RECORDINGS -> Recording audio from DS to your computer...

[PattyRhodes]

I thought it would be cool if the mod could sticky or make an announcement on ways to transfer data, .sav files, and recording actual songs from your DS 10. I read somewhere that micheal or dominator (can't remember) uses a portable recorder to make MP3s and such. I'm really interested in seeing what the Big Timers do on the hardware side of things.

[Decktonic]

I have been wondering about recording myself. Currently I have a cheap stereo to stereo cable that I plug into my laptop's line-in, and I use Audacity to record... but things don't always sound very good, and if I try to normalize or amplify the result, they just sound worse. I'd like to know what I can do to get a really crisp, clean sound when I record.

[DS-10 Dominator]

Recording software

Audacity is free open source software. You can also batch convert to mp3 with it, but you need to download the LAME mp3 encoder separately (also free). http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

To your computer's line-in

The first thing you can try is using a minijack to minjack cable from your DS headphone's output to your computer/laptop's line-in. The minijack cable has to be stereo, but they usually are. Also your computer's line-input has to be stereo. The main problem that can occur in this case is NOISE. Consumer line-inputs are often pretty noisy/hissy. There's not much you can do about this 'low signal to noise ratio' except turning your DS volume higher, but even then there can be strange buzzes/noises/hisses in you signal.

(You probably can't use your microphone input, since it's mono and not probably powerful enough.)

Via an audio mixer to your computers line-in

You can try to run your DS audio through a cheap audio mixer. It will boost your signal, plus you can use the equalizer to boost frequencies. But this won't necessarily solve the problems of hiss and noise, especially in the softer parts of your recordings, because you are still using your (often badly sounding) computer line-input.



You'll need a mini-stereo-jack (DS HEADPHONES OUT) to 2 x RCA or 2 x jack (MIXER LINE IN) cable. And then 2 x RCA or 2 x jack (MIXER LINE-OUT) to a mini-stero-jack (COMPUTER LINE-IN).

This thing will surely come in handy when you're going to play live shows.

(A mixer like this also features phantom power, but you can't use that on your DS headphones out signal.. or on any unbalanced signal. Phantom Power is specifically made to power certain types of microphones.)

To a usb/firewire interface

A better solution is to buy a decent usb/firewire interface. This way you bypass your computer line-input and can boost your signal.


http://www.thomann.de/gb/alesis_multimix_4usb.htm

To an external (memory card) recorder

A very reliable (and portable) solution. Check out M-audio Microtrack II, Zoom H2, etc

[DS-10 Dominator]

I think mchl nrvs uses the Samsom Zoom H2

http://www.thomann.de/de/zoom_h2.htm

[DS-10 Dominator]

M-audio has a cheaper one (without mics)

Microtrack II



http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrackII.html

[ubey]

great post!

before i used to use a korg micro br. such a lovely mobile recording option. a little heavy on batteries but still a lovely piece of hardware with a tonne of quality options. i do need to get it shipped to me at some stage. oh, the kaos pad too! XY CHAOS!

used a samson usb mic a few years back for some vox recordings. it is now packed away in storage. it was ok but the cable aways produced a crazy 10k hum in the mix. so. bloody. annoying. you could spike it out but it is still not the same. was a good mic for the price though. was quite decent with a good quality nylon acoustic gat too.

these days i have to use line in on le crappy computer for ds-10 stuff. it is a shame but i have to travel light

[DS-10 Dominator]

It's not a shame to use your computer's line-in. There are quite good ones, I think my Macbook's line in isn't that noisy...

[PattyRhodes]

Back in the day Creative made a sound card called the SOUND Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum. It came with an awesome interface you installed below your CD/DVD drive. It allowed you to run MiDi, Red/White cables, even Guitar Pickups into your computer. I plugged my DS into it, and was able to record crystal clear. The sound card looks like this.

17775.png (70.61 KiB) Viewed 21999 times

[ChrisLody]

I use an Maudio fasttrack pro for all of my in and out duties. It has served me well. It does audio and midi, plus it has great control for monitors and headphones.

Fasttrack pro.jpg (99.9 KiB) Viewed 21997 times

[DS-10 Dominator]

I have a Presonus Firebox myself. Quite satisfied with it. The pre-amps aren't too great, boosting a soft recording results in some hiss.

[HarleyLikesMusic]

This is the beast that i use, and it is EXTREMELY cheap

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UCA202.aspx

Very simple 1 in 1 out usb interface but it does the job.
If you have a mixer you can put the in and outs to your mixers tape in and tape out and youd have your own small studio

Also along side the behringer uca202 i use a bit of software called ASIO4ALL
http://www.asio4all.com/
It makes whatever soundcard your using work like an asio sound card, i get hardley any latency at all.
Ive recorded my ds this way, my korg emx, vocals, my ukulele and theyve all turned out fine.
Very inexpensive.
Hope this helps !
Harley

[WMRhapsodies]

Great, useful post of DS10 Dominator, it would help me a lot months ago...I've checked dozens of webs and stores to figure out what u have summed up there!

I wanted to record on an old MacBook whit no audio line-in. Finally I got a cheap Behringer UCA222 usb interface (almost identical to the one Harley shows there...I think I chose that other one because it's...red! ). Even on the iMac records sound crisper a not have to care about volume level is a plus.

I also wanted a little mixer and finally get an Edirol M10 DX mixer at a truly bargain prize (u still can find it in Ebay at 125 dollars). Is a full digital mixer with lots of in and outs for its size-it even runs on batteries-, basic FX as reverbs and echos, finalize effects (compressors/limiters) and a function called Control Room that automatically compensates distorsion due to room acoustics...I'm new to this all music stuff so I cannnot judge ir propely i guess, but I think I was lucky since my intention was to get rid of computer software as far as possible.

[BarataSound]

After recording through the line in on a pc, I visited my friends studio and they had a Rooster valve preamp for recording purposes... Man, that sounded so good. DS-10 has an incredible sound when it goes through something like that. It sounds like butter, or hifi butter, to be exact. Then after that experience, going back to recording through the line in just left me wanting more.

I asked around and came up with a more of a budget solution, which is the Mindprint En Voice mk2. It is a quiet preamp, which is a good thing, compressor (a bit meh), eq (with sweepable mids), it has a decent sounding tube and most importantly it has a digital out to record with. I am happy.

An even cheaper option to get a decent sound could to get any preamp with a spdif out, and a USB dongle that converts the spdif to usb. But, before getting one, ask around and write the following sentence to google: site:gearslutz.com "INSERT NAME OF THE PRODUCT TO BE BOUGHT". You will find out if the product has a good rep or not. Be aware, peeps in there buy audio products that cost much more than many cars. So, don't get dicouraged, if they do not think your Fiat Mini is as good as their Ferrari.

There's nothing wrong with recording through line in, especially if it's a good one. Mine just destroyed the lovely frequencies that I heard live using the ds10.

[DS-10 Dominator]

I think a compressor is a bit senseless on DS-10 output, because you're only compressing the master channel that way. You can't make the bassline or any other sound fatter separately. You will only be destroying the dynamics of your song. And on top of that DS-10 sounds are already compressed and limited heavily when played loud, that's why there is no meter that can go in the red (digital clipping) in DS-10 and why the output looks so full if you see it in a waveform.

But if anyone can prove me wrong than upload a comparison .

[TeenBeat]

Hey guys,

So i got all my gear to record stuff. I got a little M-Audio Fast track, a jack to jack cable and am running the fast track to my mac via usb. Seems i got it all set to go but now when hit record in Audacity, I get this error:

Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate. I've checked them, the playback and recording device is set to my Fast Track using the stereo channel and the sample rate is at the default 44100 Hz.

Anything I'm missing here?

[Decktonic]

Hey everyone I just wanted to mention that since I last said that things didn't sound good when I normalized my tracks, I went back and tried mastering them in Audacity. I used equalizers (usually Columbia 78, but sometimes others depending on the song) and was able to get things to sound "warmer." At least, the edgy pitches that sounded jarring at full volume were gone. So the EP that I released on my Bandcamp page is recorded as such:

- Generic male-to-male stereo cable
- Connected to "line-in" on Macbook Pro
- Recorded with Audacity
- EQ effect applied... usually "Columbia 78," but in a couple cases "acoustic" or "Decca Micro"
- Normalized to -0.3 DB
- Export!

[DS-10 Dominator]

Check this out:
Swissonic MDR-2
75euro/dollar

Swissonic MDR-2 Mobile Digital Audio Recorder - 44.1kHz WAV/mp3 stereo recorder with built-in 128Mb flash memory (up to 2 hours of mp3 recording). Card slot for SD cards (16Mb-2Gb) or SDHC cards (4Gb). Built-in stereo condenser microphone plus 2x 1/4" jack inputs for external mic's or guitar and line signals. 1x 1/8" jack headphone output, 1x 1/8" jack line output, integrated mini speaker (0.2watts/8ohm), USB 2.0 interface. Recording formats: WAV (8/11, 16/22, 32/44.1kHz) and mp3 (128kbps). Playback formats: WAV (16,32 and 44.1kHz) and mp3 (32-320kbps). Frequency range: 20Hz-20kHz. Requires 2x AA batteries (for up to 5 hours of recording or 6 hours of playback with headphones). Includes external stereo mic and USB cable. Optional USB DC adaptor (5V) available. Compatible with Windows (XP and Vista) and Mac OSX. Headphones not included. Dimensions: 155 x 85 x 30mm. Weight: 200g. Colour: Silver.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/swissonic_mdr2.htm
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2998285

[DS-10 Dominator]

This is fucking awesome too

Zi8: http://store.kodak.com/store/ekconsus/e ... .156585800

1080P video + Stereo Line In at 179 dollars





zi8 vs Flip discussion: http://discuss.gdgt.com/kodak/zi8/gener ... Ultra-HD-/

Think I'm going to buy this, to make some tutorial vids finally .

[BarataSound]

I think a compressor is a bit senseless on DS-10 output, because you're only compressing the master channel that way. You can't make the bassline or any other sound fatter separately. You will only be destroying the dynamics of your song. And on top of that DS-10 sounds are already compressed and limited heavily when played loud, that's why there is no meter that can go in the red (digital clipping) in DS-10 and why the output looks so full if you see it in a waveform.

But if anyone can prove me wrong than upload a comparison .

Compressors and eqs are probably the hardest thing for me in mixing, and I haven't mastered them yet, but here's a few clips. I over did it a LOT to prove a point, and I wouldn't mix it like this. The other file has no compression and I put the other through a Rocket VST compressor, which is one of my favourites.

On the non-compressed one the beginning of the song is more quiet, and when the beat comes in the the song becomes louder. On the compressed one, the song stays as loud as it is going to get from the beginning on out. So, the compressor makes the quiet parts of the songs more distinguishable and audible. The sounds become loud and quiet at the same time. This is how compressors are often used, especially with vocals.

You are right in that many times it will not help and that the the dynamics will get lost sometimes. That is something that is happening in music today all over. Check out any new Metallica song, it looks like one giant tube! There are a lot of people who are dead set against it, but I think it is just the way it is.

[soultron]

I can see the point in using compression, it can be used to normalize the sound pretty well.
I'm usually eq-ing to a similar end.