Newbie has questions re PC/synth setup...

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pierre

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I am sure someone here can help, you are all such a wealth of knowledge so here goes:

I connected my Yamaha CS1x synth to my PC's SoundBlaster64PCI's joystick port using a MIDI connector cable. My PC speakers (Altec Lansing ADA305) are connected to the sound card as well. I use headphones to hear my synth.

This is not ideal as I can not hear both the MIDI tracks and the audio tracks at once in Cubase VST.

I thought about plugging the synth to my speakers too (there is a second Line IN port) however, I don't have any cables to do that and I am not even sure it would work. Plus, I need to be able to also use the headphones for hearing MIDI *AND* Audio at the same time too.

I think the answer is to get a mixer but... Is there any other way?

Thanks in advance

Pierre
 
Plug your synths to a mixer, and plug your speakers to the mixer outputs

also you will be able to record what you create by recording the output of the mixer to a DAT or a miniDisc, or even your PC (if it lets you record audio while you are controlling all the synths via MIDI)
 
Hi Mano! So I have to get a mixer ey? Any suggestions on what kind? This is only for a home studio and I don't have much money left :( since I spent it all on the synth and Cubase VST. Also, is this the same kind of mixer that DJ's use to mix two TTs?

Also, I have seen something on the Steinberg site called USB-2-MIDI and the Roland UA-30 at the local music store (which seems to be a similar product)... are those mixers or just external sound interfaces? What situations are those for?

Pierre

P.S. What is a DAT?
 
the mixer u want is a line mixer this not the same things dj's use ok u have to go to a music shop and get one by looks of things u only want a small one maybe an 8 channel mixer
Soundcraft make the note pad mixer that 2 stereo inputs and 4 mono inputs, it cheap and good $140 -150 around £90-100
there are some other good little ones to be had, Behringer have some nice little ones.

U could also plug the synth into ur line in of ur soundcard this isn't ideal but u should be able to hear all u sounds through ur speaks but u should have a mixer
 
mx602a

Thanks Ade! I went to the local music store and they had a Behringer mx802a (8 channels) and mx602a (6 channels) on display for 260$ and 179$ dollars canadian... a little too expensive :(. I could not find a Souncraft but I searched for them on the net and found a brand new mx602a for 99$ US which I ordered. :)
Pierre
 
nice one, hope ur pleased with it as they are excellent mixers :)
small but nice, thats a good price $99 because thats the uk price i see them for. Hope u don't run out of inputs but if u just want to mix the sound card and synth and maybe one more thing then u've got ur self bargin :)
 
More novice questions...

I got my mixer and plugged my synth output L/R to it's Line In L/R. Great.

Now, I got three questions:

1 - I need to plug the speakers to the mixer. I am probably missing something obvious. The problem is all the speakers have is two stereo mini-jack inputs (the walkman types). I need to connect two 1/4in jacks from the mixer's Main Out to one of them. I went to the local music store and they did not have any cables that would help me. Is there such a thing as a Y-cable for this?

2 - Then, I still need to plug the mixer Line In 1/4in L/R jacks to my sound card right? I don't have any money to buy a pro-audio sound card yet so I must make use of this multimedia Soundblaster 64PCI card. It also has a Line Out mini-jack. Do I also get a Y-cable for that?

3 - Maybe it's not even worth it and I should wait til I get a decent sound card? Do you think I can accomplish anything useful with it? Regardless, I get a 43ms latency in Cubase VST5 with the ASIO DirectX Full Duplex drivers.

Thanks!
 
Answer to ur questions

1. Yes, what u want there is two mono jacks to a stereo jack there should be cables for that, then for the mini jack to the big jack use a two female connector jack ie big hole one side little hole the other (in stereo) .

2. right the cable here is a stereo mini jack to two mono jacks

3. Sorry i can't help u here :(

try http://www.maplin.co.uk for an idea on what i am talking about with the cables and connectors :)

there should be something like this in the US/Canada
 
Ade,
Thank you so much for your quick reply. I did what you advised and it works great! :) :)
 
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