Well, grabbed the 0404. Couple questions!

[JohnnK]

Kind of excited here, although, not much time for it yet. Better figure out if I need to return it before 30 days are up. One of the reasons I went with the EMU is it's 64bit support (A big thing for me) and that it came with a bunch of software to try (I have used Cubase in the past. I believe I liked it.. Sonar, I'm iffy about), but now I'm wondering if the LE versions they sent me come in 64, and if so, if they are included (Or if they'd give me a 64 version). If not, they're all kind of useless to me (Maybe not useless, but not ideal).

So barring that, a couple questions. Been messing around with Sonar that I had here, so all these questions are based on that so far.. I was just doing a bit of recording with a direct guitar to line in, as I don't have mics here, and noticed a hum. I flipped the ground lift switch on the bottom, and it seems to lessen. Is this an acceptable practice? Not really sure what it's there for, shouldn't it be hum free all the time?

Using the EMU asio driver, and noticed a few clicks and pops.. I'm not sure if it's the driver, or not though.. The bottom of the sonar Audio tab has an "Asio detected latency" or something like that.. says 250 or something.. But listening to it echo, it doesn't feel like 250ms.. Feels less than that. Am I interpreting this incorrectly..? Also don't have this computer optimized yet (Tons of crap installed, as well as an AV running).

My other concern is that while the 0404 doesn't tell me it's clipping, Sonar does. And I can't find a way to change the input levels?? If i go to audio and click on the ASIO tab, I just get a little window for buffers and what not. If I click on the EMU icon in the bottom right, I just get a Sample rate, and Device tab.. no input levels.. What gives?

Now I guess I'll email EMU and Steinberg to see if 64 is included with this package, before I rip it open and void my return policy.

Thanks again!

 

[dgatwood]

1. Regarding the hum, either use an outboard preamp that has an actual instrument pre or stick a mic in front of your amp. Unless you are using an active guitar, it's not even close to line level, and bringing it up afterwards isn't likely to produce good results. Even if you're using an active guitar, odds are that interface really wasn't designed for that.

2. The latency is probably measured in samples. If you're running at 96 kHz, 256 samples is about 2.6 milliseconds, for example (256 / 96,000).

3. Record at a lower level. I'm assuming this interface does 24-bit. If so, you shouldn't need to be close to clipping to get good sound.

 

[TimOBrien]

Don't push your setup so hard.

Lock it down on 24bit/44.1khz and set the samples so that you get 10-20ms of latency.

You'll never know it and your problems will go away....

 

[JohnnK]

Well, we're speaking greek to me but I'll play around with it.. It seems things have changed from even 5-6 years ago when I last recorded something. I think what I meant by clipping, is that in Sonar, I can't find a way to lower the input levels.. For example, I set the 0404 so it's not clipping, and in Cubase, and reaper, I can adjust the input level so that it matches.. but in sonar, I can't seem to find a way to do that, so while the 0404 is not even close to clipping, sonar is, and it distorts it.. Which I can't seem to figure out why..

But yes, I need to grab some mics, and settle on a program. None of these programs really jive with me. haha.. Sonar, I think, being the most intuitive for me. Have yet to try ableton.

Any recommendations? I will be recording the vocals and guitars in audio tracks (obviously), and would like to make the drums midi for the time being, and with that, I have 0 experience. Which program in your opinions would be the best? I assume none come with anything to do this, so what would I Need to grab? Are there plugins that have pre recorded samples, or how does it work? Bass might also be midi, if I'm feeling lazy...

Thanks!

 

[noisewreck]

My question to you is why is 64-bit such a big thing for you? Do you intend to use mega-terabyte sample libraries or is it a case of "more is better" for you

 

[JohnnK]

Because more is better.. No, because I also use this computer for school, which is a lot (fair amount) of cad, so I already have everything ready to go on 64. And I'm not sure if I feel like dual booting.