I recently bought a Behringher Xenyx 1204 USB mixer, along with some Alesis M1Active 320USB Studio Monitors.
The monitors are simply connected through USB slot, and the mixer is connected via a UCA200 Interface through another USB slot.
PROBLEM
When I try to record into Audacity, the Input Meter goes Red, although my mixer says I’m NOT clipping, the recorded guitar is also extremely quiet and distorted. I’d try connect the mixer and monitors differently, but I’m on a tiny budget, and using a laptop, so I can’t…
The guitar is connected to the mixer via a line in, and well… I can’t think of any idea why this is happening, And also, any ideas how I can link audacity to my mixer, so that if i turn the master volume of the mixer down the volume of audacity will go down, along with faders etc…
The input meter is supposed to go red - but not all of it.
The input meter is red and the playback meter is green.
The USB sdaptor should be connected to the “Tape Out” on the desk - this is a parallel output to the main out.
You should be getting a level in Audacity of about -6dB on the recording meter when you play loudly. (this allows a little overhead for those extra loud notes).
When you connect your guitar to the mixing desk, make sure that the “trim” level is turned all the way down.
Set the meters on the mixing desk to show the “pre-fade level” and gradually turn up the trim control so that you have a good signal that is not distorted. (Do you have any headphones that you can use to monitor directly from the mixing desk?)
When you have the trim set correctly, make sure that the main volume control is all the way down, and switch the mixer meters to show the normal (mix) level.
Open Audacity and click on the recording meter (to activate it)
As you increase the level on the channel level and the main (mix) slider, you should notice that the levels go up on both the Mixing desk and the Audacity recording meters.
The sound monitored through headphones on the mixer should sound clean.
If the meters in Audacity go up very rapidly and hit the 0dB mark while the signal on the mixer is still low, then something is wrong.
Check the above and let us know the situation.
Now I could just pretend it’s all fine now and I followed what you said, but I’ll be honest.
I had the wires connecting the UCA200 the wrong way round…
Laugh all you want, It works fine now, so hopefully I can show some music off and get opinions from musicians like myself,
I posted this in another thread, but I figured I’d try as many spots as possible to get the best answer.
I just bought a Behringer Xenyx 1204 (w/UCA200) yesterday with the UCA200, and before I hook anything up, I want to know the best way to connect everything.
I monitor very simple computer speakers (Logitech X-140s). They have a stereo 1/8" jack.
I assume I plug my mic, synth sound source, bass, guitar, etc., into an INPUT Channel.
The UCA200 is connected to my laptop via the USB (obviously)
Now, … here’s the $64,000 question - How do I go OUT to the UCA200 and how does the UCA200 connect to the monitors?
Can I just be connected to it via the RCA cables and the CD/Tape Inputs/Outputs? Then to my monitors via the PHONES output on the 1204. That seems to be the most simple connection, but what will that do to the signal input to the computer and the output to the monitor speakers.
The tiny instruction manual seems to suggest routing from the 1204 to the UCA200, and then STRAIGHT FROM THE UCA200 to my monitors. Does that make sense? Will that cause latency issues?
Do I route anything back into the 1204 then go from the 1204 to my monitors?
Double-posting is not nice. It just wastes our time. Starting a new thread is also a good idea rather than resurrecting an old one.
Yes, you connect your sound sources to inputs on the mixer.
When you say “out to the UCA200” do you mean output from the mixer or output from the computer?
The answers to the rest of your questions depend on what you want to do. Do you want to overdub (record new stuff while listening to previously-recorded stuff)?
Can someone please tell me why my turntable plays for about 30 or 40 seconds and then ejects??? I am ready to drop kick it all out the front door. It plays and it records while its playing but it just keeps stopping. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
I recently moved from PC to Mac.No problems with Audacity. Easy recording thru USB turntable. Problems occurs after export
iTunes takes over and after burning a CD on WAV format cannot read on a normal audio device (in my car for ex.) Have loaded Toast Titanium for a change but same results. Anyone can explain why I cant read them CD’s , They do work beautifully on a computer either Mac or PC ,Many thanks for any help
You need to specify “audio CD” when you are burning the CD, otherwise you will most likely get a “data CD” which are not compatible with most CD players. I don’t use Macs so I can’t give specifics. You can probably work it out now that you know what you are looking for, but if you get stuck try posting in the Mac section of the forum (there is one Mac section for Audacity 1.2.x and another for Audacity 1.3.x - go to the “Board Index” link near to top of this page for a list of forum sections).
On iTunes when you click on the burn cd button you should get a popup menu… select audio cd.
Also try burning the CD at a speed lower than the maximum… lets say… 8x. In the past I had some conventional cd players which had some trouble reading CDs which were burn at high speeds… Since then I’ve been burning audio cds at 8x or 16x at most.
I rarely burn an audio cd nowadays though… I have usb/mp3 support on the car so I usually just have a 16GB usb pen with mp3 on the car. Also got an mp3 portable player, so no more portable cd player… I only listen to audio cds at home…
I haven’t got myself yet a good pair of speakers… I actually have a pair of computer speakers (creative’s gigaworks T40) in the living room where my cd player (a marantz cd5001) is. Creative’s gigaworks line of speakers are actually not bad for what they cost (I bought this T40 because I already owned a pair of T20 for my PC and I was very pleased).
When I want to listen to music in better sound quality I usually prefer my headphones (Senn HD595 (120ohm version) if you’re curious about it ).
One of the producers in the Commercial Division is still using his Hafler DH-200 amplifier. His power switch failed and I replaced it. He wanted to pay me for it and I told him not to worry about it. It was the high point of my week.
).