Using a mixer with Cakewalk

  • Thread starter Thread starter lynx
  • Start date Start date
L

lynx

New member
Hi,

For awhile now I've been using my Roland XP-30 and Cakewalk through MIDI. For Christmas I received a Spirit Folio Mixer and would like to continue using Cakewalk using my mixer instead of direct MIDI. However, I have a few problems.

The Details:

- I'm using RCA cables to connect to the line-in of my Soundblaster 5.1

- I have my mic, keyboard, and guitar all plugged into the mixer, which I can hear fine using the headphone jack of my mixer.

- Cakewalk will not recognize any device out of my mixer.

My main stupid newbie question is:

*Do I need a connection FROM my soundcard to my mixer*

Or, is Cakewalk the problem

Thanks for any help,
Keith
 
Well, that makes no sense -- how could Cakewalk or any application know what is plugged into the line in? All Cakewalk can see is the Line In as an input device and get its audio from there. It has absolutely no way of knowing whether the source of that signal is a mixer or a line in from a POD or a mic preamp or a VCR or a camcorder or any other device that could provide a line-level signal. So Cakewalk is certainly not the problem here.

You're leaving out a lot of details so I'll have to try to ask some leading questions:

Have you ever connected anything to the SB Live inputs and had it work before?

You say "I'm using RCA cables to connect to the line-in of my Soundblaster 5.1." This is from the mixer? What are they plugged into on the mixer side?

And how is the other end (at the soundcard) hooked up? Do you have a Sound Blaster Platinum with the LiveDrive i/o box? If so, do you have RCAs going in to it? If you have the LiveDrive I, those are digital S/PDIF jacks. That might explain it.

How are you trying to get the signal into Cakewalk? What's the source setting you are trying to use? What are the possible settings you can select from?

If you can tell us this we might be able to help you get there.
 
You have good points and thanks for the reply.

To answer your questions:

"Have you ever connected anything to the SB Live inputs and had it work before?"

No. I've only used the MIDI input of the soundcard.

"You say "I'm using RCA cables to connect to the line-in of my Soundblaster 5.1." This is from the mixer? What are they plugged into on the mixer side? "

My mixer (Soundcraft Spirit Folio) has RCA input jacks, I was "told" that this was the way to connect to the soundcard. It goes from the RCA inputs on the mixer to the line-in on the soundcard.

"And how is the other end (at the soundcard) hooked up? Do you have a Sound Blaster Platinum with the LiveDrive i/o box? If so, do you have RCAs going in to it? If you have the LiveDrive I, those are digital S/PDIF jacks. That might explain it. "

I do have a soundblaster platium, but I'm not sure what LiveDrive is, so I'll assume I don't...

"How are you trying to get the signal into Cakewalk? What's the source setting you are trying to use? What are the possible settings you can select from?"

I'm selecting as a source "Stereo SB Live! Wave Device" (all other options are MIDI-related), and as a Port: "SB Live! Wave Device. (The other Port option is SB Live! MIDI Synth)


Any ideas or clues?,

Keith
 
Move the RCA jacks on the mixer to the line out or master out. You can't send the input of one devicse to the input of another.
In's go to outs, and outs go to ins. This basic rule was confused by some of the consumer audio manufacturers when they tried to simplify component hook up by labeling components so that you hooked similar labeled connections together. (Part of the play/record generation).

You should be working now.

Steve
 
Wow, I do believe MOFO Pro has set you straight... no wonder nothing worked...
 
MOFO Pro said:
Move the RCA jacks on the mixer to the line out or master out. You can't send the input of one devicse to the input of another.
In's go to outs, and outs go to ins. This basic rule was confused by some of the consumer audio manufacturers when they tried to simplify component hook up by labeling components so that you hooked similar labeled connections together. (Part of the play/record generation).

You should be working now.

Steve
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, I understand the in-out, out-in rules however RCA is just a simple red/white connection input , there is no "line-out" for RCA as far as I know.

To do a proof of concept, how could I test if my soundcard sees the mixer (without going through Cakewalk)?
 
WHich mode Spirit do you have? I don't see the word "Folio" on their website. AT zZounds.com I see only this one with the name Folio:


http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/love.music?p=p.SPIRW5528&z=1258445712575

The RCAs are there for hooking up a stereo or something else. The outputs are probably XLR or 1/4" balanced, or maybe both, labeled something like Main Outs. OK, if it's that model I'm pointing to, they're called Mix Outs, and are a pair of male XLR connectors. You also have a pair of Subgroup Outs, which are
balanced 1/4" jacks for sending the subgroup signal to a multi-track or additional set of speakers.

So you need a cable (a special cable or one jury-rigged with adapters) with two female XLR plugs on one end, and... something at the other end. If you indeed have a pair of analog RCA line inputs for your SB Live, then that end of the cable should obviously have two RCA plugs. If you plug into the back of the card like a standard consumer soundcard, that would be a stereo 1/8" minijack Line In, so you would need a singlestereo 1/8" miniplug on the soundcard end.

This gets back to the question I had earlier about your Sound Blaster. The Platinum model has a box called the LiveDrive that takes up a hard drive bay and allows you to connect to the SB Live through the front of the computer. Is that how you are connected? If so, like I said, I don't think that has RCA inputs except for the one where what looks like RCA (same exact jack, in fact) is really an S/PDIF connector for the LiveDrive I model (the earlier one they released, I believe).

See http://alive.singnet.com.sg/features/platinum/02-livedrive.htm and see if that helps you identify what you have.
 
AlChuck said:
WHich mode Spirit do you have? I don't see the word "Folio" on their website. AT zZounds.com I see only this one with the name Folio:


http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/love.music?p=p.SPIRW5528&z=1258445712575

The RCAs are there for hooking up a stereo or something else. The outputs are probably XLR or 1/4" balanced, or maybe both, labeled something like Main Outs. OK, if it's that model I'm pointing to, they're called Mix Outs, and are a pair of male XLR connectors. You also have a pair of Subgroup Outs, which are
balanced 1/4" jacks for sending the subgroup signal to a multi-track or additional set of speakers.

So you need a cable (a special cable or one jury-rigged with adapters) with two female XLR plugs on one end, and... something at the other end. If you indeed have a pair of analog RCA line inputs for your SB Live, then that end of the cable should obviously have two RCA plugs. If you plug into the back of the card like a standard consumer soundcard, that would be a stereo 1/8" minijack Line In, so you would need a singlestereo 1/8" miniplug on the soundcard end.

This gets back to the question I had earlier about your Sound Blaster. The Platinum model has a box called the LiveDrive that takes up a hard drive bay and allows you to connect to the SB Live through the front of the computer. Is that how you are connected? If so, like I said, I don't think that has RCA inputs except for the one where what looks like RCA (same exact jack, in fact) is really an S/PDIF connector for the LiveDrive I model (the earlier one they released, I believe).

See http://alive.singnet.com.sg/features/platinum/02-livedrive.htm and see if that helps you identify what you have.
Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for the reply. I've been looking for a good soundblaster site for awhile (other than Creative), that one is great...

I definitely do not have the LiveDrive component in my software. I have a SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum soundcard.

<i>You said "If you plug into the back of the card like a standard consumer soundcard, that would be a stereo 1/8" minijack Line In, so you would need a singlestereo 1/8" miniplug on the soundcard end.</i>

This connection you referred to with RCA from the mixer to the soundcard is exactly what I have done.

My mixer is here --> http://www.soundcraft.com/products/spirit_f1.html

I am trying to troubleshoot Cakewalk but it would be nice to know if the soundcard at least acknowledges the mixer...

Anyway, thanks for the replies, I'm still a newbie.
 
OK, that helps... there are two XLR jacks all the way on the right just beneath the logo decal. Those are the outputs from the mixer. That's what you should be sending to the soundcard.

But on the soundcard end I'm still mucho confused.

You said, "I definitely do not have the LiveDrive component in my software. I have a SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 Platinum soundcard." But the LiveDrive component is not software. It's a panel that you would be able to plug things into from the face of the computer rather than the back.

If you got a SB Live Platinum without that i/o device, I fear that you got ripped off. That device is all the difference between the Live! MP3+/Live! X-Gamer packages (about $75 street) and the SB Platinum package (about twice that) -- the PCI card is identical.

Anyway, if I'm interpreting what you say correctly, you have a cable with two RCA plugs on one end and one stereo 1/8" miniplug on the other end.

What you need is a cable with XLR plugs on the end, not RCA. Those two RCA jacks right next to the XLR and headphones jacks are inputs to the mixer.

It's not Cakewalk, trust me!!! But there is a thing in the Windows Accessories (start menu -> Accessories -> Entertainment or perhaps start menu -> Accessories -> Multimedia) called Sound Recorder.

One more thing to check. Even if you have these connections correct, you might get no sound. It's very likely that the SB Live, when installed, was set by installation default with the Line In disabled for recording. Here's a link to a writeup at Cakewalk's website on how to enable it via the Windows mixer control.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Lessons/WindowsMixer.htm

Good luck!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top