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Old 08-11-2017, 03:08 AM   #1
Greech
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Default Is a rocksmith cable, onboard PC sound and home theater speakers a total non-starter?

Hey everyone, total Reaper noob here so I've got a couple questions:


In the past I've been recording via Garageband (on a Mac, not the mobile app). I used a USB condenser mic for vocals, the Rocksmith cable for guitar and bass, and I used the midi keyboard inside Garageband to lay down drums and orchestral instruments. My Mac is crapping out so I decided to move over to a pretty powerful PC that I build recently. The rig does not have a dedicated sound card, but the motherboard (Gigabyte - GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 ATX LGA1151) has some sort of onboard Creative Labs sound integration. The rig is run on Windows 10 64bit and I have 32g of RAM (here is the rig https://pcpartpicker.com/user/Greech/saved/fyzbt6). Lastly, for a monitor I've got this PC rig hooked up to a 65 inch Sharp Aquos through a home theater soundbar. I figured I'd just plug a headset into my PC and route the sound to it anyway.

So all that said, I installed Reaper on my PC/home theater and have run into some strange issues. I installed Asio4all and have my Rocksmith USB as the input, my home theater as my output. So far I've laid down a midi drum track and when I try to play it back sometimes it works fine, other times I can only hear the kick drum but not the snare, and sometimes I cant hear it play back at all. When I hear nothing, I create a new track, cut and paste the drums onto the new track, and it plays fine. I also have a guitar track (using the Rocksmith cable) that doesn't usually give me trouble, but sometimes it also doesnt play back correctly. Finally, I'm having a ton of trouble routing the output to the headphones which are simply plugged into the PC tower's headphone jack. I have to go into the asio options and choose headset which is nested under a different device. It doesnt always work, but when it does, there is massive static and feedback coming through the headset. On top of all that, every time I turn on Reaper it seems none of my asio choices stick, it always seem to reset to some default.

AND I've got a few second delay when recording through the Rocksmith cable. I have to move the whole track forward 3 seconds to line the guitar up with the drums.


So anyone got any ideas? Would something like a Roland QuadCapture Audio Interface just make all my problems go away?

Considering Reaper is only $35 this month I'm highly likely to purchase it, but I just want to make sure I'm not going to have these issues forever if I do! Any help would be greatly appreciated!
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Old 08-11-2017, 06:02 AM   #2
kstn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greech View Post
So anyone got any ideas? Would something like a Roland QuadCapture
Audio Interface just make all my problems go away?
Not sure about Roland but separate audio interface is the best
solution. ASIO4ALL and onboard soundcart is only a compromise if you
can't get smth better. Yes you can work with this, but with good
interface a working is a lot easier because you don't need to
fight with it )

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greech View Post
AND I've got a few second delay when recording through the Rocksmith
cable. I have to move the whole track forward 3 seconds to line the
guitar up with the drums.
Did you try to set lesser buffer size in ASIO4ALL settings? It may
reduce the latency.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Greech View Post
So far I've laid down a midi drum track and
when I try to play it back sometimes it works fine, other times I can
only hear the kick drum but not the snare, and sometimes I cant hear
it play back at all. When I hear nothing, I create a new track, cut
and paste the drums onto the new track, and it plays fine. I also
have a guitar track (using the Rocksmith cable) that doesn't usually
give me trouble, but sometimes it also doesnt play back
correctly.
Did you try to freeze this tracks?

-------

In the sum: at your situation I would search for separate audio card
with ASIO, instrumental (HI-Z) input (500 kOhm min, 1mOhm better), and
little latency (10ms max, lesser-better, 2-5 ideally) and good preamps
- you will need it if you want to record guitars directly.

Doesn't test the Roland card, but I would look at some Focusrite cards
- they have good preamps. But this is a matter of taste.
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Old 08-11-2017, 07:15 AM   #3
Greech
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Thanks kstn, I'm looking at this now: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBT0A5T?psc=1
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Old 08-11-2017, 11:24 AM   #4
Greech
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aaaaaand I just bought this lol https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBT0A5T...1&keywords=6i6
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Old 08-11-2017, 11:46 AM   #5
solger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greech View Post
Congratulations
Make sure to install and use the dedicated Focusrite ASIO drivers (instead of ASIO4ALL) and you should be good to go ...


And welcome to the Reaper Forums!

Check out the User Guide (https://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php) and the Videos section (https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php) in general.

Last edited by solger; 08-11-2017 at 11:52 AM.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:34 PM   #6
DVDdoug
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I think you need to split this up between recording, monitoring, and playback.

For recording with a USB mic or the Rocksmith cable the computer (and software) doesn't affect sound quality because you're not using the soundcard. (That's assuming there are no "glitches" or gaps, etc.).

The Rocksmith cable is probably fine. It's not that hard to get a "clean" guitar signal and it doesn't require an expensive interface. The tricky part is amp sims or other effects.

The quality of USB mics (all mics actually) varies a lot, as does their sound "character". So, you'd have to decide if you want to upgrade or if you want to switch to an analog mic.

Of course, the "acoustic space" is super-important when recording with a microphone. ...A soundproof studio with good acoustics (or "dead" acoustics) is the biggest advantage pro studios have over home-studios.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

For monitoring (while recording), the most important thing is latency. Obviously you can't play a guitar with 3-second latency. Are you using a Y-splitter to play through an amp while the Rocksmith cable is plugged-in also?

Better hardware and drivers can give better (lower) latency and sometimes USB mics (and maybe the Rocksmith cable) are "hopeless". But, a fast computer with minimal "junk" running in the background, will allow for smaller buffers (lower latency).

There are interfaces (and podcast mics) with zero-latency hardware-monitoring. IMO, that's the best solution... Don't monitor through your computer and latency isn't an issue. (Or, use a Y-splitter into your guitar amp, etc.).

----------------------------------------------------------------------

For mixing & playback, latency isn't an issue (but maybe a minor inconvenience if you have to manually adjust/compensate that 3-second delay).

I don't now why you're having monitoring issues (not hearing some tracks) and I don't know if a USB interface would help... I have a feeling that's a REAPER configuration issue.

In general, a regular soundcard is OK for monitoring/playback, especially if you don't have noise problems. Frequency response & distortion are usually perfectly adequate and of course any noise or other minor defects in playback/monitoring don't end-up in your rendered output.

However, your soundbar does concern me. It's hard to produce something of good quality if you don't know what it really sounds like...

A good home theater setup might be as good as a home studio with monitors, but I suspect you could benefit from some decent monitors.

And again, room acoustics can be important during mixing/mastering, especially in the bass-range.
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Old 08-12-2017, 02:23 AM   #7
kstn
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Greech View Post
Scarlett 6i6 - 1 mOhm instrumental inputs and 2ms latency (manual said so) -
seems like good choice. Do not forget set minimal buffer size for lesser latency.

MPM-1000 - condenser mic with pod and shock mount - will not be unnecessary

No name phones - not sure in quality but additional phones are never unneccessary.

Doesn't like bundles but this seems quite good. Congratulations.
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