soundcard/interface questions....

N

nydeath

New member
several kind of dumb questions that i probably know the answer to any way....

what do you use the outs of a soundcard for? i see 6 ins/8 outs on one and 8/8 on another, 1 set of stereo outs on another one.

on a card such as the layla there are multiple ins. would you use each of those inputs as a seperate track? would you be able to do that if you did not use the supplied program?

i've done a lot of recording but i've never gotten into computer recording besdes doing the guitar into the line in thing for laying down idea's. i'm currently working on a demo and am trying to make the shift from using my adat to all digital computer recording. my brain feels like it's abut to explode form all of the options. i'm trying to find what will work best for me. i'm only doing one track at a time but i am using multiple mics on my speaker cabs. it seems like a lot of these interfaces and cards are overkill for what i'm doing.
 
I really wanted to answer your question, but I'm not sure what your question is.

The inputs on a soundcard can be recorded as mono (depending on the card and the software) or be combined as a stereo signal. Unless you have a stereo mic, I recommend mono recording (since you are really not recording a stereo signal) and using each input as a seperate track.

So for example my Delta 4/4 gives me four outs and four ins. I use two outs to input into the return on my mixer and I have two outs free that I can use in whichever way I want, and I can use each of my four ins as a seperate track if I want.

By recording the tracks seperately this allows you to manipulate each track seperately. Meaning EQ just the Vocals (after recording), or boost the vocals and cut the guitar, add reverb, or whatever else you could think of.
 
my question is... what are the outputs for. you said you send them back to the mixer, why do you do send them back to the mixer? what do you do with the signal that you send back to the mixer? i'm slowly getting to my main question!


also you said you can use each of the 4 ins on your delta and have them go to 4 seperate tracks. that answered my question. i have a few more questions regarding that....

- can you have all 4 ins go to 1 track? or say 2 ins to one track and the other 2 to seperate tracks? basically i'm asking if the inputs are assignable, so to speak.

thanks.
 
Not to but in...

;)
Dracon said:
I really wanted to answer your question, but I'm not sure what your question is.

The inputs on a soundcard can be recorded as mono (depending on the card and the software) or be combined as a stereo signal. Unless you have a stereo mic, I recommend mono recording (since you are really not recording a stereo signal) and using each input as a seperate track.

So for example my Delta 4/4 gives me four outs and four ins. I use two outs to input into the return on my mixer and I have two outs free that I can use in whichever way I want, and I can use each of my four ins as a seperate track if I want.

By recording the tracks seperately this allows you to manipulate each track seperately. Meaning EQ just the Vocals (after recording), or boost the vocals and cut the guitar, add reverb, or whatever else you could think of.
Click to expand...

Dracon, I'm looking at getting the Delta 44 myself. Just want to know if your happy with it, or would you recommend something else. Seems like a good card for the price.
Thanks.
Ed
 
The outs go to the mixer. From there you can send it further i.e. to the headphone amp/splitter or to the studio monitors or speakers of your system.
 
nydeath said:
1. my question is... what are the outputs for.

2. you said you send them back to the mixer, why do you do send them back to the mixer? what do you do with the signal that you send back to the mixer?......

3. can you have all 4 ins go to 1 track? or say 2 ins to one track and the other 2 to seperate tracks? basically i'm asking if the inputs are assignable, so to speak....
Click to expand...

1. OUTPUTS are for sending the signal out to where ever and what ever you want.

Here are some examples

you can send two of your OUTS to your monitors

you can send four of your OUTS to two sets of monitors

you can send one or all of your OUTS to your mixing board

you can send one or all of your OUTS to an FX unit/s (then back into the mixing board)

you can send your tracks through all of your OUTS when you are trying to "dump" your tracks/music at the "pro studio"

Basically, the same thing applies to your INS (of course there are a few of my example that don't apply to INPUT).

Here is an example.....

My friend comes over with his Akai MPC 4000 (a self comtained music production unit). He wants to transfer his song into my computer, so we can mix, re-arrange, and pre-master. His song contains 16 tracks and is 6 minutes long.
Now if I am using the Delta 44 or 66, I only have 4 INS. I can only record transfer his song 4 tracks at a time (each "pass" will take me 6 minutes).

So, it will roughly take me 24 minutes to transfer all of his tracks.

If I had 8 INS it would take me 12 minutes. If I had 16 INS it would take me 6 minutes.

I said all of that, just to say this......The factor that you use to determine the number of INS will depend on how much stuff you need to input at the same time OR how many different things you need to have connected.

If you are just recording a guitar, vocals, and/or sampling form a CD/turntable then 4 INS should be adequate.

2. Maybe he needs to add FX or EQ (refer to #1).

3. Yes, you can have the tracks go to where ever you assign them. :cool:

I will post you a link that will offer information for you now and as your recording level increases. ;)
 
Dogman said:
....Dracon, I'm looking at getting the Delta 44 myself. Just want to know if your happy with it, or would you recommend something else. Seems like a good card for the price.....Ed
Click to expand...

The Delta 44 and the Delta 66 are both good cards. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and your budget.
 
SPINSTERWUN said:
The Delta 44 and the Delta 66 are both good cards. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and your budget.
Click to expand...

Right now, just record one track at a time, but might experiment with 2. I'm currently going into a 4 track digital, then into my pc, and would like to bypass the 4 track. An inexpensive, but decent soundcard should do the trick.
Thanks for the advice.
Ed :)
 
nydeath said:
my question is... what are the outputs for. you said you send them back to the mixer, why do you do send them back to the mixer? what do you do with the signal that you send back to the mixer? i'm slowly getting to my main question!
Click to expand...
Several things.
I use the signal return to control my monitors and to control the Headphones out of the phone jack. If I didn't do that I would have to plug my Headphones and Monitors directly to my soundcard (which is fine). If I connect my Headphones & Monitors to my soundcard directly then I have to control the level of the monitors via software (not via a actual knob I can touch), and controlling the level via the software makes it a great deal more cumbersome and it seems to be more sensitive to little movements of my mouse.


nydeath said:
- can you have all 4 ins go to 1 track? or say 2 ins to one track and the other 2 to seperate tracks? basically i'm asking if the inputs are assignable, so to speak.

thanks.
Click to expand...
I don't know any software that will allow you to combine all four ins to one track, but most software will allow you to record two ins into one track ( L & R) if you select stereo. In my M-Audio I can link my 1&2 as well as my 3&4 ins and my recording software can recognize 1&2 as a pair (L & R) when recording in stereo or as separate ins (if I select L or R).

One more note on the outs. In addition, to the return to the monitor the other outs (as I believe I mentioned before) can be used to add reverb, compression, echo, or whatever else to your signal after the fact and send it back to the card to record the signal with the added effect.
 
Dogman said:
;)

Dracon, I'm looking at getting the Delta 44 myself. Just want to know if your happy with it, or would you recommend something else. Seems like a good card for the price.
Thanks.
Ed
Click to expand...
Hey Ed

I love my 4/4 for several reasons. It took almost no time to install the drivers and to begin recording. The M-Audio interface took me maybe a couple of minutes to learn but it's simple enough and intuitive enough. I like the break out box and if I were to upgrade on the PC I would go with a 10/10 next time or some other break out box.

I chose M-Audio for their solid drivers, and I've had Zero (0) issues with software with my Delta 4/4. I have XP Professional and SP2 installed (along with a whole bunch of software to include Lord of the Rings and some other games.

I really like my Delta 4/4 and I think you would be hard pressed to find any Delta 4/4 user disagree (although I'm sure there may be one or two who did not like the Delta card).
 
Thanks. I didn't want to spend a ton, so it looks like this is a good route to go. Thanks to you, and to spinsterwun.
Ed
 
all right! so basically the card (and the software) will take the place of the adat i had previously used. that's what i was thinking. my mixer has a headphone out and controls for that but what i had done in the past is send the out(s) from the 8 track to the mixer and then selected those inputs to one of the subgroup/bus channels and out to the monitors. the delta 44 sounds like it would be more than sufficient for me. the m-box looks good, too. thanks a lot guys. now i'm trying to figure out how to run dual monitors...
 
nydeath said:
thanks a lot guys. now i'm trying to figure out how to run dual monitors...
Click to expand...
Do you mean a pair of monitors or two pair of monitors?!?

I run my pair of Events throught C-R OUT of my yamaha (the only negative on this is I have to power them down when I record - because I have one room for everything and I want to use the Headphones for tracking).

if you mean two pairs of Monitors you could either get a control for the Monitors, you could run the second pair through the additional outs you have on the soundcard or you could use a splitter from the ST OUT (although you would probably get signal loss doing this last one).
 
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