fafa1234
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Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
I have a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop and I just installed my ancient Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 on it, and now I realize that my sound card in my laptop is pretty much worthless with this program. For example, I like to program my drums in the piano roll view, then record it to a track as an audio file - I cant do this with my current sound card.
Can anyone recommend a simple sound card for my laptop?
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cclarry
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 09:30:06
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Kalle Rantaaho
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 10:20:40
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fafa1234
I have a Dell Inspiron 1750 laptop and I just installed my ancient Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 on it, and now I realize that my sound card in my laptop is pretty much worthless with this program. For example, I like to program my drums in the piano roll view, then record it to a track as an audio file - I cant do this with my current sound card.
Can anyone recommend a simple sound card for my laptop?
Hmmm...I don't remember how it was in Pro Audio, but are you sure you can't bounce to audio via the Tools> Mixdown Audio etc? Your soundcard shouldn't be an obstacle, IIRC, as bouncing is not actually the same as recording.
SONAR PE 8.5.3, Asus P5B, 2,4 Ghz Dual Core, 4 Gb RAM, GF 7300, EMU 1820, Bluetube Pre - Kontakt4, Ozone, Addictive Drums, PSP Mixpack2, Melda Creative Pack, Melodyne Plugin etc. The benefit of being a middle aged amateur is the low number of years of frustration ahead of you.
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fafa1234
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 11:39:13
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OK I've been doing a lot of research on this, and i'm thinking all I need to do is download the latest drivers for my current sound card. Apparently my laptop has an internal mic (which is what I believe I need to convert MIDI tracks into WAV tracks, correct?) and I should try downloading the latest drivers. This is my biggest problem right now, converting MIDI tracks (drums and bass tracks) into wav files. Does this sound like it may be the solution to my problems? I'm going to run home during lunch (i'm at work) to grab my laptop and give it a try. This is quite frustrating!
post edited by fafa1234 - 2013/12/30 11:42:22
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fafa1234
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 12:00:46
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Kalle Rantaaho
Hmmm...I don't remember how it was in Pro Audio, but are you sure you can't bounce to audio via the Tools> Mixdown Audio etc? Your soundcard shouldn't be an obstacle, IIRC, as bouncing is not actually the same as recording.
When I go to Tools>Mixdown Audio, the two options, Export To Files and Bounce To Tracks, are grayed out - I cant click on them. I assumed this was a sound card issue, now i'm not so sure.
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AT
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 12:26:44
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Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio. Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work. Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's. For recording music or high fidelity, not so much. Low quality and high latency. As Clary sez, get a real music interface. They are available from $100 on up and most use USB. You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
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http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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AT
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 12:26:44
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Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio. Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work. Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's. For recording music or high fidelity, not so much. Low quality and high latency. As Clary sez, get a real music interface. They are available from $100 on up and most use USB. You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
@
https://soundcloud.com/a-pleasure-dome
http://www.bnoir-film.com/ there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.
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fafa1234
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 12:27:54
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OK so I have pro audio 9 installed on my work computer and I'm experimenting with getting it to work. Apparently in audio 9, I have to record a wav track(s) of the MIDI track(s) before I can mixdown the audio. I'm trying to get this to work now.
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fafa1234
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 12:48:06
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AT
Try freezing the midi tracks - turn them into audio. Then highlight the audio you want to export or bounce (I use export from the file drop down menu).
And yes, the internal sound card is not very good for music work. Great for games, windows warnings and mp3's. For recording music or high fidelity, not so much. Low quality and high latency. As Clary sez, get a real music interface. They are available from $100 on up and most use USB. You can still hear your mp3's etc. on your built-in speakers through your built-in soundcard, while SONAr and music programs use the interface on monitors, if you want.
@
I'm attempting to do that now (and failing). I'm having trouble selecting the right "source" and "port" options on the track I'm trying to record the MIDI to. Here are images of my options for source and port...  
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Kalle Rantaaho
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 14:08:30
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First of all, Pro Audio does not have Freeze function, so let's not confuse the OP with that word. You already mentioned the proper tool: Bounce to tracks. I think it was greyed out because you had no tracks selected. And you need to select both soft synth MIDI-track and the respective audio track. UNLESS... There's one open question though: What soft synth are you using (can you use soft synths in PA9?) ? If you're using the miserable MS Wavetable synth of your soundchip, that can not be bounced like soft synths. That must be recorded either by physically leading the signal from soundcards output and then back to input, or recorded in real time with your soundcards "what u hear" setting, if such exists. If neither of those are possible, you're out of luck. You are working in a surrounding so ancient, that it's hard for you to get good advice anymore :o/ In any SONAR version, new or old, you'd be able to do this in ten seconds, assuming you DON'T use MS Wavetable synth. I strongly recommend upgrading to something like Music Creator or any of the X-series.
post edited by Kalle Rantaaho - 2013/12/30 14:12:04
SONAR PE 8.5.3, Asus P5B, 2,4 Ghz Dual Core, 4 Gb RAM, GF 7300, EMU 1820, Bluetube Pre - Kontakt4, Ozone, Addictive Drums, PSP Mixpack2, Melda Creative Pack, Melodyne Plugin etc. The benefit of being a middle aged amateur is the low number of years of frustration ahead of you.
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fafa1234
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Re: Need help with finding a soundcard for my laptop
2013/12/30 14:38:51
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Kalle Rantaaho
First of all, Pro Audio does not have Freeze function, so let's not confuse the OP with that word.
You already mentioned the proper tool: Bounce to tracks. I think it was greyed out because you had no tracks selected. And you need to select both soft synth MIDI-track and the respective audio track.
UNLESS...
There's one open question though: What soft synth are you using (can you use soft synths in PA9?) ? If you're using the miserable MS Wavetable synth of your soundchip, that can not be bounced like soft synths. That must be recorded either by physically leading the signal from soundcards output and then back to input, or recorded in real time with your soundcards "what u hear" setting, if such exists. If neither of those are possible, you're out of luck.
You are working in a surrounding so ancient, that it's hard for you to get good advice anymore :o/ In any SONAR version, new or old, you'd be able to do this in ten seconds, assuming you DON'T use MS Wavetable synth.
I strongly recommend upgrading to something like Music Creator or any of the X-series.
I just bought music creator 5 to put on my laptop, but I could not figure it out at all, so I reverted back to pro audio 9. Are you saying that music creator 5 should work? I did the "bounce to tracks" function properly. Yes I believe I am using MS Wavetable synth. :( I guess I am out of luck.
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