Audio Interface help

Hi,

ive been using a cheap usb guitar link on an old pc for last few years and aside from it being painful sometimes I can get great sounds from it via software (overloud TH2) and out of my amp.

yesterday i picked up a Tascam US -2x2 (retails over 200) assuming the performance would be far greater. so far trying various drivers and settings i cant get anywhere near the sound quality of the $20 usb guitar link.

the tascam cost me $95 2nd hand, so far disappointed

any suggestions appreciated
Guvna

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Originally Posted by Guvna19

Hi,

ive been using a cheap usb guitar link on an old pc for last few years and aside from it being painful sometimes I can get great sounds from it via software (overloud TH2) and out of my amp.

yesterday i picked up a Tascam US -2x2 (retails over 200) assuming the performance would be far greater. so far trying various drivers and settings i cant get anywhere near the sound quality of the $20 usb guitar link.

the tascam cost me $95 2nd hand, so far disappointed

any suggestions appreciated
Guvna

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What are the hardware specs for your old PC?, to find out if it can handle real-time audio processing, you can download a little app called DPC Latency Checker, here's a download link:

http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml


You can use it to troubleshoot problems with audio record/playback in DAW software, hope it helps.


Also, try downloading and installing the most up to date driver for your audio interface.

Sometimes a DAW PC can have problems with real-time audio processing if the CPU cooler is clogged up with dirt and lint, or the exhaust ports on the computer case are clogged up with dust and cobwebs, that sometimes happens with my DAW PC and that causes the computer to crash and lock-up, forcing me to do a manual hard-reset and re-boot.

Good call Doc,

Just tried in my office pc, which I built for gaming and is high spec and it works great.

means ill need to upgrade my music pc off course as its not practical to set my music up in office or take away the main family pc.

anyway just glad it all works well, think it was a bargin at $95.

I also got 2 other new toys today via gumtree which appear to be a steal, i will post up some pics soon. Not very popular with the cook at the moment as i spentmoney we dont really have.....oh well

one new toy has tubes and the other has many buttons :cool:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Guvna19

Good call Doc,

Just tried in my office pc, which I built for gaming and is high spec and it works great.

means ill need to upgrade my music pc off course as its not practical to set my music up in office or take away the main family pc.

anyway just glad it all works well, think it was a bargin at $95.

I also got 2 other new toys today via gumtree which appear to be a steal, i will post up some pics soon. Not very popular with the cook at the moment as i spentmoney we dont really have.....oh well

one new toy has tubes and the other has many buttons :cool:

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If you're going to do a hardware upgrade on that old PC, see if you can go for at least an i5 CPU or an i7 CPU, my main DAW PC has an Intel i5 2500 3.3Ghz Quad Core CPU in it, and it seems to run the DAW software I use pretty well, I'm using a Focusrite Saffire Pro40 Firewire Audio Interface with it and I've been able to get my audio latency setting down to about 12 mili-seconds, which I think is pretty good, I've also got a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface that I use with my Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop which has a 2.0 Ghz Core i7 CPU in it, and it seems to work pretty well, both my DAW PC and Laptop are running Windows 10 64 Bit.

I reckon $95.00 is a pretty good bargain for an Audio Interface too, feel free to ask me for any help if or whenever you need it.

Did you have the mic/line/inst switch set to inst? This will give you a 1Meg ohm input impedance that the guitar needs to give a normal output. Any other setting and the input impedance is a lot lower, resulting in a lot of top-end loss on the guitar signal, plus a weaker overall signal.

Presumably you've been to the Tascam site and downloaded the latest drivers etc? http://tascam.com/product/us-2x2/downloads/

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Did you have the mic/line/inst switch set to inst? This will give you a 1Meg ohm input impedance that the guitar needs to give a normal output. Any other setting and the input impedance is a lot lower, resulting in a lot of top-end loss on the guitar signal, plus a weaker overall signal.

Presumably you've been to the Tascam site and downloaded the latest drivers etc? http://tascam.com/product/us-2x2/downloads/

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hey Simon,
loved the holiday pics of your boating ventures, I'd love a crack at something similar. Can yo fish from said yacht.? I get to enjoy a bit of fishing at sea, love the water but do prefer the boats with a motor.
and,
I tried both inst and mic/line and new driver and configs, and eventually realised the crappy PC and laptop i was using are getting closer to the recycling yard.
Upon trying it on a way faster PC, it was plung'n'play, windows 10 just new what to do and it works fine.

do you use any interface of any kind for recording?

Thanks and Cheers
Guvna

G'day Guv,

I posted my recording setup in another thread but here it is again for posterity, I also mic my Fender Mustang modelling amp if I'm looking for a specific tone I prefer not to add dirt at the mixing stage if I can help it.

Yeah I know, clean signal and you can do what you want with it but sometimes the amp is better, generally use the AC30 emulation with a bit of hair on it

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Equipment used, 64 bit Win 10 PC, Reaper, native Reaper EQ, Comp, Delay & Verb plugins, Waves SSL E Channel on vocals and master track.

Peavey PV6 USB mixer, Sennheiser MD427 mic, Sony MDR XD100 headphones & Altec Lansing monitors

Yamaha bass model unknown upgraded with Fender Seth Lover designed bass HB, Squier Thinline upgraded with Village Blackwood pickups.

Drums are VSTi Sennheiser Drummica and guitars were straight into the mixer, vocals were recorded on an old 32bit Win 7 Toshiba Sattelite running the same release of Reaper.

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I've been asked to put a friend's poetry to music - which is hard enough when you're well out of practice!! - but I now would like to record a basic demo for her. I have developed a rhythym guitar track, a drum track, bass line, organ wash and piano parts but of course I cannot play everything at once...
i have PA equipment which I intended to take the line out into a computer but I'm quite new to digital recording - alright, complete neophyte! - and have a 1 year old mac with garageband; do I need some sort of interface between the two?

My sincere apologies for the slight hijack, but the recording gurus are about in here so this is me striking while the iron is hot....

An interface will be an essential start and then before you record any instruments or voices put the drum track down so you have a grid to edit to.

The guys I am playing and recording with did a single back in 2009, it was never intended to have drums of any kind and was recorded without a click track and it is an editing and mixing nightmare.

I'd also advise to record each drum as a separate track because the EQ and Compression is different for each and a single track will be far too much of a compromise and will sound like Ted Egan with his Fosterfone, as a general rule for a straight 4 you will have the kick on the 1&3, snare on the evens.

Lots of tricks mixing drums to make them effective, I'm very much a rank amateur but the amount I have learned about recording and mixing in the last 4 months or so is just not funny.

Feel free to ask away I'm sure there are others on here with far more experience than me and hopefully they will chime in and offer advice as well.

I know it's a way off yet but VOXENGO Span is an essential mixing tool, it's a free plugin and allows you to see exactly what your EQ changes are making as you go.

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Originally Posted by dave.king1

An interface will be an essential start and then before you record any instruments or voices put the drum track down so you have a grid to edit to.

The guys I am playing and recording with did a single back in 2009, it was never intended to have drums of any kind and was recorded without a click track and it is an editing and mixing nightmare.

I'd also advise to record each drum as a separate track because the EQ and Compression is different for each and a single track will be far too much of a compromise and will sound like Ted Egan with his Fosterfone, as a general rule for a straight 4 you will have the kick on the 1&3, snare on the evens.

Lots of tricks mixing drums to make them effective, I'm very much a rank amateur but the amount I have learned about recording and mixing in the last 4 months or so is just not funny.

Feel free to ask away I'm sure there are others on here with far more experience than me and hopefully they will chime in and offer advice as well.

I know it's a way off yet but VOXENGO Span is an essential mixing tool, it's a free plugin and allows you to see exactly what your EQ changes are making as you go.

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Invaluable advice there Dave K, I'll be def looking closer at your advice and plugins

plan on spending more time makin music -mrs / kids /life / job permitting.....lol....beer gets in the way too...

I was given a 'backup/demo' :D copy of 'Overloud TH2, which i'm loving so far, apparently works great withe reaper (which i havnt got as yet)...you can try a free verson of TH3 now for a week or so, worth a look

thanks for the offer of future advice too, same goes for me if I can help any one out.

also sure you'd be happy to know with the advice and generosity of others:cool: here i have been smashing away on the 'RedPine Lapsteel'

regards
Guvna

turns out its Aussie Red Cedar

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Originally Posted by corsair

I've been asked to put a friend's poetry to music - which is hard enough when you're well out of practice!! - but I now would like to record a basic demo for her. I have developed a rhythym guitar track, a drum track, bass line, organ wash and piano parts but of course I cannot play everything at once...
i have PA equipment which I intended to take the line out into a computer but I'm quite new to digital recording - alright, complete neophyte! - and have a 1 year old mac with garageband; do I need some sort of interface between the two?

My sincere apologies for the slight hijack, but the recording gurus are about in here so this is me striking while the iron is hot....

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If you're looking for an affordable range of USB Audio interfaces check out Focusrite's Scarlett range, I've got the Focusrite Scarlett Studio package which includes the Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface, a Scarlett CM25 Condenser Mic, a pair of Scarlett Headphones, mounting hardware for the mic,and also downloadable Steinberg Cubase DAW software, and also Focusrite plugins too, pretty much all you need for a portable studio.

Cheers, Dave and Doc! I'll check out the USB interfaces pointed up and go from there! I dunno about mixing the drums separately though as I'm using my old Alesis SR drum machine for a very basic pattern with little fills on the turnarounds; nothing too flash as I'm flat out playing guitar at the moment! It will do user prescribed patterns, though and I may have a fiddle with it should the need arise!

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Originally Posted by corsair

Cheers, Dave and Doc! I'll check out the USB interfaces pointed up and go from there! I dunno about mixing the drums separately though as I'm using my old Alesis SR drum machine for a very basic pattern with little fills on the turnarounds; nothing too flash as I'm flat out playing guitar at the moment! It will do user prescribed patterns, though and I may have a fiddle with it should the need arise!

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You could even try making drum loops by recording patterns from that Alesis Drum Machine into your DAW and then editing it so that you have a one-bar loop of four beats, and then you can use them to build up your drum tracks that way, what DAW software are you using?

I've got FL Studio, Ableton Live, Reaper, and Cubase Elements 8 installed on my main DAW PC, Ableton Live is a great piece of software, beat-matching is really good.

Doc... I can see your lips moving but I don't understand a word you're saying!! :rolleyes: I'm really, really new at this - the last recording I ever did was analog and live.... this digital stuff is a Brave New World to me, eh!

I was going to use the till-now unused Garageband program on the Mac to nail the thing together... is that not cool?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by corsair

Doc... I can see your lips moving but I don't understand a word you're saying!! :rolleyes: I'm really, really new at this - the last recording I ever did was analog and live.... this digital stuff is a Brave New World to me, eh!

I was going to use the till-now unused Garageband program on the Mac to nail the thing together... is that not cool?

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Yeah, Garage Band is cool, I can see where you're coming from, I'm still new at digital audio recording too, it is a bit of a learning curve.

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Originally Posted by Guvna19

hey Simon,
loved the holiday pics of your boating ventures, I'd love a crack at something similar. Can yo fish from said yacht.? I get to enjoy a bit of fishing at sea, love the water but do prefer the boats with a motor.
and,
I tried both inst and mic/line and new driver and configs, and eventually realised the crappy PC and laptop i was using are getting closer to the recycling yard.
Upon trying it on a way faster PC, it was plung'n'play, windows 10 just new what to do and it works fine.

do you use any interface of any kind for recording?

Thanks and Cheers
Guvna

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Not really designed for fishing, though I'm sure you could do at a pinch. You can hire them with a rowing dinghy, which would probably be better to fish from. However the rivers are pretty busy, and boats have a right of navigation over fishing, so you'd be spending a lot of time reeling in and casting again. There are a few reaches on the rivers which are theoretically closed for fishing before 9am on a Sunday, and some areas are a lot quieter than others. But fishing is best done out of the hire season (which is April to October), or else early or late in the season when there are relatively few boats around.

I've got an old MOTU Traveller as my Audio Interface (which still does the job) and use Cubase Pro 8.5 on a 2 year old i7 PC with 16gB RAM and 3 SSDs, though I don't do an awful lot of recording with it these days.