Someone into home recording help me out here.......

Tom-eg

I just have a few questions. If you want to do home recording you need a good sound card. If you use a usb audio interface does this do the job of the sound card??? If not exactly what job does it do and why do you still need a sound card after it?? Also usb mixing consoles. . . are they usb audio interfaces?? Do they do the same job and if not what exactly is different about them?? Do you need a good sound card along with one of these aswell and why?? Any help would be great as i want to get into home recording and i'm a bit confused about certain things. Cheers

TelePaul

Tom-eg wrote: »

I just have a few questions. If you want to do home recording you need a good sound card. If you use a usb audio interface does this do the job of the sound card??? If not exactly what job does it do and why do you still need a sound card after it?? Also usb mixing consoles. . . are they usb audio interfaces?? Do they do the same job and if not what exactly is different about them?? Do you need a good sound card along with one of these aswell and why?? Any help would be great as i want to get into home recording and i'm a bit confused about certain things. Cheers

A USB interface WILL do the job of a sound card, only better and without latency (the delay it takes to process signal flow on standard sound cards)

USB mixers usually incorporate a basic mixer with a sound card. What's different is that because USB will typically allow you to record only two tracks at once, your instruments are 'sub-mixed' in the console and everything is routed through stereo outputs. (Thats if you're referring to a USB mixer and not a control interface)

unclebill98

Correct me if i am wrong, but every usb audio device suffers from Latency? Even Firewire ones? You just have to set your system to reduce its effects.

eoin5

I think he means monitoring latency.

Tom, with most of the standard builtin soundcards youll get a noticable delay between playing a note and it coming back through the speakers. With decent USB audio interfaces or mixers it'll be nearly instant.

Tom-eg

So say for instance if you had one of these or similar . . . http://www.alesis.com/multimix12usb . . . you could do descent recordings with just plugging it in. I can get my hands on a version of cubase. I think that comes with cubase LE aswell. So that would act as the sound card so you wouldnt need to have a descent sound card in the computer itself?? Correct me if i'm wrong. I just hear people saying you need a good sound card but if you have an interface that does the job do you need one then??

jtsuited

Tom-eg wrote: »

but if you have an interface that does the job do you need one then??

no. The term 'soundcard' is a little out of date these days. forget about it and get an interface.

Tom-eg

Also if you had one of these . . . http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/FastTrackUSB-main.html . . . whats the difference between this and the alesis multimix. I'm sure something like this is more dedicated to the process but do they do essentially the same thing?? Is the only difference that you have only one input? So you would have to do all overdubs??

Tom-eg

So what is the difference between a sound card and an interface??

ogy

the terms interface/soundcard are kinda interchangeable but usually consist of some or all of the following elements:

Analogue to Digital Converter: Something that turns an electrical analogue audio signal into digital audio that your computer uses i.e. Converts signal from mic/guitar/keyboard into the digital domain

Digital to Analogue Converter: the opposite of the above. Converts the digital audio from your computer back into the analogue domain so it can be output to speakers etc.

Line-inputs: To connect signals from mixing desk/keyboard/effects units to the A to D converter

Pre-amps: Amplifies a mic level signal (which is in and around 0.1V) to a line level signal (in and around 1V) so that the impedance/voltage of the signal from the mic is correct

Instrument input: similar to a pre-amp but for signals from guitars/basses which are even weaker and have a different impedance to mic level signals generally.

Midi input/output: To accept midi control data from an external midi controller or to send midi control data to synthesizers etc.

A built in soundcard in a laptop might only have A to D and D to A, or a line level input which is mini-jack. Usually wouldn't have preamps, usually no midi. also the AD/DA conversion would be too slow for recording with very noticeable latency (the time it takes for a signal going in to be converted to digital domain processed and converted back to analogue domain to be heard).

The quality of all the elements mentioned above vary depending how much you spend. so a normal sound card that came with your laptop/pc won't be geared towards recording so will have crap A/D and if it has preamps etc. theyll be rubbish. The more you spend on an external soundcard/audio interface the better the quality of the pre-amps etc will be. Also the more inputs of each type (mic/line/instrument) you'll get. Like you might want 8 mic level inputs, therefore 8 preamps, if you want to record drum kits or something.

Think that about covers it:)

dav nagle

jtsuited wrote: »

no. The term 'soundcard' is a little out of date these days. forget about it and get an interface.

lol 'outdated' very true!

bedbugs

I call my Saffire Pro 26 i/o, my soundcard. I called my Line 6 Toneport a soundcard.

Have I done bad? Do I need to be punished?

dav nagle

bedbugs wrote: »

I call my Saffire Pro 26 i/o, my soundcard. I called my Line 6 Toneport a soundcard.

Have I done bad? Do I need to be punished?

Yes you need to write 100 lines after school !

'I must not in-correctly identify a sound card'

I PM you by the way to help you get started with your home work!:):D:):pac::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: