Computer/Mixer Advice

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <11f7isl54pog69a@corp.supernews.com> noreply@noreply.com writes:

> I'm interested in being able to record each of the microphones on different
> tracks so that I can adjust each track separately afterwards. We want to
> record them simultaneously (rather than recording one track, playing it back
> while recording the second track, etc.).
>
> Can anyone recommend a decent mixer for this? What I'm thinking of is
> something that would allow me to plug four microphones into it and then plug
> into my computer (via the USB port, I expect) and record each of those
> microphones on a separate track.

Any mixer with direct outputs or insert jacks (maybe even the one you
have) will do. What you need is a multi-channel audio interface for
your computer. If your computer is a laptop or you don't want to go
inside and install a PCI card, there are a number of devices that use
a USB or Firewire port to provide anywhere from 2 to 8 audio inputs.
Obviously they vary in price and quality, and the two aren't
necessarily related. Mackie makes a Firewire option card for their
Onyx series mixers. That combination will get you a mixer that plugs
directly into a Firewire port, but it might be a little more expensive
than what you were dreaming of.

M-Audio has a pretty good range of pretty good and not too expensive
interfaces that use both USB and Firewire. There are plenty of others,
but a look at
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?d [...] interfaces
will give you an idea of what you need.



--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

"James Martin" <noreply@noreply.com> wrote in message
news:11f9kg83crg09c@corp.supernews.com
> Hi again,
>
> Thanks for the input. My computer is a laptop so an
> external device would be perfect. I only have USB ports
> (on a Windows machine).

But a Firewire PCMCIA interface is a possibility.

> I looked at the M-Audio site and
> found a good one for two inputs and then a lot of
> high-end things. Any recommendations about a four-input
> mobile interface that isn't too expensive?

It appears that you've bumped into the defintion of a
"high-end thing" - anything with 4 or more analog inputs.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <11f9kg83crg09c@corp.supernews.com> noreply@noreply.com writes:

> I only have USB ports (on a Windows machine). I looked at the
> M-Audio site and found a good one for two inputs and then a lot of high-end
> things. Any recommendations about a four-input mobile interface that isn't
> too expensive?

For some reason, four inputs doesn't seem to be very common. Seems
like most things come as 2-inputs and then the next step is 8-inputs,
which I guess is what you called "high-end things." TASCAM was one of
the pioneers with multi-input USB audio interfaces, but their products
(with the exception of their 2-input US-122) combine audio I/O with a
control surface for giving hands-on control to a software recording
program.

You're looking at the low end of high-end, so you just may have to
spend more than you thought. There seems to be more going on with
Firewire than USB for audio I/O these days. My laptop computer has
only USB 1.1 ports and no Firewire ports, so I got a $30 PCMCIA card
that gives me 3 Firewire ports so I could test out the Mackie Onyx
Firewire option when I was writing some documentation for it. Buying
such an adpater might open up your options some.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Sat, 6 Aug 2005 21:36:28 +0200, "Gert Wiersema" <gert@nu.even.niet>
wrote:

>> > I only have USB ports (on a Windows machine).
>
>> Have you a Firewire port?

Yes, I heard. But sometimes that little Firewire port is overlooked.
Or perhaps he thinks it's only for video, so isn't relevant.
Doubtless there's a SVGA port, audio in/out, a modem port, a network
port......... Those weren't mentioned either.

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

Thanks to everyone for the advice so far.

Just to clarify, my computer does NOT have a Firewire prot, but the PCMCIA
card is a good idea.

Now that that's clarified, does anyone have a recommendation for a good
mixer or mobile interface that is either USB or Firewire and would support
four microphones?

Lastly, suppose I break down and decide to do the recording on my regular PC
instead of my laptop. (Although the laptop is still preferable since it's so
much more portable.) In that case I'm happy to install a PCI card. Any
suggestions on a good PCI card that would support four microphones?

In either case I'm looking to be able to record all four microphones
simultaneously but onto separate tracks so that I can adjust each track
independently after the recording is done. And (wishful thinking) I'm hoping
to find something that is less that $300.

I hope I'm not pestering you all with this.

James





"Mike Rivers" <mrivers@d-and-d.com> wrote in message
news:znr1123349763k@trad...
>
> In article <11f9kg83crg09c@corp.supernews.com> noreply@noreply.com writes:
>
>> I only have USB ports (on a Windows machine). I looked at the
>> M-Audio site and found a good one for two inputs and then a lot of
>> high-end
>> things. Any recommendations about a four-input mobile interface that
>> isn't
>> too expensive?
>
> For some reason, four inputs doesn't seem to be very common. Seems
> like most things come as 2-inputs and then the next step is 8-inputs,
> which I guess is what you called "high-end things." TASCAM was one of
> the pioneers with multi-input USB audio interfaces, but their products
> (with the exception of their 2-input US-122) combine audio I/O with a
> control surface for giving hands-on control to a software recording
> program.
>
> You're looking at the low end of high-end, so you just may have to
> spend more than you thought. There seems to be more going on with
> Firewire than USB for audio I/O these days. My laptop computer has
> only USB 1.1 ports and no Firewire ports, so I got a $30 PCMCIA card
> that gives me 3 Firewire ports so I could test out the Mackie Onyx
> Firewire option when I was writing some documentation for it. Buying
> such an adpater might open up your options some.
>
>
>
>
> --
> I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
> However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
> lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
> you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
> and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On 6 Aug 2005 20:31:04 -0400, mrivers@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers) wrote:

>I believe he said that his computer had ONLY a USB port. I have a
>laptop computer like that. But then of course nobody in his right mind
>would use a 4 year old computer for anything but a doorstop.

Read my reply above. The computer, like any computer, has several
other ports. USB is the only one he thought relevant.

I'm sure a man of your experience has frequently had to delve a little
beyond the information a customer initially volunteers :-)

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <11fb5mv1ukf1icf@corp.supernews.com> noreply@noreply.com writes:

> In either case I'm looking to be able to record all four microphones
> simultaneously but onto separate tracks so that I can adjust each track
> independently after the recording is done. And (wishful thinking) I'm hoping
> to find something that is less that $300.

Your search engine is as good as my search engine, and you can always
visit a music store that has an audio department. I don't think you'll
find what you want for $300, though.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In article <56obf1l5a3lm8tj8cebnomju6mf2lv58ak@4ax.com> lpayne1NOSPAM@dsl.pipexSPAMTRAP.com writes:

> Read my reply above. The computer, like any computer, has several
> other ports. USB is the only one he thought relevant.

He said (twice) that it doesn't have a Firewire port. He's not going
to connect a 4-channel audio interface to the graphics or keyboard
ports is he? He does have a PCMCIA slot, but the only 4-port audio
interface that connects that way is a Digigram, which is well beyond
his budget. So are the Echo and RME boxes that use a PCMCIA adapter.

> I'm sure a man of your experience has frequently had to delve a little
> beyond the information a customer initially volunteers :-)

Yes, usually. That's why I suggested a PCMCIA card to give him a
Firewire port and expand his search options. Still, I can think of no
4-channel Firewire interface that costs under $300.

If he has any use for a live sound mixer, I'd suggest that he triple
his budget and buy a Mackie Onyx 1220 or 1620 plus the Firewire option
card, but until he volunteers that he's looking for a new mixer, too,
I'll refrain from that as a real suggestion.




--
I'm really Mike Rivers (mrivers@d-and-d.com)
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me here: double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

In addition to a multi channel audio interface, as mentioned by others,
you will also need software that can record more than (2) channels.

(Some entry level software will only deal with 2 channels).

--Peter

James Martin wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've been doing a little recording (nothing professional) of music with
> three or four microphones (two or three singers and a guitar or piano). Up
> until now I've just been running all of the microphones into a little mixer
> and then running the output from the mixer into the line-in jack on my sound
> card.
>
> I'm interested in being able to record each of the microphones on different
> tracks so that I can adjust each track separately afterwards. We want to
> record them simultaneously (rather than recording one track, playing it back
> while recording the second track, etc.).
>
> Can anyone recommend a decent mixer for this? What I'm thinking of is
> something that would allow me to plug four microphones into it and then plug
> into my computer (via the USB port, I expect) and record each of those
> microphones on a separate track. I realize that there will be a little sound
> overlap between microphones since they'll all be recorded simultaneously,
> but that isn't a concern to me. As I said, this isn't anything professional.
>
> I have run across the Digidesign Mbox, but it appears to have only two
> inputs.
>
> Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> James
>
>

Archived from groups: rec.audio.pro (More info?)

On Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:47:44 +0100, Laurence Payne
<lpayne1NOSPAM@dsl.pipexSPAMTRAP.com> wrote:

>On Mon, 08 Aug 2005 23:11:19 -0700, Citizen Ted
><enoid801DUMP@THIScomcast.net> wrote:
>
>>It's closer to $400, but the FA-66 has two decent mic pre's plus two
>>more TRS +4dB inputs you could feed from a mixer. Solid device
>>drivers, too.
>
>If a mixer is becoming necessary, why worry about having any mike
>preamps at all on the souncard?

No need at all. But I'm not aware of any interfaces with 4-6 ins/outs
that don't have mic pre's. The OP's question concerned an interface
with 4 inputs that wasn't as pricey as the units with 8-10 inputs. The
FA-66 seems to fit the bill, if not his budget.

- TR

"I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"
- Legendary rock producer Bruce Dickinson