monitoring / "bleed"

Sounds like you have "Tape to Mix" depressed on your mixer.

The Poor Man's Mackie..

The problem is the way that your mixer works, and there is really almost no way to use it properly for both monitoring and as the only input source for recording at the same time, it's just too limited in it's routing ablilities.

1) The CD/TAPE inputs/outputs are really designed for 2 track (stereo) send/return, NOT for multi-track monitoring, but stereo 2 track monitoring such as a mixdown deck return, where, on playback you would want isolation.

2) There are no direct channel outputs, nor are there insert points which could be used for direct channel outputs, likewise there are no isolated bus outputs. This means that there is really no "proper" way to route isolated signals out of the mixer and into your soundcard for recording.

3) You "could" use the 2 aux sends as isolated outputs to send 2 seperate signals to the two analog inputs on the Audiophile, BUT, aux send 2 is situated in the signal path AFTER the channel volume control, that means that the recording signal would change with any changes to the channel's volume control, this doesn't mean it would be unworkable, just something that would be annoying sometimes.

Anyway, what to do? some options are...

1) Remove the mixer from the return monitor path and use it as an input source only, this unfortunately will also take away your headphone amp for monitoring.

2) Buy a dedicated mic-pre/DI such as the M-Audio DMP-3 and use it for your soundcard's input source, these two channels could be routed by "Y" cords to both the AP's inputs AND to two channels on the TAPCO for direct monitoring, you could then also use the TAPCO as your monitor mixer/headphone amp by routing the AP's outputs to one of it's stereo input channels.

3) Buy a better mixer that has the right routing abilities for the job at hand.

I have a Mackie 1202-VLZ, the 4 mono channels on it have those insert points that can be used as direct outputs for those channels, which make it usable in a situation like yours, you could also look into the Yamaha MG series mixers for a cheaper solution.

Out of the above options, I think that #2 is probably the most "bang for the buck", it lets you still use the TAPCO as your monitor mixer/headphone amp while also giving you a more direct signal path to the recorder using better preamp/DI's.

:)

littlesonny,

I agree with the other guys that the mixer is your problem. You need to be able to monitor a bus that is not the bus feeding the soundcard input. I have had good luck with Soundcraft mixers and recommend them highly. Here is a link to a model that is especially designed for computer recording.

http://www.soundcraft.com/product_sheet.asp?product_id=121

take care,
BD

ORIGINAL: Robomusic

Actually I looked at the setup on your mixer and it is very much like the Behringer 602 i use and i think you can monitor with it, take the line out from the sound card to the tape in on the mixer, the main out on the mixer back to the line in on the card.

Now plug the speakers into the control room out and depress the tape/cd button and see if that works.

It looks to me like doing this will give you just the stereo return from the AP on the monitors, there are two ways I can see to add the incoming recording signals into the monitor mix..

1) Use the AP's software monitor mixer, this will give you a dry, no latency foldback of the incoming signals back into the monitor mix.

2) Use Home Studio's input monitoring if you can run at a low enough latency (about 5 ms or less), this will let you monitor "wet" by using reverb/whatever in HS.

:)