Alright, so here is the deal. I really want to start recording my mixes from my turntables/mixer and also stream live (on livestream). First of all, I am on a PC which means my line in (which is what I need to get the mixes from my mixer to the computer/audacity) is a mono line in. I need a stereo line in to record basically anything. I was referred to a thread on sound cards which is I guess what I need, and since I don’t have any money really, I was just going to buy a basic Behringer UCA 202. Does anyone know if this will work? I am plugging in RCA cables from my booth monitor output from my mixer to the line in on this device, and I guess into the computer to record mixes. Has anyone tried this?
Also for livestream, the way people stream music is that any sound or pictures on your desktop gets automatically streamed live. So, if I had this device, would it be possible to get the sound to transfer to my computer instantly. Like if I plugged in headphones I would be able to hear myself?
Actually, it’s probably worse than that. Most Windows Laptops have a mono microphone in which is easily overloaded and can damage equipment connected to it. So yes, in that case, any Stereo Line-In USB adapter will probably work.
You might create some interesting problems if you try to use Audacity and LiveStream at the same time. There are only so many sound management channels in a PC (two), and people trying to do multiple pathways find it very difficult. This is the Skype syndrome.
You will almost certainly run into a delay problem when you’re producing your work. If you use a USB sound device, the sound in the headphones could be seriously later than reality. You won’t be able to talk into a microphone and listen at the same time.
So you buy one of the simple USB devices and tell Windows to pay attention to it in the Windows Control Panels. Also in the control panels, arrange it so you can hear the performance “on the desktop” and we assume that’s the show that will go out to the internet connection.
That’s it. If you launch Audacity in the middle of all that, it will most likely interrupt one of the pathways and damage the show, or damage the headphone feed. Maybe not and you should try it, but Audacity is pretty simple and likes running on a very simple machine.
Woops, yeah I wanted to record in Audacity, as that is sort of the standard when recording mixes I have noticed. I’m going to buy this USB controller right now, and thanks for the tips about overloading my computer. Damn this forum is helpful… thanks again!
I have one of these - excellent value for money. It’s not technically the highest specification device in the world and there are no bells or whistles, but it works really well and is very inexpensive.
Monitor > UCA202 with stereo RCA cables.
UCA202 > computer with USB cable.
UCA202 or mixer output to amplifier for monitoring. It’s nice if your amp has more than one pair of inputs so that you can switch from one to the other.
This is one way that I use mine and it works well.
I’m not sure what you mean here. Do you mean that you want to broadcast live to the Internet? http://www.livestream.com/ or do you mean that you want to record streaming audio that is playing on your computer? (for example, recording the audio from a YouTube video).
The UCA202 also has a headphone socket for monitoring.
I infer they want to podcast live and record it in Audacity. Maybe not.
A lot of people produce the show and record it in Audacity, edit it if needed, and then podcast the exported WAV file hours later. They never have both services running at the same time.
