Sigmatel high definition audio codec - will this work for recording on my computer?

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pete12string

New member
I've been reading about DAW software and saw something about needing an ASIO compatible sound card. As far as I can tell, I have a Sigmatel Audio sound card. Is this going to be okay for recording? I am thinking of getting either the Zoom R8 or R16 and don't know if I'll be able to use them as an interface/control surface for a DAW.

I don't have any idea of what I'm doing... :)
 
A codec is not a soundcard. You will have an internal soundcard. It will almost certainly not be suitable for recording.

Do you have any particular reason for buying a Zoom unit? If you want to use a DAW would you not be better off buying a proper audio interface which will have a proper driver? Why do you think you need a control surface?
 
Onboard cards have chips worth less than a Hershey chocolate bar.
They're for beeps, boops and light gaming, not suitable for music recording.
 
Read all of the 'Sticky' threads at the top of THIS forum. < that 'THIS' is a link to the forum. Not this one. :)

Most of what you are asking will be answered there. Or at least help you to find the right direction to go. :)
 
Armistice said:
A codec is not a soundcard. You will have an internal soundcard. It will almost certainly not be suitable for recording.

Do you have any particular reason for buying a Zoom unit? If you want to use a DAW would you not be better off buying a proper audio interface which will have a proper driver? Why do you think you need a control surface?
Click to expand...

I was looking at the Zoom because it can be used as a stand alone recorder as well as an interface and control surface. I'm looking for "simple" but with all the hoopla about DAW and computer recording, I thought I could test the waters with a Zoom but still be able to do my "stand alone" recordings. I currently have an old Fostex VF-80 recorder but the control buttons are starting to go and I want to get more "current". At least be able to easily (USB) copy file to computer and maybe do something with them in some DAW software (track editing? effects? mixing? mastering?). There are also the TASCAM recorders (DB-08EX) that don't have the "interface" or "control surface" features but allow for easy copy of files via USB to computer. I'm thinking maybe that's the best route for me...

I'm pretty clueless on computer recording. I have a Windows XP machine, two 1.66GHz CPUs, 2GB RAM, 75G hard drive, and 500G external hard drive. I'm not even sure if that's enough horsepower for computer recording.
 
Have you read the SOS article on the r16? It does, indeed, seem to do what you want.

They describe it as a standalone recorder which can also be used as an 8in/2out front end of a mac/pc recording setup.

Most people just want the computer based functionality and, therefore, buy a dedicated usb/firewire interface, but if you need the standalone capability too then this seems like the unit for you.

The best thing to do would be to ignore the computer's built in audio and just use the two outs on the zoom to send audio to either
active monitors or an amp and passive monitors.
 
Steenamaroo said:
Have you read the SOS article on the r16? It does, indeed, seem to do what you want.

They describe it as a standalone recorder which can also be used as an 8in/2out front end of a mac/pc recording setup.

Most people just want the computer based functionality and, therefore, buy a dedicated usb/firewire interface, but if you need the standalone capability too then this seems like the unit for you.

The best thing to do would be to ignore the computer's built in audio and just use the two outs on the zoom to send audio to either
active monitors or an amp and passive monitors.
Click to expand...

Hi!

I did read that article. I guess part of my question is will my computer (Windows XP machine, two 1.66GHz CPUs, 2GB RAM, 75G hard drive, and 500G external hard drive) be sufficient for recording using the R16 as an interface or will I only be able to use it to mix, edit, etc as a DAW? Not sure if that even makes sense...

Thanks so much!
Pete
 
I would answer, most likely. Now, when you start using effects, processing, it might begin to show its age. But even if it couldn't, it wouldn't really matter to you as you can track on the Zoom, bring the track into the DAW and continue your mixing. So really, you have little to worry about.

Your only possible trouble will be when you are mixing and you start inserting processing on the mix (EQ, compression, etc.) but there are many here that do it on older machines, so no real reason why it will not work reasonably well.

Hope this helps.
 
Agreed.
Your machine's certainly on the wrong side of things, but it doesn't take all that much to record and mix 16 tracks with light effects.
Assuming vsts aren't involved, you should get by.

Try to be efficient with group reverbs on aux tracks (rather than several instances) etc to conserve resources.
Also familiarise yourself with latency and the relationship to buffer size.
 
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