Read this carefully and follow the instructions:
Now for audio, midi playback and recording setup. Open the program it will usually run the wave profiler for you the first time you open it. You will get two pop ups to start with first a Tip of the day box will display, if you want you can scan thru a few of those, when done close it then a project box will display, close that also. Go to the top of the screen and find options, left click that and a box will appear, find audio click that and another box will display it has several tabs at the top the first is “generalâ€, you will see tow thin boxes that are named playback and record wave devices, they should contain the name of your sound card, if it does not then run the wave profiler again to see if it adds it. Once that is right set the buffer slider to around the middle to start with that will save another problem later. Go to the advanced tab and check the box “Always use the MME interface even when WDM drivers are available†this will force the system to use the older windows MME drivers just incase your sound card does not support the newer WDM drivers, and will give you another option for midi playback. Now go to the input monitoring tab and un-highlight anything in the large white box, proceed to the drivers and driver profile tabs and make sure that your sound card is listed there as well, click okay and go back to options/midi devices, here a box will display that has two side one for midi input and the other for output, if using a midi keyboard you will need to highlight the input that the keyboard is plugged into, for out put if your sound card has it’s own midi synth chip you can highlight that, if not highlight Microsoft synth GS, that is an internal synth chip that will playback midi. DO NOT highlight Midi Mapper, it does not play sounds. Now the program should reproduce both midi playback and wave file output.
One point to remember is that midi is not sound, a midi track or file is just a complex data stream, that tells a synth chip what note, instrument, volume, timing, velocity, etc. to play at, it takes some kind of instrument that can read and process that data and produce sound from it like a synth or keyboard. Audio files are actual recordings of sound waves on the hard drive, the two are vastly different, MC is a program that brings the two worlds together to co-exist.
Take the time to go and do the tutorials they will give you a solid basis for using MC. A lot of the folks that come here are beginners, and have read the box that says this is a snap and will have you making songs in a few minutes, while that can be true if your system is setup right, computer recording is complicated and has many variables. Be patient and ask questions, read many posts, and find other sites that are related to music, I personally have bookmarked 7 different forums that I participate in and many are far advanced over my thick head, so I am learning everyday.
Recording Your First Audio Tracks
Now that you have MC up and running and can play the sample tutorials, you are ready to record audio data; we will assume that you will be recording (a) a Guitar and (b) a Microphone.
Hooking Your Instrument Into Your Computer for Audio Recording
In order to input audio data into your computer, you will need to connect your instrument to your soundcard. Although there are many advanced ways to do this (with pre-amplifiers and mixers and advanced soundcards) we will assume that you are plugging your instrument or microphone directly into the standard type of soundcard that comes with most computers. Your soundcard should at a minimum have two (and may have more inputs) 1/8" inputs (that's the same size as a plug for a pair of headphones). One of the inputs will have a picture of a microphone or will say "mic" (We'll call this the "Mic Input") and the other will say "line-in" (we'll call this the "Line-In Input").
Recording Your Guitar
Your guitar cord is a mono cord with 1/4" jacks (the big ones). You will likely need to buy a mono 1/4" jack to 1/8" stereo jack adapter (go to Radioshack, they have it). Once you have the adapter on, plug your guitar cord into the Line-In Input. Now read the following:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Lessons/WindowsMixer.asp Now you should know how to activate the Line-In recording function of the windows mixer - do that now.
Go into MC and arm an audio track (how to do that is another lesson I guess) - you should now be able to hear and record your guitar.
Recording Your Microphone
Your microphone may or may not need the adapter jack. If it does not, and the end of your microphone is already equipped with an 1/8" jack, please plug that into the Mic Input (if it is not, you will need to buy a stereo 1/4" to 1/8" adapter). Now go to the windows mixer and activate the Microphone recording function of the windows mixer.
Go into MC and arm an audio track - you should now be able to hear and record your voice.
Afterthoughts
The above is very basic and once you are able to do the above you should note the following:
- The Mic Input is a soundcard input that has a pre-amplifier built in that boosts the level of the signal from the microphone. Since most basic soundcards stink, you may want to invest in a mixer or pre-amplifier that will do this independently. If you do this, you would record the microphone (hooking the output from the preamp or mixer) directly into the Line-In Input. Also, you may want to plug your guitar into an amp, preamp, mixer or a combination of all of these before plugging it into the Line-In Input to achieve better sound results."
post edited by Robomusic - 2005/06/27 15:12:00