I wish I could record on my computer...

[Rayman]

I wish I could record on my computer... I've plugged into the 'line in' on my soundcard (via my RP-300 effects processor), and I can hear my playing coming out of the computer speakers, but for some reason when I open up the basic sound recording tool, no signal registers. Is my soundcard not set up properly or something? It's so annoying, and I don't feel like stuffing around with my 4-track any more. Computers are where it's at.

[hammer]

What kind of sound card have you got Rayman?

[Rayman]

I'm not sure. My dad upgrades his computer every few years and gives me his old one. I'll have a look through the hardware profiles when I get home, see if I can find out. It's got 1/8 inch 'line in' and 'mic in' jacks, so you'd think it'd be able to record sound. What's the best free recording software available? I'll download that as well.

[hammer]

Free software? I'll have a look and let you know. If you've got 95/98/Me I think Pro Tools have a free one.

For your sound card try this... Double click the speaker on the task bar... go options... properties... click recording (make sure line in is ticked) and click OK. An mixer should come up. This is the recording mixer it's separate from the playback mixer on most soundcards. Now make sure the line in is selected and set the level to what works best. See if it works.

[Rayman]

OK. I'll give it a go when I get home and let you know. Hopefully it's something simple, although I'll stay pessimistic for now.

[100%TEXAN]

I wish I could record on my computer... I've plugged into the 'line in' on my soundcard (via my RP-300 effects processor), and I can hear my playing coming out of the computer speakers, but for some reason when I open up the basic sound recording tool, no signal registers. Is my soundcard not set up properly or something? It's so annoying, and I don't feel like stuffing around with my 4-track any more. Computers are where it's at.

Hey, if you wanna record to your PC, get a decent USB or Firewire interface. :smile:

For your current problem tho, go to Control panel and open up the sound control panel. Select the "audio" tab and under "Sound Recording|Prefered Device" make sure your sound card is set to you soundcard.

Next, open the sound mixer (the little speaker in your System Tray in the bottom left of your Task Bar) and, if the recording levels are not visible, go to "Options" on the file menu and select "Properties". Then select the recording radio button and click "OK". Now you should see a slider to set your microphone level.

Good luck!

[Brendo613]

I recommend plugging into the "mic in" input, that's what I use. As far as it not recording, I haven't had any luck using Windows Sound Recorder to record for some reason :uhuh:. I use this free program, called Acid Xpress 3.0. Took me two hours to download on dial-up, so you should be all set. It gives very good, results, too, because you can use all the volume level adjustments and it's free! :thumbs: http://www.download.com/Acid-XPress/3000-2170-10228816.html?tag=lst-0-1 .

When you go to the above link, notice how it says "Read User Opinions" towards the bottom ... click on that and look for the review by my username, it has a good hack to use for converting files :lmao:. Once you get the file saved into a .wav file, there are numerous .wav --> .mp3 conversion programs. I, myself, use Right Click MP3, located here: http://www.download.com/RightClick-MP3/3000-2140-10104982.html?tag=lst-0-1 .

Good luck with your future in recording, I'm very excited to hear some of your music :stylin:

=Brendan= :022:

[Rayman]

...As far as it not recording, I haven't had any luck using Windows Sound Recorder to record for some reason...

Oh goodie. That gives me hope.

Thanks for all of your help, people. I'll set aside a couple of hours on Friday or Saturday night, and see if I can't convince my computer to join the party.

Good luck with your future in recording, I'm very excited to hear some of your music :stylin:

Yeah, me too. Heh. I've got bits and pieces floating around, it's hard to find time to put it all together when you work full-time and have two kids filling up your life until 7:30 each evening. And then getting up at about 6:45 each morning, meaning it's not real smart for me to stay up until 2 in the morning, because then I'd be all grouchy the whole day.

[Keith]

http://www.ntrack.com/
Neat lil demo program that will let you dub tracks on the fly.

[YowhatsupT]

Hey, if you wanna record to your PC, get a decent USB or Firewire interface. :smile:

For your current problem tho, go to Control panel and open up the sound control panel. Select the "audio" tab and under "Sound Recording|Prefered Device" make sure your sound card is set to you soundcard.

Next, open the sound mixer (the little speaker in your System Tray in the bottom left of your Task Bar) and, if the recording levels are not visible, go to "Options" on the file menu and select "Properties". Then select the recording radio button and click "OK". Now you should see a slider to set your microphone level.

Good luck!


texan hasd got it right...but i dont recommend firewire id go with the usb firewire tends to glitch too much

[100%TEXAN]

texan hasd got it right...but i dont recommend firewire id go with the usb firewire tends to glitch too much

The origional 410 drivers *were* a bit flakey. They fixed it shortly after I bought mine.

If you have Firewire device issues uninstall all your fire wire *interface* drives and make sure you have the latest version installed. Also, stay away from cheap firewire interface cards and get an Adaptec. That's what I use and I have no problems whatsoever.

[Grim]

Here's my home studio setup, 100% digital & 24-bit. Some folks don't care for the amp modelling boxes, but when three little kids are asleep, I can still slap on the cans and wail like a banshee...

My Home Studio (http://www.piercingblue.com/amc/homestudio.htm)
It takes a few moments to load...

[hammer]

Hey rayman did it work?

[Rayman]

Nope! No, damn it, no...

I've been thinking for some time that my computer needs upgrading. I've now got another great reason to do so.

I installed Cubase, and opened it up. Fine so far. Then I tried opening a new project with 16 tracks or something. Error message. Hmmm... then I tried opening up an 'empty project'. No error message, no empty project, nothing. Frozen computer. Not even ctrl+Alt+Delete worked any more. It's only got a 333 Mhz processor, and only 6 gigs of space on the hard drive. Plus the sound card only has 1/8 inch sockets.

Oh well. Our christmas account opens up in early November, so I'll try and convince my wife that some of the money should go towards a new PC. I'll spend the next month or so researching what I'll need. If someone could point me to a site that covers 'home PC recording' I'd really appreciate it. I'll go and check out your site too, Grim.

Dum de dum. Guess I'll just have to spend my evenings practicing guitar instead of recording it. It's a hard life.

[hammer]

Don't worry rayman recording can be a HUGE distraction from music, what with all the PC problems you can run into. I only do it because I want to be able to produce as well as play guitar but sometimes I wonder if it's worth it... but I keep doing it so it must be, I guess.

[Keith]

Here's my home studio setup, 100% digital & 24-bit. Some folks don't care for the amp modelling boxes, but when three little kids are asleep, I can still slap on the cans and wail like a banshee...

My Home Studio (http://www.piercingblue.com/amc/homestudio.htm)
It takes a few moments to load...
Nice lil' setup ya have there Grim.
I'll see if I can borrow friends DC and post my setup.

[SG_74]

Cubase is a pretty neat program, I use it at school, I like it cos you step input drum sounds and you can make it really fast/complicated and you don't have to play it live so its all in time hehe... I'm currently sequencing Jump by Van Halen for coursework, when I've finished I'll try and get a copy of it and post up a link hehe... As for home recording, I've got Ntrack but I'm not getting on with it, I can record a trck (via the 1/8 mic input) and it'll show up on the screen and the sound comes thru on the vu meter, but it wont let me play back the recording it just says "sound card does not support format" or something, so I'm downloading ACIDXPRESS at the moment...hopefully i'll have better luck with that...


-< O's >-

[Slipstream]

I wish I could record on my computer... I've plugged into the 'line in' on my soundcard (via my RP-300 effects processor), and I can hear my playing coming out of the computer speakers, but for some reason when I open up the basic sound recording tool, no signal registers. Is my soundcard not set up properly or something? It's so annoying, and I don't feel like stuffing around with my 4-track any more. Computers are where it's at.
Hey Rayman, sounds like you need to upgrade yer 'puter. You can record with the hardware you have, but not more than two tracks or so. Make sure you know what the output is on yer RP300 before you go pluggin' it into the 'mic-in' channel (different than line-level for line-in). I fried a soundcard doing that once.

The basic sound recording tool (at least in Windows) is useless. You can download a good free recording program - Audacity - from download.com or shareware.com. It has a selector for the source (line-in, WAV, mike-in, etc.).
The selector automatically adjusts your systems 'Volume Control' preferences.

Good luck, and have fun.

[Slipstream]

. . . the sound comes thru on the vu meter, but it wont let me play back the recording it just says "sound card does not support format" . . .
You have to record with the same (or lower) bitrate as your sound cards capability. I'm guessing your card is capable of 16 bits, while your software is recording at 24 bits. Go to 'Preferences' or 'Settings', whichever, and set your bitrate to something lower - like 16 or even 8 if that doesn't work. As for myself, I've got two soundcards I'm trying to figure out how to 'stack'. One's a 16 bit, the other is a 24. I can record and play back at 24 bits on the one card, but I have to convert the file before it will play on the other.

[SG_74]

Thanks, I'll have a go when I get home...

[YowhatsupT]

The origional 410 drivers *were* a bit flakey. They fixed it shortly after I bought mine.

If you have Firewire device issues uninstall all your fire wire *interface* drives and make sure you have the latest version installed. Also, stay away from cheap firewire interface cards and get an Adaptec. That's what I use and I have no problems whatsoever.


eh...if you say so...i got rid of mine...i wont go back or even read about erm nemore....i used to be a hardcore video-audio editor..and i hated the firewires i had to use...i wound up convincing the people i worked for that they should spend the money and get USB .......they were thinking about putting up a statue of me last time i heard (lol j/k)

[Rayman]

Hey Rayman, sounds like you need to upgrade yer 'puter.

Yep. I'm researching at the moment. The stupid thing is that I can salary sacrifice a laptop, but not a desktop computer - which means that I can get a laptop for half-price, but would have to pay full price for a desktop. So my best bet seems to be to go for a laptop plus some kind of external soundcard.

The basic sound recording tool (at least in Windows) is useless. You can download a good free recording program - Audacity - from download.com or shareware.com...

I actually downloaded Audacity last week. It works well - it's just what I need until I get some 'serious' software and some new hardware. It's the perfect substitute for my 4-track. Plug in - record, then play the recorded track back while I'm recording another track. Just wonderful. Sound quality isn't good, but I'm happy to wait for that.