On 7/19/05, Steve Fosdick <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On 19/07/05 05:52:16, Richard Hubbell wrote: > > > Very new to sound input and linux. I've listened to music on linux > > but recording and manipulating sound is all new to me. I'm just > > going to put into words what I'd like to do and take it from there. I > > have an electric guitar and I'd like to record riffs and then apply > > software filters (right word? maybe software effects?) to the riffs > > to give them a different sound. I'd like to be able to edit them, > > save them and record them to disc (cd/dvd). > > Are you intending to DI the guitar or are you planning to mic the guitar > amp? I guess you mean Direct Input and I think that's what I'd like to do. What are the pros/cons? > > For DI you could just try making a lead to connect the guitar to the > line in of a normal sound card, i.e. connect it to one channel and see > how you get on. If the quality is not good enough you'll need to invest > in a "Pro" sound card. What sound cards are people using that are reliable and well made? I've also seen a USB device that has 1/4 jacks, it's appealing because it looks so simple of course I have no idea if it'll work under linux. The fact is there are so many devices that's I am overwhelmed by it all. > > > I'd also like to be able to record singing and sound effects. I have > > read the archives a bit and I saw a July thread about hardware but the > > original poster had his thread hijacked and it went a little astray. > > OK, for this you'll need a decent microphone. The big choice is between > dynamic, e.g. the Sure SM58 that is commonly used live and which give a > punchy sound and condensers which give a more accurate and detailed > sound. There shouldn't be any Linux specific problems with Mics so go > to somewhere like www.recording.org and see people there are using. The I wasn't sure what language they were speaking there, I just don't know the lingo yet. > only thing to watch out for is that if you get a condenser mic you'll > need to look for a sound card/audio interface or pre-amp that includes > phantom power (most good ones do). Phantome power means the power comes from the bus it's connected to? Like USB provides a little power. Or do you mean something else? Would like to know if anyone here has experience with a particular combo. > > Connecting a mic to the mic-in on a normal PC sound card is very > unlikely to yield acceptable results for serious work as the built-in > pre-amp is usually noisy and the mic-in is unbalanced wheras all pro > mics have balanced outputs, so you'll either need to use a separate > pre-amp to raise the mic's output to line level then use the line-in, or > get a sound card/audio interface that has a mic pre-amp built in. You > could even get a separate mic pre-amp and a pro sound card. > > Regarding sound cards/audio interfaces you have a choice of USB or PCI. > > If you're intending to do all your recording with a single PC then PCI > is probably better as it seems to have more stable support and lower > latency. If you need to frequently move the interface between PCs, e.g. > you desktop and laptop then a USB interface may be more conventient. > You also need to decide how many channels - if you're going to record > one track at a time then one of the two channel devices will be fine. USB on linux has had some issues past/present. I would like to go with USB I think as it's more portable (as you point out). > > I needed an interface I can carry around and got a USB TASCAM US-122 I will have a look. > which seems to work quite well though the drivers in Linux seems to have > only become stable since kernel 2.6.12. This has two channels in/out > and MIDI in/out and the inputs can be either mic or line/guitar and it > can do phantom power. For close miking the noise performance is fine, > but for miking large enembles at a distance the mic pre-amp is a little > too noisy. Is that a mike problem too? > > There is a direct competitor to the US-122, i.e. the Edirol UA-25. > > For the PCI cards I'll let people who've got them describe them. > > > Do I need one box or several? I don't want to spend a lot to start > > but would like to have something that's made reasonably well. > > Some of the PCI cards have a separate "break-out" box to which you > connect your inputs and then a cable that connects the breakout box to a > connector on the back of the PCI card. If you get a card that has line > level inputs only then you'll need a separate mic pre-amp. Many people > are suspicous of built-in mic pre-amps on anything and would recommend > the two box solution anyway though I don't have the experience to > comment. Okay I think this makes sense, separate the components, easier to isolate problems and cheaper to replace things. > > Once you got a decent mic, sound card and maybe mic pre-amp I'd see if > you can do everything else you need in software before buying any other > hardware. There's ardour as a multitrack recorder and LADSPA for > effects pulgins all connected together with jack. For wave editing > you've got audacity. There's jamin for mastering, cdrdao for writing CDs > and other choices too. LADSPA effects include compressors, expanders, > filters, eq etc. I am surprised at how much software there is, I will be looking at it all eventually. > > HTH, > Steve. > > >
