ORIGINAL: Coolfluf
Hi everyone,
Im buying a new PC soon, on which I want to run the audio sequencer. I do not have a soundcard on it, since my budget doesnt allow it - I'll have to use the onboard sound of the Asus M2N-E motherboard.
Can anyone tell me wether this will work?
And the something else:
I can't record tracks one by one unless it's a solo. Example; I can't sing on a previously recorded electric guitar jam. I just *have* to do it at the same time, but, it's kind of hard to sing into a direction-sensitive microphone (SM-57) while also pointing it towards the guitar amplifier :) It's not very comfortable I can tell you that!
Thus, I will have to use my compute-guitar cable (from the amplifier) and microphone (for singing) at the same time.
The question is: Can this be done with onboard-sound? Does the Asus M2N-E motherboard have enough inputs for this? Or do I have to buy some kind of external device? Where do I plug everything in?
Or should I get something like a M-Audio Fast Track USB?
Thanks in Adavance!!!
Well.. this is going to cost money no matter what you do. You will need two microphones, two preamps (or mixer), and cables to fit your preamp output and the sound card input. The onboard sound card will have at least one stereo input so yes, you can record two things at once.
With most sound card drivers when you go to select the input in the software you will see L (Left), R (Right), or Stereo. The actual text will vary with the driver but you get the idea. So you would add two audio tracks, set one for L and one for R and make the signal from each mic preamp is connected to one side or the other but not both.
If your sound card driver is a problem then search the web for asio4all and see if that will work. asio4all is a free generic driver that works with most sound cards.
Also, check the sound card inputs and make sure you use the line level ones, not the microphone inputs. The mic inputs on the sound card are for those little plastic mics that connect to your PC and have a very poor quality preamp in line. The line level output of your preamp or mixer will overdrive that and cause nasty distortion. On some sound cards there is a different plug for line in and on some you can set it for mic or line with a hardware jumper or maybe in the driver control panel.
Manage your expectations.. even if you get everything right the sound quality won't be great. Those built in cards are mainy designed for playback and the input (Analog to Digital conversion) quality is not good.