Help me with my setup
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Posted on May 29, 2006 01:28 pm
steelhead
Member Since: May 29, 2006
Hi all...first post. I am a musician wanting to set up my own home recording studio. I have been sifting through the layers of information in this forum for days and my head hurts. I know very little about recording and mixing (I focus on playing and singing) and would really like to keep my setup as simple as possible. I have had marginal success in the past using an analog mixer and my finished product mastered on cassette, but would like to eliminate this and record and mix directly to my computer and burn to CD. I am currently using the tryout version of Adobe Audition but am not stuck on that. I need inputs for standard 1/4" instrument jacks and XLR microphone jacks (my soundcard has a 1/8" RCA jack). I don'tt want to spend much money or have to upgrade later. I have a new hp computer with CD/DVD burner and Realtec AC97 sound device. Please help me with recommendations and suggestions. Again simple and cheap is key here since I am not a professional but would still like professional results.
Thanks all, steelhead
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 29, 2006 06:49 pm First off, welcome to HRC.
I'll start right off with one major thing to look at. The AC97 audio onboard is going to be a headache to try and use. Not that it cant be used, but you may find you will be limited with what youcan accomplish using it. Things to look at will be the ability to playback and record at the same time, which is called full duplex mode. If your AC97 cant do that you are kind of stuck right there.
If you are not stuck on using the onboard sound card, then there are several options depending on what you would consider not spending too much. If you can handle around the $200.00 limit there is a unit from Line 6 that will give you just about everything you would need, and possibly eliminate the need for an external mixer. The Line 6 Toneport UX-2 will give you 2 1/4" line inputs for instrument level, 2 aux 1/4" inputs, 2 XLR mic inputs with 48v phantom power if you have a condensor mic. And it comes of course with amp models for electric and bass guitar, acoustic amp's and high end microphone pre amps for your vocal bits. It also comes with a lite version of Ableton Live, which is a pretty good application for getting started.
Maybe describe a bit of exactly what it is you would like to record and we can go from there. If you would like we just recently reviewed the Line 6 Toneports here. www.homerecordingconnecti...tory&id=727
Maybe have a look at that and see if it might be a good fit.
Noize
May 30, 2006 12:16 am So if I'm going to go with the Line 6 UX-2 do I also need to upgrade to a better sound card?
By the way, most my recording is acoustic instruments and vocals, an occassional electric guitar, and a bit of Midi. Most of the time I'll record one track at a time but sometimes two tracks.
May 30, 2006 05:43 am The UX2 would be the sound card...but, not if you use MIDI, then you would need a MIDI interface.
LokiCone PokerMember
Since: Apr 07, 2002
May 30, 2006 07:57 am However, if your stock soundcard has a midi connection you can use that for MIDI. I did that for a while with my soundblaster.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 30, 2006 08:19 pm You can add a simple one in one out USB midi interface for pretty cheap to get your midi i/o set up when the time comes.
As for recording one or two tracks at a time. You can definately do either.
May 31, 2006 09:37 am So...are other softwear packages like Sonar and Audition compatible with the UX-2? What are examples of a cheap USB Midi interface?
BeerHunterwww.TheLondonProject.caMember
Since: Feb 07, 2005
May 31, 2006 08:43 pm Ya that's what I've got. Works great so far. I use it for Reason 3.0. My concern is that it always seems to be "dangling" around and if I stepped on it I would kill it for sure.
Jun 01, 2006 12:20 am Man, I feel like I'm in a foriegn country and don't speak the langauage. I honestly have no clue about most of this stuff. I just want to simplify the way I am currently recording. I have a 4 track mixer, casette decks, microphones, amplifiers, patch cords galore, and not a lot of experience... with not very good results. I just want to record a little acoustic guitar with voice, add an acoustic bass, then maybe some electric guitar or steel, some midi drum tracks (I think), then maybe some backup vocals. I'm going to need 5 or six tracks, but I want to keep it simple and all computer based. I think the Edirol UA4FX USB interface looks interesting but I'll have to research it to find out what it can do for me. If I can just find an interpreter.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 01, 2006 09:18 pm steelhead, no need to feel your in a foreign country. We can walk ya through any questions on the stuff you seek.
Jun 03, 2006 12:37 pm I really like the Edirol UA4FX interface that dB Masters ran across from zZounds.com. It appears to be a very good value since it comes w/Midi and Cakewalk LE software as well. If anyone has one of these I would be interested in hearing pros/cons.
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 03, 2006 03:13 pm Well, its audio specs look wonderfull for a unit at that price. And it offers some nice onboard processing power as well, which is a plus. The signal to noise ratio is not the best, but is suitable for most.
The only drawback I can see with the unit is the fact its output is is consumer level which is -10dBu. Not a huge problem if you other gear such as mixer and such is compatable with it. As well I noticed the line input and line output jacks are of the RCA type. So if you are going to or from a mixer you will need to add addapters to connect to the device.
Other then that it looks like a fine unit.
Jun 03, 2006 05:33 pm What do you mean by consumer level output and what should it be if -10dBu is too low? Also as you add adapters to connect devises such as mixers and mics,etc., does the quality of the final product suffer?
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Jun 03, 2006 06:11 pm The nominal output of pro level gear is +4dB, which means it has a higher level of output, thus less noise to a certain extent.
And yes, every connection in a signal chain can introduce more noise, or possibly be a cause for more singal degradation.
Many people use the RAC type connections, but the upper level cards will at least have the hgiher +4dB line output on the cards.
In reality the unit may work just fine for you. And I am sure it may produce good quality recordings. It will run in fullduplex which allows for palyback while recoring at the same time. Except at the 96kHz sample rate, which you may not ever need so that is not a major issue either.
And with the track count you are lloking at as well, I am sure it will do the trick.
Just throughing the info out there for you to compare.
Sep 29, 2006 01:53 pm Hi, yep, first time poster;
sorry to 'borrow' this thread but I'm trying to do and have similar interests to steelhead.
Acoustic guitarist and singer who want to record better than my current 4-track cassette.
I'm in the market for a new PC and from what I read I know to avoid the Dell/HP boxes.
I think I have most of the hardware info down but I could use a suggestion on getting a good sound card that could be useful as I upgrade.
I also read about the Line6 interface. It looks good as I don't use any MIDI, only live performances. I also read about some limitations with the UX2 unit (software incompatabilites with ASIO drivers and the flimsiness of the UX2 box itself). I'm probably asking about more than I understand already, please be patient.
So to boil it down to what I really need help with is this:
Can you suggest a good PC configuration (including sound cards) and a PC interface that would be a level or two better and/or more versatile than the Line6 UX2?
Any other advice would also be most appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
Sep 29, 2006 11:06 pm Well I will start with the Line 6 UX2 device. We have a review here of both the UX2 AND UX1. As for being versitile, it is more then you will need and then some. I can plug a guitar in and a condensor mic at the same time and record both tracks seperatly. As for the ASIO drivers, they are very stable and I have had nothing but good results. No latency issues at all and the audio quality is equal to the higher end audio interfaces I own as well. It is not picky as to the system it will run on at all. Infact it is probably one of the few that will run on any system without any hadrware conflict issues at all.
As for flimsyness, not a problem at all. It may be plastic, but it is solid as a rock. Plenty of routing options as well and comes with software to get you up and recording in no time.
The unit can emulate some pretty high end pre amps as well as a glut of guitar amp/cab set ups. It as well has bass amp/cab sims in it also.
For acoustic I will usually use the pre amp emulations for a cleaner tone. It also has built it 48volt phantom power for those condesnor mics and the phantom power is supplied right off the USB buss so there is no need for external power supplies with the unit.
It is a very straight forward unit and easy to learn and use.
GeoffSM7b the Chuck Noris of Mic'sContributor
Since: Jun 20, 2002
Oct 01, 2006 01:40 pm to piggy back on the issue. I aquired a UX1 and have been field testing it with a # of programs (sonar,acid, vegas ect) . I currently have it hooked up to my laptop so i can practice my electric guitar and get some vocal tracks down, and this baby works well for that. I ahve my main set up at home but this little 100 red box works great for the traveling and it's held up so far. I would sugest it for a nicely price interface for someone getting into recording. Plus this little thing is powered buy the USB connection so you don't have to worry about pluging it inot a power scorce. that works great for me because most of my electronic are 110 and here in Iraq everythnig is 220 .
