External Sound Card?

[Robert Hale]

https://www.amazon.com/PHOINIKAS-External-Headphone-Microphone-Desktops/dp/B07FP8PG9N

It's only $26.  Would this help me set up for recording?

[Byron Dickens]

No.

[mettelus]

A dedicated audio interface is what is required. Most of the budget models are going to run around $100, and it is not a piece of gear you want to avoid getting if you are intent on getting external audio into a computer. If just recording yourself, the Focusrite Scarlett Solo would be a good option (1 microphone input/1 instrument input). There are other options in that price range, but Focusrite tends to have fewer issues noted with them overall.

[Byron Dickens]

Don't you already have an interface?

[Starship Krupa]

Add the price of a second trip to Burger King and get something from a reputable company. Providing that this is a hobby you're willing to invest $50 in:

https://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-M-Track-Solo-Interface-Podcasting/dp/B08Q1NJSBQ

[Robert Hale]

thanks for the responses.

I do have the Behringer UM2,  but having trouble connecting it, and  got curious about this ad.

Thanks.

[mettelus]

Since you have that unit already, I would recommend searching specifically for questions related to issues you are having. I am not familiar with that unit, so not sure if it has dedicated ASIO drivers that come with it (this is sometimes the most critical).

As far as setting things up inside CbB, SWA did a very nice series of videos on SONAR X2 years ago. A lot of that is still applicable and the first three videos cover audio/MIDI setups (the chapter listing for that video set is here - SWA posted 50 videos on YT without an index!).

[Lord Tim]

Connect it to your USB port, let Windows detect the device.

Do NOT install their ASIO4ALL software they have listed on the Behringer site, and if you have, uninstall it.

Open Cakewalk, if it hasn't done so already, it should detect your interface. 

Go to Preferences and in Audio > Playback and Recording, choose WASAPI Shared.

Then in Audio > Devices, make sure there's a tick in anything that lists your UM2 USB Audio.

Then in Audio > Driver Settings, make sure you have the UM2 selected in both the Playback and Record Timing Masters.

Click OK.

You should now be able to use it to record in Cakewalk.

[John Vere]

It doesn't have ASIO drivers, it's basically 1/2 step up from using On board audio.  and I've mentioned this in at least 3 other threads. The above mentioned M track solo apparently does not have an ASIO driver either so another pointless purchase. 

Looking on Sweetwater It seems the ASIO drivers will start with models at around $100. The Focusrite Solo and the Tascam 1x2HR would be my first choices knowing the quality of those products and drivers.  They are on sale right now. 

Can you not return the useless interface in exchange? we are talking about $20-$40 difference to get you running smoothly, you've been bashing your head against the wall for a long time now. 

Edited May 14, 2023 by John Vere

[Lord Tim]

Agree, but it's still MUCH better than a $26 "interface" or using a guitar multi-fx pedal, at least.

With WASAPI he should get acceptable performance out of this, least for playback with a safe buffer size, and maybe even decent latency with WASAPI Exclusive, but I'd start with the safer option I mentioned earlier first, just to get up and running.

[John Vere]

Just now, Lord Tim said:

Agree, but it's still MUCH better than a $26 "interface" or using a guitar multi-fx pedal, at least.

With WASAPI he should get acceptable performance out of this, least for playback with a safe buffer size, and maybe even decent latency with WASAPI Exclusive, but I'd start with the safer option I mentioned earlier first, just to get up and running.

No, you cannot overdub audio with non ASIO drivers. WASAPI is great for people who only use VST instruments and loops. It sucks for recording audio. It will be out of sync. 

[mettelus]

Thanks for the confirmation on the M2. I thought that unit was in the "ASIO4ALL" bucket but wasn't sure.

Back to the OP, I am pretty sure there are a fair number of forum members who have learned the hard way (including myself) that skimping on an audio interface is only going to buy you a fair amount of pain and suffering for no reason. If you want to get audio into a computer and use a DAW to its potential, an adequate audio interface is a must. It is not like we are trying to sell you something you do not need, but rather offering lessons learned on what not to do. DAWs, instruments, FX, and the like can easily fall into the bucket of personal preference, but a good audio interface is a universal piece of gear that is required to get audio into the DAW.

There are many companies with liberal return policies, and one of those is highly recommended to test "unknown" gear. Once you get one that will let you see the night vs day difference in what you are trying to do, you will end up kicking yourself for the time wasted getting there.

[Lord Tim]

8 hours ago, John Vere said:

No, you cannot overdub audio with non ASIO drivers. WASAPI is great for people who only use VST instruments and loops. It sucks for recording audio. It will be out of sync. 

While this may be true to a point, I doubt the OP will be doing any long, sample-accurate recordings where sync drift will actually be an issue. Even the big no-no of using multiple interfaces without a wordclock connecting them isn't actually terrible in certain circumstances (certainly not recommending doing this, mind you, but you'd be surprised how usable it is if you're stuck in a bind and need the inputs). In both circumstances, it might be necessary to nudge the start time of newly recorded tracks, however. YMMV though, you'll get better results on some interfaces than others.

But I do completely agree that dropping the $150 or so on an interface with good ASIO drivers will end up in far less angst down the track, whether it be sync, clicks and pops, poor latency or just better converters in general. 

A Focusrite Scarlett Solo is dead cheap and their drivers are great. If the OP can't get any joy out if the UM2 and all of the workarounds necessary to use that (which, again, is going to be far better than the other alternative ideas he was looking at) then the Solo is a great choice for someone on a budget.

Edited May 14, 2023 by Lord Tim

[DeeringAmps]

1 hour ago, Lord Tim said:

Focusrite Scarlett Solo

On sale right now at Sweetwater, free shipping, 30 day return policy.
Pretty much a no-brainer...

t

[whoisp]

There is lots of misinformation about Behringer with specific models 

Please note: The Only Behringer devices that work with Behringer own dedicated ASIO for win 10 and 11 is UMC202 204 404 and 1820 and the HD Models. 

You have to download the UMC interface software panel ASIO 5.51.0 update. These are the latest drivers with  no issues , no other driver is not supported. I have a friend that uses the 204 which i know works and i use the 1820.  It is setup in 3 parts, the ASIO Driver the WDM (WASAOPI) driver and the MIDI driver. However the MIDI driver does not work on the UMC 202 or the UMC 202 HD 

This is the only dedicated driver from Behringer that works with cakewalk stable that i am aware of. 

[mettelus]

I checked quick on that UM2 unit just to be sure. Sweetwater has a  comment on setup "Although most Behringer audio interfaces have their own driver (version 4.38 as of July 2018), some of the smaller interfaces will require the third-party driver, ASIO4All. These interfaces include the UMC22, UM2, UCA222, and UCA202," so it is an ASIO4ALL unit. I also didn't realize that was a 16-bit/48KHz unit, so if possible to return that, it would be something for the OP to consider. ASIO4ALL is really a WDM wrapper and tends to be problematic, but in certain cases is usable (I have used it for playback of stand-alone instruments that require ASIO through the PC sound card). There have been so many posters over the years seeking help on getting ASIO4ALL to work properly for recording.

Side comment: I very much appreciate the feedback forum members over the years! When delving into unknown territory that has been a tremendous help, so thank you for taking the time to advise. The "trick" is asking before making big leaps.

[whoisp]

13 minutes ago, mettelus said:

Side comment: I very much appreciate the feedback forum members over the years! When delving into unknown territory that has been a tremendous help, so thank you for taking the time to advise. The "trick" is asking before making big leaps.

We live and learn, audio interfaces are a minefield when you consider that you need ASIO, MIDI, phantom 48V  (MIC) and working at 48Khz on 24bit as standard really, maybe with 2 headphone monitoring if you collaborate or record anyone.    

I needed mix monitoring for tracking with 2 headphone monitoring and SPDIF the min. I really want 8 in/out which really did limit my options when you talking about price given at the time the cheapest  8 port i think was Scarllet at £700 UK pounds compared to the Behringer i got for £250 in sale with a 30 day return and its been solid for yrs 

[John Vere]

@Lord Tim    Yes Word clock sync is important but I guess I should have been more clear. I was refering to overdubbed audio tracks being out of sync not word clock.

Below is a screens shot of a Loopback test I did a few years ago. It was a long thread in the old Cakewalk forum and many of us tested our audio interfaces. We used ASIO and then any of the other modes that were available. A lot of us had more than one audio interface. The unscientific conclusion was the same for most everyone. ASIO was always within a few samples of being perfectly in sync. Notice the Blue track. 

All other Modes drifted and were usually late by very noticeable amounts. Those amounts varied from Interface to interface. The unscientific reason for that is those driver modes do not report latency to Cakewalk correctly. Cakewalk has to guess. Take note that the drift amount did not change with Buffer settings. 

This particular one is a Card Deluxe PCI interface ( still working)  performed the least favorable under WDM mode. ( the Green track)  Take note that a few people tested asio4all and it  seemed to always match WDM mode, which makes perfect sense.  Asio4all is really WDM mode.  

WASAPI mode ( Purple track)  most certainly tried hard to be acceptable.  This was WASAPI shared mode as the interfaces I tried do not support  WASAPI Exclusive Mode. WASAPI exclusive only seems to work with On Board audio.

That's why it's a total waist of money to purchase an audio interface that doesn't use ASIO. You might have even worse performance than using a Realtek card. All you are getting is a overpriced audio adaptor box. I can probably get better results using a small mixer, the 1/8" green jack and WASAPI Exclusive driver Mode. 

 

 

For those who are curious here's how you perform a loopback test. 

Using a short patch cable take an output and patch it back to an input. Like the project shown insert SI drums and a few midi kick or snare hits. Freeze it to create the audio track. 

Now create a few audio tracks and select the input correctly. DO NOT TURN ON INPUT ECHO. and record the loopback. Now if you what to you can switch to different modes like I did here. Change the time ruler to Samples or Milliseconds and zoom way in. You can use Aim Assist too. 

This is a way to calculate offset if you do not have an ASIO interface. You can then apply the amount it was out in sync and caching in the offset box. 

While you have the Loopback connected download and run this RTL Utility app which will test your Audio interfaces accuracy for reported latency.  It's lot's of fun. You can quickly try different settings and see what's up. 

https://oblique-audio.com/rtl-utility.php  

[Lord Tim]

I remember these tests, really well done and very informative!

I think the bottom line that we're all in agreeance on is that yes, with a bit of screwing around you can probably get a cheap card to kind of work to a point (depending on the interface - some are much worse than others), but when good card with solid ASIO drivers is under $150, why would you even bother with anything else? Just get the thing that will work with no problems and get on with making music rather than troubleshooting. Life is too short for entirely avoidable workarounds.

[Starship Krupa]

On 5/14/2023 at 7:45 AM, John Vere said:

The above mentioned M track solo apparently does not have an ASIO driver either so another pointless purchase. 

Where did you get that information from, John? I found a couple of reviews that specifically praise the M-Track Solo for having an ASIO driver: https://higherhz.com/m-audio-m-track-solo-review/ and https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/m-audio-m-track-solo-duo

I was surprised to find it, because like so many of us, my "price of admission" level was stuck around $100 for reputable interfaces. But they somehow managed to get the cost down a rung, and if the reviews are to be believed, the main sacrifice was in using a plastic case rather than a metal one.