stereo output meaning?

[sam123]

Hi,

I have read the Sticky post on 'Introduction to Multitrack Computer Interface Recording'. But I'm yet confused with the digital I/O section.

It says "If you have only the stereo mix output (2 Out) then you must perfect your mix prior to or while performing, as you will not be able to mix it again once its tracked in the DAW".
Does that mean I can't record 2 tracks separately (voice and guitar) with this stereo output? Then why it is called stereo and not mono?

Also Yamaha MG102 says it has stereo outputs, what's this mean? Does the DAW see two tracks if this mixer is connected to a PC (mixer out to PC line-in)?

Tascam US-144MKII says it's a 'Bus-powered USB 2.0 audio interface', but doesn't mention anything like x-in/y-out. Does it offer multitrack recording? How do I exactly make sure if some interface/usb mixer offer multitrack recording by reading the specs?

 

[Armistice]

If you pan guitar L and voice R, you have successfully sent your two tracks into your recording software. That part probably refers to having more than two sources going through the mixer, once through the mixer, they can't be separated - that's what mixers do.

How are planning on getting your mixer to connect to your PC? PCs don't typically have anything but a single microphone level in, and that mixer doesn't have either AD converters or a USB connection as far as I can tell, unless you have some version I'm not aware of.

As I seem to say three or four times a day lately, a mixer is not the correct tool for startout home recording. An interface is.

 

[Seidy]

Hi!
First of all Yamaha MG102 has no usb connection so you need something that converts analog signal from your mixer to digital. Your computers built in sound card does that, but that has really low qualty so I don't recommend using that.
Therefore you need an external audio interface like Tascam us-144, M-Audio Fast track, Alesis io2 etc... there are lots of choices.
What you have to check is that how many inputs you can record at the same time. I see you need two inputs - one for quitar, one for vocal. Tascam us-144 mk2 is for example good interface to start with.

The answer carried away a little bit from the original question actually.
With a mixer like that you have just stereo output. Usually when you mix, you leave channels panned center (quitar and vocal) and therefore you have the same signal coming out from the L&R output. Now if you want to record you can separate the quitar and vocal by panning one to hard left and the other to hard right, and then mix it on the computer.
The thing I talked before about these interfaces is because mixers like these are not made for recording. Yes there are mixers with usb connection, but they also give you just the main output L&R. If you want to record then buying an interface is the right choice.



...aaand I was late for 10 minutes, Armistice got that covered already

 

[JimmyS1969]

Yes, Armistice is correct. A mixer tends to 'mix' multiple channels into a stereo track. Most USB mixers, only sent L/R (stereo track) to the computer.

An interface, generally sends all of it's 'Inputs' to a separate track within your recording software. An interfaces 'Outputs' have nothing to do with individual recorded tracks. They are individual outputs from your recording software (after or during recording), back out to analog devices (monitors, outboard gear, whatever).