Tezza

yep, not working.

If you are only going to use the laptop for mixing then you don't need to use ASIO4ALL, you can use just the Realtek drivers for your Realtek sound card, since you will only be outputting audio. Any latency introduced by the headphones which should be minimal anyway won't be relevant. I believe that Realtek does have an ASIO driver for it's cards, you might have to search for that, I am not sure how well it works, but there is no need to use ASIO if you are just mixing. ASIO is only really necessary when it comes to using microphones or USB keyboards to record because it reduces the delay you hear from inputting a recorded source to what you hear back from your computer. If for example you wanted to put an AKAI MPK mini in your backpack with the laptop, then having access to an ASIO driver will mean there will be little perceptible delay between hitting a keyboard note or drum pad and hearing it back through your headphones. It pays to check that your sound card manufacturer has an ASIO driver specifically for sound card first before considering ASIO4ALL as that is a sort of last resort solution. Audio interfaces can be bus powered and small so you don't necessarily need to connect them to mains power in order to use them to record or use their ASIO driver. You might have to do a bit of fiddling around to see if what you want to do will work.

Yes, it might be time to re-evaluate the new forum changes, some things are working and may deserve promotion, others not so much and can be combined. I find it a little confusing with so many subforums and navigation, not to criticize what has been done because you never know what will happen until you actually introduce the changes, it is early days and I know that introducing the changes is a work in progress. Just thought I would throw in my 2 cents: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- General News and Announcements Frequently asked questions Product release info Feedback loop Cakewalk Cakewalk by Bandlab (subforum: Early access program) Hardware Instruments and Effects UI Themes Templates and Presets (subforum: Articulation/Drum maps) Community Tutorials Music Production Discussion (subforum: Deals) Songs The Coffee House --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It covers all the current sections, just moved some stuff around and combined some subforums.

-----Moved to Coffee House----->

It's not seen as compatible with windows 10 according to AVID, the latest driver release states: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1.11 Jan 19. 2016 This is the final driver release for the Fast Track Pro Qualified with Windows 7, 8, 8.1 Note that Windows 10 (or later) is not compatible and will not be qualified Fixed noise or pops/clicks when streaming with Fast Track Pro's S/PDIF output enabled ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While it still "may" work with Windows 10 "occasionally" and with some fiddling around, it's not worth the hassle. Ditch the audio interface would be my suggestion. I am looking around for a small USB powered audio device also, just for traveling. I was a bit dismayed by the pricing here in Australia. They seem to have gone up a bit since I last bought one. I thought the Presonus 24c would be up there since Presonus gear tends to be a bit more expensive but in fact it is priced quite well according to the competition. Looks like a nice option. Looks like a completely different connection to standard USB connections so that may need to be taken into account: https://www.presonus.com/learn/technical-articles/What-Is-Usb-C Further research reveals that you can get adapter cables from standard USB A to USB C but whether or not that works successfully on all devices, I don't know.

Can you get decent pickups for the mandolin? Is it possible to use a not so sensitive microphone? Can you record only at a quiet time? The only way for you to get want you want is to record live in a professional studio with great mics. Everything else is going to be a compromise, I've had the same battles with Acoustic guitar. I have a quiet time around 7.30 - 10pm so if I want to do vocals or acoustic guitar it has to be then to stop outside noises, but that does not correct for a poor room reverb. For Vocals, I've fixed this by getting closer to the mic and using hanging dunas and that works reasonably well. For acoustic guitar, I generally record it separately at the right time with sound deadening material but still not ideal. I get a better but different sound with a Shure 57 than I do with my AKG C214 condenser because the dynamic mic just doesn't pickup room reverb or extraneous sounds as much, again, a compromise. I can transcribe what I play to midi and run a VST but it won't sound the same as what I play and never will, so it's a compromise. With the VST solution, there is always something wrong or different. For example, I like the reduced fret noise and finger squeak in VST midi recordings, I don't experience that problem. There's some that allow you to set the fret (playing area) so that's good. But then some of them have uncontrollable round robin up/down strokes and the way I play, sliding up/down, playing in triplets and having hammer ons/pull offs etc conform to that signature doesn't work. My natural playing is not recorded. It might be ok for some things but it takes some fiddling around. I recently got a Jazz Archtop guitar that has 2 humbucker pickups and have been experimenting with that. Different experience, I can get up at 6.30 and record stuff in a bad room with roosters, angle grinders, dogs barking, parrots, etc going off and when I play it back, it sounds like a pristine studio grade recording, the humbuckers don't pick up the acoustic cacophony going on outside of the guitar string . It's a different sound to a mic recorded acoustic guitar but with the style I play, I only need to make some small changes to my playing style for it to work...again, just a bit of a compromise. I only just got the guitar so still experimenting but it is such a relief to be able to record when I want, where I want, without having to fiddle with midi and end up with a really high quality professional sound straight off the bat. I don't know what your playing style is like, whether it's suited to pickup style recording or whether there exists decent pickup systems for mandolins but I would highly recommend trying it out to see if it suits, it fixes a lot of problems. There will no doubt be a compromise of some sort, that might be acceptable to you or not. I am finding that I am starting to prefer the sound of the Jazz guitar for my style of playing anyway, so for me it may end up not being a compromise at all, just an improvement. There are still some issues with pickup height and string balance etc but I'm sorting those out at the moment.

I am on Aussie time. BTW I wouldn't mind living in California at all!

And again.... Fuse Audio Labs is offering all their plugins at 50% off until April 5th, 2021 (12PM CET). Use the following voucher code during checkout: EASTER21 https://fuseaudiolabs.com/#/pages/plugins

Hee hee, got you again, this ones real! https://www.ueberschall.com/

Happy April Fools day hee hee!! When the cats away, the mice will play.

You probably need to make sure your sample rate and buffer size are suitable. What is the make of the USB mic, I think some of them have a fixed sample rate. How are you monitoring what you hear, through the mic? does it have a headphone out that you hear your voice through? If your monitoring through the headphone then you can set your buffer size to 1024 or something high like that. Also, have you tried using ASIO4All? https://www.asio4all.org/ Ideally you want to be working with an ASIO driver, another reason why the audio interface is a good idea because they come with their own ASIO driver. ASIO4ALL can sometimes work well.

Because he wanted to.

I wouldn't describe it as "fake" though. It's him singing, he has just recorded the performance professionally and then mimed to it in the video, like every other music clip ever made in the world. The only difference is he is playing an acoustic guitar in a relaxed setting. That's just what he wanted to do to get a better sound, there's no conspiracy behind it. Still a nice cover of this song on just acoustic guitar and vocals.

It's funny you mention that. Back in the day when I was a mechanic apprentice and also did car detailing for the franchise I worked for, micro-mesh was like a trade secret that only professional detailers knew about and you could only get it through the trade, it wasn't even available to the general public. I remember having a few sheets that I kept a long time after leaving that industry and using them for guitar finishing and just about any fine finishing job. Completely forgot about that until I saw your post. You are right, it is definitely the bees knees for fine finishing of fret work, even removing the scratches from the wood between the frets that can often happen and also for taking out scratches and haze from the body of the guitar, using it wet or dry like in the video. It's a lot more available now and I could get some in from on-line sources but I want to finish the guitar this weekend, so I'll have to make do with what I have but will order some in, that stuff is great. Stewmac is a great resource but I don't buy from them because being in Australia I don't like waiting for things to arrive, there are similar products here though that I can get in from Melbourne or Sydney. The way I see it, I'll finish the guitar as I can now, but in a month, I'll probably do more work on it to finish up because there will probably be other stuff that comes to light, some other vibration or more fret work or a different string gauge/type or I may decide to put a different pickup in the bridge etc, I also might put chicken head knobs on it. Or I might hate it and get something else. I will only find that out from playing it for a bit. I also think it is good to have a guitar setup thread in the forum because recording guitars direct into an audio interface to a DAW is very different than playing through an amp. I must have started 100 threads in a multitude of forums at my disappointment of being able to record electric guitars direct, always sounding scratchy and harsh and almost like that horrid piezo sound being present, thin with an unpleasant distortion being applied. Using an amp sim does little to make it better. I can get there almost, but it's a lot of work and not that satisfying when I know what it "should" sound like from playing through an amp. I resorted to using pedals before the interface which works much better for me. But I have only ever recorded strats with single coils and trying for a cleaner sound, even with the lead. I just listened to some stuff I quickly recorded on this guitar just to check out the electrics of the guitar, it was recorded direct in with no effects. There is none of that previously described stuff happening at all. No scratchyness or harshness or unpleasant background distortion, it does not sound "dry" at all. It sounds warm, mellow, thick and almost as if there is an impulse response on it but there isn't. I had to check a number of times whether I had an amp sim or reverb on or something but there was nothing. This might just be the humbucker pickups or a combination of that with the guitar and the wooden bridge, I don't know but I like it a lot. If it sounds that good to me direct in and dry when the guitar was in such a state of disrepair, what on earth is it going to sound like when I plug it in fixed up and shove an amp sim on it.

I got all the stuff to finish the guitar off today, so tomorrow morning the repairs and reconstruction will begin, by Sunday, I will be playing! I found some rubber tubing from my old strat pickups that I will use instead of the springs to secure the pickup to it's housing. Also found some double sided tape and stick on felt circles. What I will do is create pads to hold the pickup secure in it's housing by combining 2 layers of double sided tape together with the felt and create 4 of them for each pickup. They sit on the inside of the pickup housing and put a bit of pressure on the pickup. An invisible solution I hope to the vibration problem. Together with reshaping and resoldering the metal pickup cover to the pickup, I've got some clamps for that job. I'll do the frets one at a time with scotchguard and a painters blade that I've got that I can use to protect the fretboard while I just clean them up a bit, the flatter radius allows this and it will be quicker and more effective than masking tape. Then I'll go over the whole lot with a block. I'll leave the bridge as is for the moment, see what the intonation is like. I don't like the idea of prizing it off, I'd rather go the route of fitting an adjustable top to the bridge if it is needed. The only reason for taking it off the soundboard would be to move it 2 or 3 mm one way, which will most likely result in a band of some sort shadowing the bridge, even if it's all done smoothly. Why is fixing guitars so exciting!

Wall wart driven USB devices generally have more power than the USB powered equivalent. Louder headphone outputs and louder more concise main monitor outs. I don't know that USB 3.0 will change this much. Audio device manufacturers won't tell you this because they want to sell all of their different interfaces. For example, Steinberg will tell you that if you are using one of their USB powered device's, you should use low impedance headphones but if you are using a mains powered device then you can use up to 300ohm headphones. I noticed more overall omph moving from a usb powered device to a mains powered device. Apart from being louder, the bass was more solid and present. Perhaps some USB devices deal with the power different or USB 3.0 might be a bit better, I don't know, but to me there is a difference in power output to monitors and headphones between mains powered and USB powered audio devices. I don't know if this extends to pre-amp sensitivity for microphones that you plug in to the audio interface, it might, perhaps the phantom power supplied to condensers is better on mains powered devices, I don't know. I'm using the UR44 and I don't seem to have any problems with power output or microphone pre-amp sensitivity but I use phantom powered condensers, haven't tried dynamic microphones.

I think this may also be a cause of, or contributing to the vibration coming from the neck pickup when I play certain notes, it's pretty loud and very unappealing. I took out the neck pickup turned it over and..... The crack is all the way through so it does move and vibrate. Not to worry, I have plenty of solder and a big soldering iron. At first, I thought some dude had just put solder on there but looking at other images, it appears this is done at the factory for these pickups. The last time I played humbuckers was about 15 years ago, so it's like a new sound all over again. I am now thinking if it is possible to get new gold covers for the pickups to replace the aged ones. Yes it looks as though it's on pretty tight and I can see what appears to be glue in the joint, my fear is, if I try to get it off it will rip the lacquer off and possibly take some wood with it. The previous owner doesn't really know much about it. He bought it with some other guitars, played it a few times and then it got put away and neglected for some time, he sold it while doing a clean out. Yes, this is a problem I had with my semi acoustic but this guitar seems to be fine in relation to internal cables flopping about. This seems to be an area where I differ from the pack. I prefer the sound of lighter strings, 11's max. I've tried the heavier gauges but I just don't like the sound of them besides them being also more difficult to play. Lighter strings have got more jangle, seem brighter and more alive, whereas the heavier ones you get a straight note with not much character in my view. I do use 11's on the acoustic. I checked out the half rounds, flatwound, chromes etc but if I want those I will need to get them on Ebay and I can't decide at the moment so I think I will just put standard guitar strings (10-46) on it to start with, what it came out of the factory with. I can pick those up tomorrow from a local music store otherwise I have to drive 100Ks to get some different ones or wait a week for Ebay. The standard ones will be fine to start with and will mean I can have everything done by Sunday and finish it and jam with it. I think the finger squeak is going to be reduced by the humbuckers.

AAArghh!! The bridge is glued on, might be OK, I'll see when I get strings on it. If not, there is a workaround, you can get a gold bridge that sits on top of the rosewood bridge and has adjustable intonation. Archtops seem fragile, the pickups screw directly into the 4mm or so soundboard. Don't like the bridge set up at all. Looks like I will be able to attach something on the inside of the pickup covers to stop the vibration, maybe that door gap adhesive foam/rubber. Yes, I am glad the electronics are good because I wouldn't like to have to muck about with those through the F-holes. Not a fan of friggin F-holes. I wonder what F-hole glued that bridge on. Yes, thinking along the same lines. One thing that drives me mad about recording guitars is the finger squeak, it is everywhere, about time I tried some flatwounds, I don't care about the more mellow sound. These apparently come out of the factory with 10-46 on them. I use 9's on the strat because I bend like crazy with lead. I use 11's on the acoustic, they have just enough meat for me without being hard to hold down. 10-46 has always been no-mans land for me, a bit light for solid chords and too heavy for the lead I play. I don't want to put 9's on it because I need to use it more for Jazz style chord playing. I'd put 11's on it but then no comfortable lead will really be possible, not how I play anyway. Apparently, flatwound have more string tension than roundwound, so 10's might be like 11's. My claw style rhythm playing on the Acoustic is more like traditional Jazz style but my lead playing is nothing like Jazz, I need the lighter strings to bend. A wound G string kills that fun but sounds better for chords. It looks like it's got 10's roundwounds on it now and they play quite well. Decisions....

So I got it. When I got it home, I adjusted the truss rod straight away and the neck backed off to straight. There's a very small hump which I expect will go down over the next few days, then I'll use a block of wood and a hammer to bash the frets in to make sure they are seated properly, sometimes they can rise with an arched bow for some time. The frets themselves are in great condition, just dirty, so I'll give the fretboard a wash down, scrub up the frets with some scotchguard and a sanding block. I won't even bother sanding them. Worst case scenario, I'll do a small sand and crown of about 4 frets but I don't think it will be necessary. It hasn't been used much at all just left and neglected. The nut is set really well and slot depth is perfect, unusual, normally it's a bit high because I like it low and usually have to lower it on any guitar I buy unless it's had a set up. It's got grover tuners and it keeps tune really well. It's totally smooth tuning up and down, no jerkiness of the strings through the nut, a joy to tune actually, despite the fact that the strings are as rusty and old as strings can get. The bridge is a bit frightening, it looks as though someone may have glued it to the sound board, I hope not, it's supposed to be a free floating bridge, I won't know for sure until I strip it down. I measured it and it's off best intonation by about 4mm so I hope I can move it, you wouldn't know it though by the sound. The body and back of the neck is cosmetically good, what I thought were dings or scratches were just dried on dirt which comes off with the fingernail, I'll give it a thorough wet clean later. The electrics are faultless, no scratching or crackling from any of the pots or the switch and the jack is fine, very tight and can't get any noise even wiggling it. Totally silent electrical operation through all the electronics. The reason I haven't got started with it straight away is because there is a problem that took me a little time to track down. I was on the Jazz forums and apparently with archtops, there can be problems with eliminating buzzing from the guitar, not fret buzzing but various components buzzing when you play. I was getting terrible buzzing acoustically that was also spilling into the electric sound. I eventually traced it down to the pickups rattling inside and against the pickup mounts. From other forums I saw others having the same problem and it seemed to take them some time to trace it as well. You think that because you've tightened the pickup mount screws against the soundboard that they are tight, so it can't be the pickups. They are tight but the pickups themselves are not, they buzz against the insides of the mounts. I put my fingers on the pickups forcing them against the mounts under pressure and the buzzing was gone. I've left it as is with the strings on so I can test it while I try to come up with a solution to this problem. Not sure what to do about it yet. Something that will not be visible. Ramming a pick between the pickups and the mounts works. I might even cover the mounts with felt so they press against the pickups. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it, after just a rough truss rod adjustment, it is playing quite well with low action and little to no string buzzing, despite the terrible state of the strings. I think it will be great with the full set up and a decent clean of everything. The pickups sound fine to me, string balance is good and the tone is warm and mellow. All I've done is play it direct into the audio interface without any amp, just dry and I don't object to the tone, again considering it hasn't even been set up yet and the bad strings, the signs are excellent. So all there is to do is to come up with a solution to the pickup buzz and then see if the bridge is glued and what to do about that. Then with a decent setup and new strings, I think it will sound fantastic. Then adding the pedals and/or VST amp wooo.... I'm not going to mod this one, just get it up to spec and see what's what. I don't know what strings to get it, straight nickle roundwounds or flatwounds or half roundwounds etc. will have to check that out.

I've tried numerous methods of sound proofing and creating acoustically deadened environments in less than ideal environments. For sound proofing, it depends on where you live, the noise level around you. Like you, I am blessed with a basically silent room, in my case because I am in the country and while there may be some noise during the day, from 7.30pm to 6.00am in the morning it's quiet, so soundproofing is not that much of an issue. Creating a good acoustic environment, dampening the room reverb or room sound is a bit more difficult. I have tried the cubes and various boxes and the professional screens you can buy but there were always problems. Singing is different to podcasting, for example. For podcasting, cubes work quite well, sealing off sound around the mic in general works well, your only at talking level so reflections from the inside of the cube are not too bad. For singing though, I found it creates a dead "boxy" sound and kills the life of the vocal. Singing gets loud and having any objects near the mic, regardless of what they are creates reflections on to the mic. Mics need to be standing free to get a good vocal. The problem there is, of course, you get the natural room sound. How you kill it depends on the pattern of the mic and how close you want to get to the mic (closer kills room sound) and how you can deaden the room reverb with sound deadening material. My mic has a cardioid pattern, meaning it picks up most sound from the front. Instead of putting sound deadening stuff behind the mic, I put it behind me because that is where the mic is facing. I use a T stand and hang some dunas over it behind me. It's got a couple of arms that swing around to the sides. Then I have a duna hanging behind the mic over the wardrobe and that's about it. Then I get a bit closer to the mic, about 4 - 6 inches or I will even use the foam cover with the mic and sit right on top of it, depending on the song. This method works for me and sounds the best that I can get it outside of a dedicated music room or professional studio, without killing my voice. You have to make sure that there is no reflection coming from behind you when you sing into the mic because that is what the mic will pick up. If you can block that off, you don't need to do much acoustic deadening in the room. I can't help you with windows not remembering settings as I don't use USB mics and am not familiar with how they work. Someone else might know. It might not be possible to get what you want from your current setup. With an XLR mic into an audio interface, you plug the mic into the interface, set the recording level according to the clip meters on the interface, then arm a track with the right input and away you go. The settings don't change unless you physically turn the knob on the interface. You might be better off just concentrating on getting an interface and using your other dynamic mic with that. That will solve the workflow problems and will also probably contribute to solving room reverb problems since you can get close to a dynamic mic and they do not pick up the room so much anyway. Your voice will have less fidelity or it might sound fine, but at least you will be able to move forward. As for the audio interface, you might want to start a different thread for that, perhaps in the "gear" section? Ask for advice about a good budget interface.

I have an opportunity to buy a second hand Epiphone Emperor ii Joe Pass in my local area and given that I've never had a full hollow archtop before am deciding whether to pounce. It's got a bit of a consistent backward arch in the neck, so all the strings buzz but I think that is just truss rod adjustment, The frets and the neck seem straight and in good order the electrics seem fine. In general, a little pitting of the gold hardware and couple of little dings but nothing that you can see without a magnifying glass. The aging of the hardware just adds to the vibe. It comes with an excellent condition archtop hard case. It also comes with all the usual thrills associated with buying a new guitar, more money will come my way, I will meet the partner of my dreams and all my wishes will immediately be fulfilled etc

If your a classically trained singer then you might want to look at improving your setup a bit in the near future because I don't think you are going to get the best out of your voice with a USB mic. There may be some frustrations there. It's not a great outlay and you can pick up mics cheaper secondhand on Ebay which can let you try out different ones for your voice. I would start with getting an audio interface, preferably a mains powered one but a USB powered one would also be ok. If the interface has a DSP FX processor it will allow you to run reverb and compression etc back into your headphones or to record with the effects all with zero latency. This can be great for setting up a good monitoring signal for your self. You then need a mid priced XLR mic, something like an AT4050 or Rode NT1/NT2a etc, you can search for "good vocal mics". Then you will need a pop screen and mic stand, an XLR cable, monitoring headphones (senny HD280?) and then your good to go. The next thing is making sure you deaden the recording space a bit if you can with dunas or soft furnishings since the room reverb will be captured and that rarely sounds good. I use an AKG C214 and made a frame from a T light stand and wooden arms on each side of the crossbar to hang duna's in a V shape behind me which works well. If your a bit skint you might start building a kit over time. There are instructional videos on youtube and a plethora of advice on Google and the search function of this forum, if you know what to search for. If you are intending to record your own tracks then learning how to operate the DAW is essential, you only need to learn the audio recording functions first, once you get the hang of it, it will be easy.

The demo is fully functional for 41 days and you can also download the headphone correction profiles for your cans, so plenty of time to really test it out properly and then wait for another sale if you like it but are a bit skint.

I think this deal has already expired.

Thanks, soI can trial it and then if it all goes ok buy the $99.00 one at 45% reduction in price. I can then load the profiles for my senny 280, 380 and 598 (they are all supported). If i get the DT990 then I could deactivate the 598's and reactivate with the DT990, is that how it works? I can't see me using more than 3 headphones, ideally, now I have the pads for the 380's I will use that for all tracking and then have openback 598's/DT990's for mixing. It seems to support most of the types of headphones I would use. Here are the supported headphones for those interested: https://www.dsoniq.com/standard Here is the online user guide: https://www.dsoniq.com/realphones_userguide Wow, seems to have a lot of adjustments but also a lot of features that would be really good for mixing, if they work as intended.