what do i need?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mckayormacky
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mckayormacky

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i have sonar 4, and a tascam us-122. i am a total newb. what do cords do i need to get my us-122 to function so i can record my guitar into sonar.

right now i am just pluggin the usb tascam-us 122 into the computer. and pluggin my guitar directly into the us-122. not sure how you go about recording without distortion like from my amp.

but right now i just wanna record sounds to make sure im doing something right. so i just plugged the guitar direct to the us-122. i dont know what other cords i need to make it work lol.
 
if you want to record direct (i think your already doing this) you just plug your tascam into the computer with the supplied cord and then your 1/4 cord from the guitar into the tascam...im not familiar with the tascam but i dont think it can function as a d.i box....so you would need a d.i. box and add that to you signal chain...HOWEVER...you would be better off micing your amp, run the mic out into a preamp like the audio buddy, and then run that into the xlr in of the tascam
 
ok thanks, you are correct on what i am doing right now. which is the guitar direct to us-122. then us-122 to the computer via usb.

am i missing another cord or something i should be using?

also im not hearing anything, its probably because i have no idea what im doing. but should i plug headphones into the us-122 directly. or should i be hearing it from my headphones plugged into my sound blaster?

later on im going to set up my amp and record my guitar with distortion. will it sound fine with just a mic plugged into the us-122? and what is a good recording mic for bass and guitar for around $$100-200.

sorry i am super newbie right now.

btw- i have no idea what anything you are saying is I.E.-the di box, xlr, or audio buddy. lol no idea what those are.
 
okay well if your still not getting anysound check you levels...also make sure in your recording program you've selected the right input..the best microphone to buy is the sm57...it is only 90 or so dollars and used in pro studios... a d.i. box takes your guitars signal and raises its level to a level usable by say a mixing board or a computer soundcard in you case. xlr simply refers to the cord used by microphones (the top cable on this website http://www.red5audio.com/acatalog/Cables4.html is an xlr cable)...an audio buddy is simply a preamp which you will need when micing anything...this goes after your microphone and before you tascam in the signal chain and basically raises the level of the microphone so that the tascam can use it.
 
ok so im gonna need both a d.i box and audio buddy? one guitar one for straight mic?

another problem im having now though is the playback on my headphones. currently i have headphones plugged to my sound blaster. and headphones plugged to my tascam. when i put the tascam as my out. i dont hear a metronome and anything recorded sounds all fucked up and laggy. if i switch my out to the sound blaster everything recorded sounds fine(except for a loud airy type feedback backround noise i cant get rid of) and i can hear the metranome. not sure how to fix this.
 
woah, you don't need a DI box or an audio buddy. you can plug right into your tascam 1/4 from your guitar, OR you can use a mic into the preamp that is already in the tascam.

you are gonna need to read the manual man. not to be a tool, but it is hard to explain how to set everything up over this bulleton board. Basically, what you want to do is, first install the drivers of the tascam onto your coputer. Once you are confident that your tascam is installed properly, you should have the cord that connect your computer speakers to your computer, connected to the output on the tascam, NOT the soundblaster. you could use the soundblaster but it is easier this way. Next go into your sound options in the control panel and make sure all of the options are set to your tascam, not any other card (i.e. the soundblater you have).

In your recording program, sonar 4, go into audio options and make sure your tascam is configured and what not. try that and if you have any specific problems, post again.
The tascam works well with sonar, i have used it for a while.
 
oh, i see you have the headphones working in the tascam, sorry. well the reason it sounds laggy is due to the level of your buffers. go into your tascam options in the control panel and slide the buffer to a lower level. This will reduce the latency (lagginess) but beware that if you set them too low, you will get audio dropouts and other problems. it's a balancing act.
 
oh yeah, make sure you are using WDM or ASIO drivers insted of the older MME ones.
 
not sure when u say go intro control panel do you mean of windows or sonar?
 
ok i reduced the buffer and in audio options of sonar changed them to us-122 or something. i still have a ton of backround air noise lol. but the lag issue is over thank you.
 
im sorry i brushed through us-122 specs and didnt see that it had pre's
 
good good, latency blows.

so what kind of noise are you getting on your tracks? are you using a mictrophone or are you going direct in? if you are using a mic, what kind? do you have phantom power on if your mic doesn't need it 9this will cause hissing). are you recording too loud, causing distortion? are you using a radio shack $5 mic, they will cause static noises as well. how quiet is the room you are recording in? how well is it treated?

if this background noise is really minimal, you could try getting your mits on an old copy of cool edit pro. it has a nifty noise reductioin plugin that actually works pretty well.
 
first of all i dont know how to check what kind of drivers i have installed currently.

ok well i played around a bit to see what was making the noise.

im directly connected. guitar to us-122 so i dont think its the room. the airy noise is pretty much directly related to the volume. when i turn the knob that says input L which controls the guitar input the volume gets louder but the air noise gets louder. the air noise doesnt get louder or quiter when i play and the recording is just recording what it hears. so its not clear on my headphones then backround noise when i record. its just a backround noise in general. i cannot turn my guitar up loud in my headphones without the air noise being extremly loud also.

i played with all the setting on the u2-122 while recording, and the backround noise is just related to the volume. cant figure out how to turn up the volume of the guitar without keeping the airy noise from getting louder to.
 
make sure you tascam power chord or amp powerchord dont interfere with the guitar instrumentchord.....ive had problems with this in the past
 
i think your right about the cable, ill have to get another one.
 
well i hooked another cord into it. still getting same noise in backround. although this cord wasent treated any better. maybe ill goo buy a new one and see if the problem continues. could it be my guitar?
 
ok so i bought a new cord. and the hissing kept going on.

but apparently im retarded. i swear i flipped every switch and knob trying to get the hissing away. but when i turned phontom off the hissin completly went away. clear free recording and it sound beautiful.

BTW how do i check what drivers are installed?
 
haha ya that'll do it..

to check your drivers, go into control panel > system > device management. find the tascam hardware in there and check the driver.
 
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