looking for advice

[the_n_freak]

i tried searching through these posts but couldn't quite find what i was looking for, so i figured i'd ask for some help.

I've decided to get into beatmaking, more or less as a hobby, so i'm new to this. i've just ordered a surround sound system, and an m-audio axiom 49. i'll be running all of this with my laptop. now here's my question:

what would be the best way to hook up my laptop to my surround sound reciever to get the best quality sound? i've currently got a $5 1/8" jack to RCA converter cable, but i'm sure there's a way to get better sound. do they make a pc bus card with RCA outs or a USB soundcard with RCA outs? i haven't found anything like that anywhere. if you have any suggestions i would appreciate it.


on a side note: a friend of mine is looking to do some pre-production recording, as he calls it, to get a feel for what he would sound like over some instrumentals or whatever. all he had was a simple microphone plugged into the mic jack of his laptop. we recorded him using adobe audition, and it sounded great while he was recording, but when we played it back over top of the instrumental, it sounded off beat as fuck. i'm thinking that either the laptop soundcard is giving us a delay, or the fact that it was a cheap mic, or both. any suggestions on how to resolve this issue without dropping an assload of cash? he's not looking to build a studio, just to be able to record himself for the sake of hearing it played back.

sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.

 

[Sick Wid It]

Somebody probably makes a USB audio interface with RCA jacks on it but I don't have any recommendations off-hand. Maybe someone else here has more information about that they can share.

As far as your friends recordings being off-beat, that's a latency issue. The way to fix it is by getting an audio interface that's low-latency. I don't use laptops for recording but I think Heresy or Jayda has so they might be able to suggest something. I'm a fan of M-Audio so I'd probably have a look at the USB interfaces they've got.

 

[HERESY]

What do you plan on using to record and mix the music? If your computer application is not designed to mix in surround you're wasting your time. Does your surround speaker receiver have an option to take a stereo signal and output the same signal? If so go that route but make sure the cables are balanced.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Revolution51-main.html (5.1 audio card.)

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.list&ID=pciinterfaces

(other interfaces.)

 

[the_n_freak]

i guess my main concern was that since i have a laptop for the time being, i was looking for something that wasn't a pci soundcard for a tower, but either usb or something that could easily connect with my laptop. it seems like a simple concept but like i said i can't seem to find anything. thank you heresy and sick wid it for your suggestions.

 

[the_n_freak]

i think perhaps this could work:

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

but i'm not sure if i have the option of a digital optical input or not, which seems to be the prerequisite for surround sound. if there were a device like this which offered surround sound through a set of RCA outputs that would be exactly what i had in mind. again thanks for the suggestions, and if anyone else knows of anything that would work or has gone this same route, please reply.

 

[Lil Lane]

Xitel makes exactly what you're looking for:

For connecting your laptop to your stereo, their Hi-Fi link has the USB/RCA interface you need, and it sounds pretty good:

Xitel HiFi Link

If you're looking for an even better connection (almost zero hiss), try their professional model:

Xitel HiFi Pro Link

Finally, for your friend's recording needs, I would skip using the mic jack of your laptop. The sound quality isn't great, and you can experience those latency issues. Xitel's inport is another USB-based device, this time using an RCA input. Great for recording from a stereo -- I record my vinyl onto my laptop this way, and the sound quality is great:

Xitel INport

Hope this helps!

 

[the_n_freak]

that HiFi Pro looks pretty fuckin clutch man, thanks. i'm gonna look into that one further. kinda pricy, but i'm sure it'd be a good investment.

 

[HERESY]

i think perhaps this could work:

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

but i'm not sure if i have the option of a digital optical input or not, which seems to be the prerequisite for surround sound. if there were a device like this which offered surround sound through a set of RCA outputs that would be exactly what i had in mind. again thanks for the suggestions, and if anyone else knows of anything that would work or has gone this same route, please reply.

stereo analog/optical digital input (1/8")

TOSlink optical digital output allows AC-3 and DTS pass-through

Again, what program are you using to record and mix the music you plan on making? If your program does NOT support 5.1 mixing your 5.1 setup is virtually useless.

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMOBILEPRE

 

[the_n_freak]

i'm most likely not going to do much recording or mixing in surround, maybe the occasional experiment or two. i mostly want the surround feature for watching movies off the laptop. but as far as software goes it looks like i'm gonna be using adobe audition 2.0 and/or sony acid pro 6. but i think doing music in surround would be a cool experience, i just wanna keep my options open. and thanks for the link, i almost mistook it for a sig. looks like some good equipment.

 

[BOOBOO619]

That "Xitel HiFi Pro Link" looks really dope. So it basically acts as a USB Soundcard as well then, aside from just being a connecting device?




Other than that, I would also recommend using an "ASIO" driver for your soundcard to acheive much less latency within your music making host, Adobe Audition or whatever your doing with audio and software. Download the "ASIO4ALL" driver off asio4all.com

 

[Carnage187]

I heard usb audio interfaces have more latency problems then firewire...if your laptop has firewire, i'll go with a firewire interface. Do you really need a cardbus solution?

 

[the_n_freak]

firewire is certainly an option that i have availiable. cardbus is not a necessity, i was just looking for whatever would solve the problem, that's all. i've recieved a lot of great suggestions, thanks to everyone that replied.

 

[BOOBOO619]

How you like that Axiom 49 ? :classic:

 

[the_n_freak]

the axiom 49 is pretty nice. as far as my experience goes being a beginner, it has way more features than i know what to do with. but that's why i bought it, so that as i learn more, i won't grow out of my hardware and have to reinvest in something more. the keys feel good, the sensitivity can be adjusted or turned off all together, and the drumpads are pretty fuckin sweet. it's a great midi controller in my highly unexperienced oppinion.

 

[GHP]

If you just wanna make beats a surround system is kind of un nessisary

the axium is a clean controller though, i was thinking of getting one. My old one is well very old. M-Audio was used to be called MIDIMAN and i have one of those. It still works with no problems though after 3 years and 2 moves. My stupid Korg pad kontrol already hasd a faulty pad and i havn't had the POS for 6 months yet. M-Audio makes quality stuff

 

[the_n_freak]

If you just wanna make beats a surround system is kind of un nessisary

haha, yeah i seem to get that a lot. i understand that music just isn't done in surround. i got the surround because i play dvds on the lappy sometimes and wanted to get the most out of that. if i really get into this, then i'll perhaps invest in some actual monitors, but for now the surround is working out fine, plus i bought some decent headphones so that i can truly be mobile with the setup.