Xenyx x1622usb to Toshiba laptop Question(s)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Edgewater
  • Start date Start date
E

Edgewater

New member
Hey, everyone. Someone said I should stop by here with some questions that I have about hooking up a Xenyx x1622usb mixer to a Toshiba Satellite laptop. I'll try to be brief...

I picked up a Go Mic and Cakewalk software a few months ago to do some voice recording. Built a nifty little iso box as well. It worked pretty well but not up to the studio's standards (a place in Florida has pretty much hired me to do some VO stuff). The Go Mic worked fine on my laptop.

But since the studio wanted better quality they sent me a few things to help me out - mics, headphones, a headphone amp and the Xenyx x1622usb mixer. I put it all together and plugged it into the USB port on my laptop but I'm not getting any recording done at all. No waveform or anything on the Cakewalk program.

(Oh, and I'm a noob at this so please excuse me if I use wrong terminology)

I'm getting response from the mic to the mixer - albeit only on the left channel if I'm to believe the little green LEDs when I talk into the mic - but nothing from the mixer to the laptop.

I downloaded Audacity as a possible solution but I get the same thing... nothing.

That was Wednesday. On Thursday:

Someone pointed me to a driver that I should install (can't remember what it is at the moment but it was from the Behringer website) which I went ahead and installed and I got a little different result. I got a waveform, but it's coming from my laptop mic and not from the mixer.

The mixer is showing up on my computer as 'audio CODEC' but no other info about it except, according to my laptop, the 'device is working normally'. (yeah, right)

Is there something on the mixer that I need to do to get the signal out at the usb? And how in the hell do I turn off my laptop mic again? lol

Oh, and I'm using Windows 7 64-bit if that makes a difference.
 
You need to select the Behri ASIO driver, from within your recording software (DAW). Make the default sound device your Behri. Control Panel>Sounds>whatever the Behri driver is called.

Oh my, I cant even find a driver download for your interface.... Hmm....
 
ASIO4All is likely your only option here. The 1622 is really only a mixer, with the stereo output being sent via USB. Not sure why anyone would consider that 'good' quality, but it is surely better than the built in laptop mic, and internal sound card.

Download ASIO4ALL and see if that finds your mixer. I am not really knowledgeable with this fake ASIO driver, but sometimes it is necessary to make thing work when manufacturer drivers are not available.
 
Behringer does have 64 bit ASIO drivers but they hide them well on their site. They're located HERE.

However, that may be the driver the OP mentions downloading already (and, if not, he should do so).

As Jimmy says, the trick is to tell your computer to use the Behringer as the default audio device: Go to the Start menu and open the Control Panel. Then select "Hardware and Sound" then "Sound" then "Manage Audio Devices". On the screen that pops up, select the Recording tab, find your mixer on the list then double click it. Hit the "Properties" tab and, at the bottom, select "Use this device" on the pull down screen.

This should allow your mixer to show up in Cakewalk. I'm not a Cakewalk user, but there will be a menu screen to select the drivers you want (ASIO) and the Mixer to be your input (and likely output as well). There should also be a screen to route the two channels you have into particular tracks on Cakewalk.
 
Excellent, you two. Thank you very much for the info. I'll check into everything you've mentioned and get back tomorrow. Good news or bad. lol
 
Bobbsy said:
Behringer does have 64 bit ASIO drivers but they hide them well on their site. They're located HERE.

However, that may be the driver the OP mentions downloading already (and, if not, he should do so).

As Jimmy says, the trick is to tell your computer to use the Behringer as the default audio device: Go to the Start menu and open the Control Panel. Then select "Hardware and Sound" then "Sound" then "Manage Audio Devices". On the screen that pops up, select the Recording tab, find your mixer on the list then double click it. Hit the "Properties" tab and, at the bottom, select "Use this device" on the pull down screen.

This should allow your mixer to show up in Cakewalk. I'm not a Cakewalk user, but there will be a menu screen to select the drivers you want (ASIO) and the Mixer to be your input (and likely output as well). There should also be a screen to route the two channels you have into particular tracks on Cakewalk.
Click to expand...


Well hidden indeed! Under support? Not downloads? Weird.

In any case, Bobbsy is always the one that gets things figured out correctly. He is the shizzle. :)

Thanks Bobbsy.
 
I wonder about a 'studio' that would give someone a Xenyx to make better quality recordings - I mean, what real studio is going to have one of those?
 
mjbphotos said:
I wonder about a 'studio' that would give someone a Xenyx to make better quality recordings - I mean, what real studio is going to have one of those?
Click to expand...
Good point.... There is no chance that I would ever recommend that. And I'm just a little guy. Hmmm...
 
Consisdering what I had this is an improvement. Granted, it's a pretty low level piece of equipment but it gives me a chance to supply something better quality than a $20 mic that plugs into my USB port. Also, I'll be able to set up multiple mics so I can get more than one actor in at a time, which will reduce the time having to edit seperate sound files together.

Anyway, it seems to have worked. My laptop now recognizes the mixer and I'm getting a waveform so I'm happy. For the most part. The only problem now is it sounds like a semi truck is idling next to the mic. I'm pretty sure I can work out some of the dials to help with that, though.

Oh, I should clarify something since you've been talking about it. This isn't a regular radio station. It's a web start-up. I think we've had 30 listeners at the most at one time. lol I've been picked up for a division that's doing radio serials so that's why they wanted some cleaner VO tracks than I was able to do originally. It's definitely not a career yet, but we're working on increasing listenership and products. Got our first local commercial contract so it's starting to move.

Once again, thank you guys. I really do appreciate the help!
 
That 'idling truck' noise you hear is probably the Xenyx preamps. I bought one of those and brought it back the next day as the preamps were so bad I had to crank them up all the way - and the noise was bad.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top