I've searched the archives and found some great answers to some of my questions, but here are some I haven't found a clear answer to. Perhaps someone can address them.
1. My new computer came with a SB Audigy 2 sound card. I know everyone says that this card is really for gaming, not high-quality music recording. But why is that? In layman's terms, what are the specific drawbacks of this card? I've looked through the technical specifications, but I'm not sure I know what I'm looking for. I know it's only got a miniplug input for a microphone, and that might be a problem. But beyond that, I'm looking for specific reasons to upgrade to a better card.
FYI: I plan to record myself playing multiple acoustic bluegrass instruments one
2. Still on the Audigy: I have plugged a number of microphones into the mic in jack -- a couple of condensers (AKG C1000S, AT 822), which I suspected wouldn't work without a pre-amp, but also my
Shure Beta 57A, which is a dynamic mic. I cannot get any signal at all into my computer. I have read the manual and adjusted settings in my Surround Mixer, but nothing. My line in jacks work fine; it's only the mic in I'm getting no signal from. Any ideas?
3. I'm considering the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 as a sound card upgrade, because it's not too expensive ($149 at Musicians' Friend) and people on this board seem to like it. But it doesn't come with any kind of breakout box -- just a few cables hanging off the card in the back of the computer, which seems inconvenient. I've just ordered a
Behringer Eurorack UB1202 Mixer. Can I simply keep the mixer connected to the sound card and have it function in effect as the breakout box?
I apologize for all these rookie questions. Thanks for any help you can offer.
Paul S.
