sorry guys! please help answer some really silly questions!

[robyneisner]

hi everyone!

i'm really sorry to ask these kinda questions, i know they're dumb, but i can't seem to find straight answers to these!

i wanted an echo mia, but after i heard about all it's screwups with windows 2k, i looked for something else, and i think nthe m-audio audiophile 2496 is gonna be the answer, but...

1.) i have a sblive! right now. can i use both simultaneously the aphile for my recorded stuff and the sb for midi stuff? if so, can you please breifly tell me how to do that?

2.) i have a gateway computer and i would still like to use my sound system that came with the computer with the audiophile. the sblive right now that i use has a minijack that goes to the sound system, but it says its digital out. i am guessing this is spdif, but i don't know. if it is, can i still use the sound system with the aphile with adapter cables and stuff like that? i didn't see any minijack connections, so can i still use my speakers?

i would have liked to get the other 44 card that maudio makes, but my system apparently only works when i have digital out checked off in that little mixer thingy in windows and the delta 44 has no digital out. am i correct with thinking that i can't use the 44?

3.) i read that the unbalanced ins make a lot of noise. that's no good! i use a little 6 channel mixer before i put the plugs into the soundcard. does that affect anything? is the noise floor really that bad?

i'm just recording me and a couple of my girlfriends singing some a cappella stuff, so i figure the audiophile would be a nice cheap card for me to use.

thank you sooo much to anyone who can answer any of these for me. i'm so sorry to ask such silly questions! thanks a bunch!

robyn

 

[Elle]

Actually, they are not dumb questions at all. Either that, or we all ask dumb questions at some point.

So your running windows 2000? I have the Echo Mona, you should really contact Echo and ask them directly what conflicts are known. Don't always think someone elses problems are global.

I can use both sound cards on my computer, I can't see why that wouldn't work for you. Each program like jukebox or whatever would use SB and then your recording software you would have to choose the other soundcard for playback. If you wanted the jukebox to play through your other soundcard you will have to go into that prgram,(jukebox), and assign the audio outs to the other soundcard. I just let the SB play all other audio on the internet instead of messing with it each time I want to hear something of the net. I use Mona just for recording.

I have the SB live with the subwoofer, but I am not using the digital conection. I bought the speaker system without the digital contection. But......... I had planned on taking the digital out of the soundcard on the Mona and plugging it into the consumer dolby digital 5.1 receiver's digital input. I called and spoke with two different audion technicans and came up with two different answers. One said yes it would work, the other said no. I think you should try it, then let me know! I already have awesome speakers for the Mona, so I haven't tried it yet. I don't know about the 44, call the company and ask!! I can't stress enough the inportance of researching products before you buy! Stuff ain't cheap. Your system only works when the digital is being used because that's the hook-up your using. If you used the audio R/L out it will work too. But then you lose the the 5.1 surround sound when playing games. But my subwoofer still rocks with the audio out.

Every time you add gear, you add noise. Your mixer could be making a lot of noise or hummmm. Best way to find out is test with and without. I would definitely use balanced when possible.

I hope I helped you answer some of your questions.
Elle

 

[AlChuck]

i have a sblive! right now. can i use both simultaneously the aphile for my recorded stuff and the sb for midi stuff? if so, can you please breifly tell me how to do that?

You shouldn't have to do too much other than install the cards. They should not be on the same IRQ and there are other peripherals that might or might be problematic with IRQ sharing and one or the other of these cards.

Once they are installed, the recording application should allow you to choose the MIDI synth of the SB Live for whatever tracks you want, and the Audiophile for the audio tracks.

i have a gateway computer and i would still like to use my sound system that came with the computer with the audiophile. the sblive right now that i use has a minijack that goes to the sound system, but it says its digital out. i am guessing this is spdif, but i don't know. if it is, can i still use the sound system with the aphile with adapter cables and stuff like that? i didn't see any minijack connections, so can i still use my speakers?

The Audiophile has a standard coaxial RCA S/PDIF, I think, and the speaker that plugs into the SB Live is a special S/PDIF minijack. Unlike audio signals, you can't just get an adapter and run two digital signals into a single cable and expect to hear anything.

Can the speakers also take line level audio signals? You could get a small mixer (like you are using on your inputs) to mix the stereo outs of the two cards together before they reach the speakers.

If you are serious about recording you will soon learn that a decent pair of nearfield monitors is practically a requirement for being able to produce decent mixes.

i would have liked to get the other 44 card that maudio makes, but my system apparently only works when i have digital out checked off in that little mixer thingy in windows and the delta 44 has no digital out. am i correct with thinking that i can't use the 44?

Correct. The Delta 66 for about $50 more is the 44 + S/PDIF. But it's kind of a moot point because you can't connect the digital outputs of both the SB Live and the M-Audio card (or any other) to your speaker set at the same time.

i read that the unbalanced ins make a lot of noise. that's no good! i use a little 6 channel mixer before i put the plugs into the soundcard. does that affect anything? is the noise floor really that bad?

Naaaa, unbalanced are completely fine if you keep the cables pretty short. They don't reject noise from the environment as well as balanced cables will, that's all. You probably can't tell the difference in the noise floor between using balanced or unbalanced.

The mixer might have some effect. Really junky mixers might have noisy circuits and introduce a little more noise into your overall signal.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[clazymike]

thanks elle and alchuck so far, i just have some more clarification questions, hope it's not too much!

so if i have both the sblive and the audiophile in my computer at the same time, can i do this: have all my ins (misc and such) going into the audiophile and my sound system connected to the digital out of the sblive and then just use the audiophile solely for recording purposes? will that totally defeat the purpose of the 24/96 output of the audiophile?

in addition, could i use the outs of the audiophile to monitor thru headphones and then keep the speakers hooked to the sblive for games and dvds and stuff?

i understand that i need nearfield monitors to mix and master properly, but i need money first!!! i read something that said how you can use the minijack digital out of the sblive to go to coax RCA jacks on a digital speakers using a sort of adapter.
http://alive.singnet.com.sg/tech/digital-io.htm
if that would work splitting the signal to speakers, would it work joining the signal from the audiophile to the digital minijack input on my speakers?

i'm upset because i like my speakers, but gateway is ghetto and changes their stuff, like making these digital speakers have a minijack in. (my loss for buying a prebuilt, i guess)

last thing--elle--are you using the mona under win2k? i just heard that echo hasn't released any non beta wdm drivers for w2k and they don't seem to be releasing them anytime soon.

again, thanks everyone! i appreciate it!

robyn

 

[AlChuck]

You mean route all the audio put the SB Live's WAV Outs? Yeah, you could do that. I think that 24-bit files will play OK through the SB Live's outputs.

You could also do what you suggest with the 'phones except that you'll need to keep changing the routing of the tracks, and it's not a great idea to mix using headphones.

i read something that said how you can use the minijack digital out of the sblive to go to coax RCA jacks on a digital speakers using a sort of adapter... if that would work splitting the signal to speakers, would it work joining the signal from the audiophile to the digital minijack input on my speakers?

The way you ask is a little confusing.... your use of the phrase "splitting the signal to speakers" and "joining the signal." The digital signal is not being split or joined in any way, just adapted to a different connector. If you mean could you use the Audiophile output like that -- RCA on one end to the adapter as described on the other end -- then I believe the answer to your question is yes.

I think the Gateway speakers are that way to make them work directly withe the SB Live and be a pain in the ass for any other usage.

 

[Elle]

I am using windows ME.......

Thanks for the link about the Yellow Digital out on the SBlive card. That was very interesting. What kind of speakers are you using?

Ok. so now I have a question...............

Can I use the digital out of the Mona, and connect it to the digital in of a Dobly Digital 5.1 receiver? I could use the optical or S/DIF conections since both peices of equipment support both modes of transfer.

Elle

 

[robyneisner]

elle -- i have the boston acoustics BA7500 series 5 piece speaker system, which use rca spdif connectors. unfortunately it is actually the BA7500G, which means it is the gateway version where they must dumb things down for their users.

alchuck -- if i use the audiophile simple for recording purposes and i have everything go out the sblive (i image i just use the window's mixer to do that, right?) can i still simultanously play a track from the sblive and hear a track from the audiophile?

thanks
robyn