Audio Recording Help?
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- mg33
This is for anyone who is quite expert-ish with audio recording and MIDI recording.
Just got some new gear set up today to use with my MBP. I have an M-Audio Oxygen 49 midi keyboard, and a Line 6 UX2 Tone Port for guitar recording.
I've not bought speakers yet because I'm still shopping around. But I'm a little confused with these two devices - especially the TonePort - because it is USB and I'm not sure where audio should come from to listen to WHEN recording.
For the moment I'm just listening to it from my MBP. But, if I get speakers, do I plug them into the laptop, or into the devices themselves?
The TonePort has the option to use it as the outgoing audio device via USB. Since I'm just using the laptop, I keep getting some gritty distortion here and there and not sure what's going to clean that up.
The Oxygen keyboard sounded good overall, no latency problems or anything. I can't wait to really get going with it - I have a demo of Reason and there's some incredible stuff in there. As far as other programs, both devices came with Ableton Live Lite, and of course I have garage band.
Any advice on optimal setup would be much appreciated. Thanks!
- stupidresponse0
i'm not familiar with the specific gear you have, but i think you'd monitor thru the UX2. most devices like that have some sort of low-latency monitor mode for recording. you'll also get a much better (hopefully) d to a conversion than what's in the mbp.
- mg330
With that said, what do you monitor the actual recorded music on the computer with? The same speakers?
I guess I'm more confused about the fact that there's no dedicated standalone audio interface - I guess the Line6 serves as one. The oxygen plugs right in with USB - and I assume the sound would go out of the computer into the speakers. Is this something that should go through an audio interface into speakers, or directly?
- stupidresponse0
the tone port is an audio interface, just with built in effects. everything will come out of that- what your recording mixed with what is playing from the computer
- stupidresponse0
the oxygen thing isn't actually a sound generator, no? it's just controlling sound generators in the computer, or external midi devices?
- mg330
the oxygen only controls sounds in the computer.
- BaskerviIle0
I also have an M-audio usb keyboard that I use with garageband, it's just a midi controller so all the sounds come from garageband.
For recording guitar I have an externam soundcard that had both guitar and mic inputs, this is also usb, so I use that for my audio in.
I don't tend to use those direct input effects things because they always sounds a bit fake to me. I tend to mic up my amps for a better sound and options for mic placement (I'm learning mic placement is ultra important). I have a couple of good quality mics and I can record pretty much anything.
I tend to play a lot of stuff live though, and just add a few tracks via midi.Just start messing around and see what you come up with. It will take a while to get used to mixing things well and making sure you record at the right levels (tip, record loud without peaking and then turn stuff done – gives you more options later on) like working with high-res files.
have fun with it! I've been recording at home for a couple of years and it's great fun, still working on my first album!
- mg330
Nice Baskerville!
I'm a little inundated with new stuff at the moment, I actually got the midi keyboard and the toneport in the mail the same day I got CS3 premium in the mail... lots of options this weekend especially since I have a site to finish for a friend.
I'm sure you know that I'm in a band - I've gotten this gear for home more to work on my own stuff - instrumental/soundtrack music is a huge interest and goal of mine.
The toneport will work out well, I think. I don't have the ability to record mic'd amps at home, and if we're recording at practice I have a digital 8 track that records to a compact flash card, and a reader at home to transfer it.
So far the toneport has some interesting sounds to it, amp models, pedals, etc. If I were recording band music I wouldn't like the variety since I need that stuff to sound as it really will. But for variety in terms of instrumental and such, should be cool.
From what little time I've spent with Reason, it looks incredible and I think the midi keyboard will be fun. I got this stuff cheap through a friend as well - for cost - since he works at a music web site.
- ninjasavant0
The tone port should just be recognized as a second audio interface by your programs. I DJ with a griffin iMic and set the monitor to the iMic and the output to the regular output.
The best thing to do is just start plugging things in and figuring out what they do. I generally think of what I want to accomplish and see what I have to do to make it happen. Sometimes its the "right" way but a lot of times the "wrong" way is just more fun or unique.
Tear it up and post what you end up with!
- mg330
I may not use all this music gear very quickly, but at least it's there.
- mg330
Any thoughts on Ableton Live Lite vs. Garageband? That's all I've got at the moment.
Also, any suggestions for decent synth sounds and manipulation without buying Reason? Just can't spend the money on that right now, but the demo is great.
- ********0
@mg33 - go for the full version of live. comes with a synth. there are a ton of freebie vsti synths out there as well that are decent.
http://kvraudio.com for a listing / reviews
- or fl studio if you have windoze. but this thread seems to be mac oriented********
- or fl studio if you have windoze. but this thread seems to be mac oriented
- AndyRoss0
Reason all the way, when you can. Live costs as much, I think, and it's not as much fun.
The audio thing that could be going on is this: when you record through the TonePort, you probably have inserted some kind of effect. What happens is that you get this effect as the audio goes in, and again when it comes out, if that makes any sense. So, if you don't set it up right, you get twice as much of the effect as you think you'll get.
You should output the audio through the TonePort, but learn to use it correctly.
If you're getting too much distortion, it could also be that you're running your audio at too high a level. So you may need to learn how to adjust the adjust the levels in the software--usually it's a slider. You should get excellent audio with the TonePort. It's a good unit with a good rep.
- mg330
I stopped by guitar center and picked up some Alesis speakers that actually connect via USB and standard 1/4 inch jacks. I've got the USB connected now and I'm using the midi keyboard, things sound great.
The toneport is still giving me trouble. I have it connected with the line out cables directly to the speakers, but after like 10 minutes of use the software just craps out or something. It stops sending a signal entirely. Not really sure what's happening.
AndyRoss - do you use a toneport? After a bit of use going into Ableton, the meters just start jumping all over and the audio stops.
- AndyRoss0
mg33,
I wish I could help more. I want you to be happy. But I don't have a TonePort.
I have an Mbox, ProTools, and Reason 4.0.
The most common problem with audio software is setting the software preferences for too low of a buffer setting. That can cause freezes. So check that, and shoot me an email when you're done.
- Court0
I got a mackie spike and an oktava mk-319 i think my speakers are about 8 inches some rolands... but basically i had ableton running with the spike and the mic in the interface. Then all the VSTi <--instruments were drag and drop onto the midi layers that had the red button on. Then the USB keyboard (oxygen) did all of that. then from there you could do a lot of things you could get deeper into ableton or you could export and go to ACID but thats about as far as i got playing around... its collecting dust i might dust it off soon.