Karaoke Forums

I just got a new laptop. (finally.... sheesh!!)

Anywho, I mainly got it for recording.

I got the Dell Inspiron 1505, with a few different options than the basic model.

I went with WinXP, and with that option, I couldn't upgrade the soundcard. (and had to do some registry editing to be able to use a mixer with headphones and a mic)  :madgo:  I would have liked to have pulled it out of the box and started singing away, but it wasn't meant to be;)

So, through a friend's suggestion, I have an external sound card on the way. Anyone have any experience recording with this kind of setup? Actually, the sound card it came with is putting out somewhat decent mixes, but a bit noisy.

This is the one I have on the way:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-Bla ... B000095IMS

My friend mentioned that he had heard it talked about here before. But my search is not working. (or... my mind isn't... it's monday, gimme a break)  :D

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

using this sound card with an external mixer and using the software that comes with the soundblaster is as simple as 1 click recording.  connect the USB soundcard to your PC... install drivers and software that comes with it.  connect RCA cables to Line Out on the soundcard and connect other end to a channel on your mixing board... run RCA cables from Record out (or tape out- whatever signal out of your mixing board) and connect other end to Line IN on the soundcard... the audio plays through the channel on your mixing board and you can mix your vocals through the mixer as well (or how ever you have your mics set up).  
Open the media player that is installed with the soundblaster software and go into options and set it to record from the line in on your soundcard.  you can then start the karaoke track (using whatever mp3G software you use toplay it on your PC) and then click on the record button in the soundblaster media player.  most karaoke tracks have a few seconds of silence during the lead in so you should have time to click play then click record. and then prepare to sing.  when you are done recording and click stop it will open a menu allowing you to save the raw track wherever you want on your PC...

good luck and feel free to ask any questions... I use the same card and software for recording all of my songs and it works wonderfully... basically do the main music/vocals mix on the external mixer and simply use the PC to record... takes just a little bit of messing with to get the sound mix the way you like but it shouldn't take long at all...  I am also just down the road from ya and I DO make housecalls... laters


tig

Darn, you lost me.... maybe you best make the housecall.  :wink:

Well..... I have a SMALL mixer. (did I forget to mention that?) It's a, hmmm, uhhh..... Behringer something or other. I think it's called a UB502. (i'm not home, so I can't look at it)

But, my point being, I only use it for my mic. I rip my music MP3 to my comp and place it in CEP, then record my bare vocal to a seperate track and add effects with CEP, then mix it.

I guess I could always use my newer Behringer Mixer (good lord, I don't recall what it's called either,  Lol) Lemme do some googlin' ..... brb.....

Okay, that wasn't so awfully hard to do:)

My one I use to "sing" at home is a PMH2000 Europower. (sounding pretty pro talking like that, aren't I?)  :D The one I use on my computer to record is a UB502 Eurorack. Part of the reason (the big reason) I got my laptop is so I CAN record. My music room is too open and I never have the privacy to record. So, now that I'm portable, I sure don't want to be lugging my bigger mixer around when I want to record;)

But I'm gonna copy what ya said.... and read over it carefully. I'm sure there's info there I can use. Lemme see if I can speak plain english... this is how mine is hooked up: Mic in the mic-hole, naturally:) ..... (the XLR jack).... my "main out" from the mixer goes into my sound card (would be "line in", but the laptop currently only has "mic in").... "tape in" is ran from the mixer to my headphone input on the comp.... and my headphones are plugged into the mixer.

Did that tell you anything at all? Probably not. But that's how I record. I'm just hoping I can get a little better sound from the external card, as I wanted this mainly for recording vocals and guitar, not karaoke. I don't need any background noise.

Thanks Michael.... hope all is well with ya, it's been a while.  :hug:

And thanks for the offer.... I just might need your help. (dunno if I have your new phone# since you moved, but I have your email... and there's PM's)  :wave:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Here Charmin, this is the thread where Matt was talking about how much he likes the Sound Blaster MP3   http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9825

What Tig says is right. I think he's talking about recording with the software that's included, not Cool Edit Pro.  The only question I've heard concern over is whether there will be too much latency (delay) when recording, like with CEP.  This model isn't ASIO2 compliant.  But for the price, it's worth a try.

Dang Odie, you coulda linked it, so I could just *click*, rather than copy and paste.

(wow, I'm getting lazy.... )  :no:

Thanks, I'll go read it. I'm sure it's gonna be fine for me. I'd just like to hear some yay's (hopefully no nay's, Lol) from people who have/have had one.


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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Hmmmmmmm......... I guess I coulda just read there and saved a thread.  :drunk:

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I have experienced no delay while recording using the device with the software provided... this is mostly for 1 button recording without doing any kind of mastering afterwards i.e. adding effects to vocals etc... I do the sound mix through the external mixer (vocals/music) and any effects are added during the live singing process (basic echo mostly)...  the key is to get a good music/vocal mix before going back into the PC for recording...

tig

One problem with laptop sound cards is they are noisy. They have horrible filters.

Dells have an additional problem in that the ground pin on the plug for the power supply picks up all kinds of noise. Even with an external sooundcard, you will get noise through the ground.

On my Dells, I always use one of those ground adapter plugs to get rid of the noise. The problem is, you don't have a ground, so you could have a problem with spikes.

The Dells will run pretty clean sound on the battery...really bad with the power supply with ground.

That's excellent information to know. I'll make sure it's charged up so I can record with it running on it's battery. Thanks Dennis.

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Tig, I would LOVE to be able to just record live.... if I could ever get set up to do it that way. Maybe someday I will.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

I guess this is the type of setup i will also need. I started my karaoke pc earlier this year. I built a dedicated PC and a Behringer 1002FX setup in my living room. Although this setup worked i wanted to go portable. So I have this extra laptop but for some reason i hooked up the mixer to the mic input and i dont get sound from my mic. I noticed that on my PC i used the LINE IN input. So I guess i would need an external USB soundcard to get my laptop to work with my mixer. Alternative im looking at is sell my Behringer 1002FX mixer and get the M-audio Fast Track Pro to achieve the minimum setup and hopefully better sound quality? What's your take on this? which setup should i go for?

Actually, if it's a Dell laptop you have, there are some changes you can make in the registry and it'll fix the mic problem. I had to do the same. If you want, I can PM you the info. I thought I was had, that I had bought a $1200 piece of junk and wouldn't be able to record..... but this fixed it.

I'm not getting as clean of a recording as I do on my desktop, but it's recording fine now, and I can hear myself through the headphones. And I have a small mixer run into it, same as what it sounds like you have.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Actually, now that I've read YOUR thread, I don't think we're having the same issue. I record using headphones, and my problem was that the sound wouldn't go there. It would record my voice, I just couldn't hear it until playback. (and.... that was not good)  LMAO

Sounds like you're just having a mic issue. My bad, shoulda read more before saying "yeah, me too".

However, I did just get an external sound card ordered for only $25 (incl. shipping) from Ebay..... and I've heard from a few people that they are decent. I can't say for sure, haven't gotten mine yet- so I can't give a personal opinion on it yet, but I should have it soon.


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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

No you're right i dont hear the playback. I ran the mic test on windows and it works there just fine. sure let me try that registry hack. thanks

what kind of external soundcard did you get?

This is not going to be helpful to anyone who already bought a computer for recording purposes but, DON'T BUY A COMPUTER FOR RECORDING PURPOSES.  Use a digital multi-track recorder.  You can get a fairly nice one for arround $300.00 new and some of the junkier ones (which are still head and shoulders above a computer) for a lot less.  These things have real mic inputs, mixers attached, and are intended just for recording.  No operating system over-head no fan noise.  Easier, better faster and more stable.

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Okay, who took my pants?

NOW you tell me.  :wink:

I wanted something that would be nice and portable. I'm known to go play my guitar in the field, down by the river, sitting on back of my truck, etc.  :D

I want to be able to record in any room I wish, and even other places besides my home. It's kinda nice actually, my small mixer fits in my laptop bag I got (cause I got the backpack version) and I can pack it around with me. (Mic stand, not quite so portable, Lol)  If I'm ever where I don't have electricity, I can go without the mixer and just use a mic. Being independent of electricity is what I was really looking for. Like I said, I didn't get this so much for karaoke, as for acoustic recordings. (and broadband internet, of course)

A friend of mine has a small MP3 recorder, and I've used that. Pretty decent recordings actually, for such a tiny little thing. And my sister has a pretty complex one she got for about $600 that is pretty nice. But, again, I prefer the laptop. I can get better sound & mixes. Sometimes I record more than one instrument, and I do some recordings with melody + harmony vocals... and CEP works great for that. If it was an MP3 recorder that you could do layering (or whatever they'd call it) then I guess it would work too. Assuming it had effects.

But, honestly, I do have my eye on an MP3 recorder too, for other reasons. There are places that one of those would be MUCH more convenient than setting up a laptop. (again, if it was battery operated)

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Okay, I'll PM you and insert the instructions to what I did. This is assuming you have an Inspiron...

Give me about 5 seconds to get it pasted, and I'll get it to you:)

If you're having the same issue I did, this should work.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

..... That is exactly what happened to me. I must have done that stupid test 100 times thinking I did it wrong. When I did the registry editing, it all fell into place, and was so simple.... it seemed silly:)

(great, I posted again, so give me 10 seconds rather than 5)  :D

And, forgot to answer your question:



Click the link I placed in my very first post here, that's the one. They have a few on Ebay. Paid $15, plus about $10 shipping. (if I recall right) Actually, my friend Don found it for me and got me all excited:) So it's on the way, should have it in the next day or so. Once I try it out, I can give ya an opinion on it if you want?
(not that I'm a pro at testing things out, but I know when something improves sound... )

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

ahh nice, i was looking at the same external sound card on ebay. Im trying to decide now if i should use my behringer 1002 FX + external soundcard or buy a M-audio Fast track pro. Someone wants to convince which setup is better? thanks

Are you using this for live recording, or using a software program to mix?

Cause I use a small Behringer mixer to input my vocal (i'll be using it with the new external sound card)... then I add my effects AFTER I've laid my vocals.

My small mixer doesn't have effects, but I don't want/need them added as I sing. I much prefer to mix them in.

So, I guess what I'm saying is........ I can't answer that last question.  :D

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥