it, while listening to the previously recorded tracks...(my comp is about 533 mhz 192 mb ram i get about 16 tracks before it starts wiggin out)
 
the new sb16 PCI is full duplex. The chips on it are still weak though and will buckle under the load quickly. The sb live is a lot better and can take more tracks without crapping out for just a few dollars more. That still doesn`t get you out of entry level equipment though.
 
The sb live is a lot better and can take more tracks without crapping out for just a few dollars more.
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I've never seen a sound card influence the track count. Track count is mostly tied to CPU speed and memory, and to a lesser extent drive speed.
 
pglewis said:

I've never seen a sound card influence the track count. Track count is mostly tied to CPU speed and memory, and to a lesser extent drive speed.
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perhaps I should have used voices in place of track. By the time I have mutliple tracks of drums, perc', bass, 2 or more pianos, strings, dxi synths, and at least one audio track, errors begin to pop up frequently. This is with a 1700 Athlon, 512 meg ram, 40 gig 5400 drive.
 
badassmak said:
sounds like a lot of splicing and crap to me lol, looking around I think my next best bet is the audiophile 24/96...Im wondering how well this interacts with n track tho
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I use a prefab 1/8'' <-> RCA cable. One end in my SBLive, the other in the tape-out of my 602a. The cost? It will set you back one or two beers.
 
ya i was looking at the rca's on this thing too...just wondering whats better quality...rca's or 1/4 inchers...i guess when it comes down to sb 16 it really doesnt matter tho...but if there is a substantial diff i would like to know please :D
 
badassmak said:
ya i was looking at the rca's on this thing too...just wondering whats better quality...rca's or 1/4 inchers...i guess when it comes down to sb 16 it really doesnt matter tho...but if there is a substantial diff i would like to know please :D
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I think that some will say that if you want a significant difference you should buy something else than Behringer :)
But seriously. I don't think you should worry about quality differences. The RCAs are just another pair of lines-out.
 
hehe id buy something other than behringer if i was rich...as far as that goes its the best piece of equipment i have...curious as to why the behringer gets rave reviews some places and others they say its crap...you have one apparently so im curious why YOU think its not exactly top of the line...just curious :D...but yeah right shortly Im off to radio shack for some good quality connector/adapter doohickeys...thks again
 
Oh, I'm not rich either. It was cheap and it serves my need. I now use it for monitoring and routing my cdplayer and line-out of the computer to the hifi set. It's a cute little thingy.
For recording I have a Meek which just sounds better. But then again: It cost close to 4x the 602a.
 
The SB16 is a near full duplex card. It can record at 16bit while playing back at 8bit (simultaneously). It is noisier than hell and sounds like crap.

However, the issue of "cables" isn't really a big one. A "Y" cable, which is what you'd need, is a very common thing to come across. No matter what kind of gear you get you're going to have to have the right cables to hook everything up together.

The audiophile has RCA connectors. If your behringer has 1/4" outputs, then you'll need 1/4" to RCA cables, which are also somewhat common.

The difference between 1/4" and RCA is first convenience. It's just plain easier to plug into 1/4", and most of your cabling is probably already 1/4". Now some soundcards have 1/4" *balanced* inputs, which can indeed be of benefit if you're making long cable runs in a noisy (RF) environment. There is no such thing (to my knowledge) as a balanced RCA connector.

The difference between the audiophile and the SB16 is tremendous. First of all, your noise floor will drop from -30 or -40db down to -70 or -80db. Secondly, it will simply *sound* better. The A/D converter is probably the most important component in any digital system. All converters will "damage" your analog signal, and you want to use converters that do the least amount of damage. You might not be "hearing" your soundcard yet if you're just starting out. Trust me, the difference is night and day. And after a time, you'll probably start hearing the audiophile and you'll make adjustments accordingly. (and you'll ditch the behringer too, haha) The audiophile also lets you work with 24bit audio, and at much higher sample rates. The higher the fidelity you capture, the better DSP can sound. Finally, the audiophile will give you low latency mixing options either via WDM or ASIO. In other words, when you make a fader move in n-Track, it probably takes about a quarter of a second for you to hear the results of that move...so you end up moving faders in little annoying jerks. With low latency drivers, you can take that latency value down into the < 80ms range, even with a lot of tracks. Faders and such will begin to respond as though they were "real".

Yes, the audiophile will work with n-Track using WDM, ASIO, MME, or DS drivers.

Slackmaster 2000
 
As someone who owns (or has owned) a Behringer 802a, a SB16, a SB Live, a SB Audigy, AND a Audiophile 2496, I'll second most everything Slackmaster says.

If you are doing stuff like copying cassettes to CDR, an SB-16 is fine. I'm not sure how well it will work doing overdubs, never tried that. The Live/Audigy cards are clearer.

PgLewis - the sound card can indeed influence track count. I have taken Cakewalk audio projects recorded on my main system (using a Gadget labs Wave24 card) and tried to play them back on a different (faster) PC using a SB Live card and had it choke almost instantly.

The 802a is OK. Note I said OK, not great. A good value for < $100, and pretty quiet.

HOWEVER - I will warn you though that my Audiophile 2496 will NOT work as a true 24 bit card. Under Windows XP, in the current machine it is in, it simply will not record or play back in either Cakewalk 9 or Sonar if I tell it to work in 24 bit mode. For 16 bit recording it works fine. I don't think this is a common problem with this type of card, I think it is more likely a symptom of my particular PC software/hardware setup. Quite frustrating, though.

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=67047
 
vella vella vella...

...very interseting. thank you all for the information here. I think most definitely I will be looking for a 24/96...wheres a good place to look ?:D...hmm for some reason I still cant get any stereoization outtta this thing...Ive tried rca's into a y into the soundcard as well as 1/4 inchers (2 UNBALANCED) into a y and everything is mono...so later today in my adventures I will be aquiring some balanced ones...lol I ended up with rca connectors instead of 1/4's at radio shack cause the sales giel was pretty, I lost my focus :rolleyes: dammit!!!...oh well Ive got them now hehe...one last question on the sb 16 tho, whats better to record from...line in or mic in?
 
You need to be using the line in. The mic in is a mono mic preamp (with low voltage phantom power) of very very poor quality. The preamps in your behringer will be better.

Cables aren't balanced - whether you can make a balanced connection depends on the gear your connecting. A balanced signal consists of two signal lines and one ground, so a total of three conductors are required. Therefore, to connect a balanced 1/4" output to a balanced 1/4" input, you'd use a 3 conductor cable with 1/4" TRS (tip, ring, sleve...also commonly used for stereo) connectors.

But that's besides the point because your SB16 does not have balanced inputs. What you need is a Y cable with one 1/4" or 1/8" stereo (e.g. TRS) plug that will run into your SB16. By definition of a Y cable, the connectors on the other end will both be mono, and should be whatever is required by your behringer (RCA or 1/4"). Note I only mention a 1/4" TRS to go to your soundcard because that kind of cable is more common; you can use a 1/4" to 1/8" stereo (TRS) adapter to make the final connection to the card.

Slackmaster 2000
 
I would suggest getting a simple stereo RCA cable, run from the "Tape Out" of your mixer, and plug that into a single adaptor (stereo RCA to stereo mini plug) going into the line in on your sound card.

The signal level coming out of the unbalenced Tape Out on your mixer is a better match for your SB16 sound card than the balenced 1/4" line outs.
 
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