Pulsar 2 - Newbie needs help

[draynum]

Thanks to stardust, Mr Arkadin, and the19thbear.
Like you said, they were already in the project.
I must get that printed manual but I doubt the seller of the card still has it. I'll try the web.There are subtle differences in the naming protocol between the Pulsar2 and later cards. Just enough to throw a novice!

[the19thbear]

actually it isnt that hard
you have sources and destinations... wave, asio, pulsar2 etc.
you go from input to output on whatever you have, and then place a mixer in between..
i think someone made a video tutorial once??
who?
where?

[draynum]

Thanks to all the great guys that contributed to this topic, I have now got my sound basics right, and what a difference!
I will now try to become more proficient with Scope and see what develops.

I have been looking at a used pair of standup speakers, TDL Studio 5, which I will probably buy tomorrow for £50. Does anyone know whether the TDL Studio 5's are good? Or should I go for something else? I really need to get my finances straight again after the cost of the card so I would not like to spend much more than this.

Also the reviews are very critical of the Studio 10's as many reviews say that they are built around the TDL nameplate. There appears to have been a change of ownership after the Studio 5's so I am hoping that the Studio 5's are OK.

Thanks again all!

[garyb]

hello, actually, that's certainly a very poor speaker. a good pair of powered monitors will cost in the $400 range, a little more or less, for the lowest level of real gear meant for working with. the idea is not to get a great sounding speaker(one that flatters what you are listening to), but an accurate speaker(so that it's less likely to lie to you and give you an embarrassing surprise on another system).

the thing is, even with the "best" speaker, the room needs to be corrected for optimum results. even with a perfect room, you still need to know the speaker you are mixing on, because no speaker is truly neutral. they all emphasize some things and hide others. after doing mixes on any speaker, you'll want to hear it on a nuber of other systems, to see what happens, and adjust accordingly. eventually, you'll get a better idea of what your monitors need to sound like in order to be assured of a well balanced mix everywhere else. this follows for any speaker you may choose to use.

so-

my advice is to follow your budget. if you can reasonably save up $500 for monitors before you explode, DO IT. it's always better to buy the right thing the first time and spend less money in the long run.

if you just can't wait, spend the $150 now. it's better to have something than nothing, and a good ear can still do something pretty nice. i'm sure that they work. now that you've seen the difference in sound with some real gear(Scope cards have won an Oscar for sound and a couple of grammy nominations, so they can be used for big time work), you may want to step up your game. if not, then i'm sure that the cheaper speaks will do. you have to define your goals to make a good choice, although something good is almost(but not quite) always valuable and throwaway technology usually is not, especially used....

[draynum]

Thank you garyb. Just shows what I know about sound! Your advice is worth following but at this stage I may have to 'stoop to conquer'.

I think that if I make the seller aware of these facts then he may want to drop the price! As you agree that 'a half an egg is better than an empty shell', as you indicated toward the end of your input.

So - I'll go for these speakers, if he drops the price. Then I can bide my time and keep a skinny out for when I stumble over a really good pair. When my bank balance comes out of intensive care then I would easily pay 6 or 700 pound for a pair. (We married men have to tread softly when it comes to buying more toys!)

I think that I should also mention that, having been a building contractor for 40 years with all the attendant machinery noises, my hearing is not as good as it needs to be to really appreciate a very top class speaker.

Some say that I have a good singing voice and I mostly want to record a few disks for the family. (and whoever else can bear to listen!).

So these TDL speakers should do for now.

Thanks again for your input.

[garyb]

although you've certainly got hearing loss, don't worry. all audio engineers have hearing loss too, you can imagine why...

i'm sure that you will have lots of fun!

[Neil B]

Hi Draynum
Tried several times to PM you but the PM thingy is acting up.
I keep getting a page not found error.
Expect a reply when it finally works.
Neil

[draynum]

Thanks Neil B

Do you have any Sound stuff on your website?
The links don't seem to work.

[draynum]

Scope starts automatically when I switch on the PC.

Unfortunately the default Routing Window loads which is unconfigured, so my PC sound is dead.

Can someone tell me how I can make my saved sound File default on startup?

Thanks

[Neil B]

Hi Draynum
Sorry, but you won't find much on my website - I've had to cut it down quite drastically for a while due to time constraints - it's busy being retired! The MP3 files of my tracks (well, all the music pages) took forever to update, and I couldn't keep up with maintaining all my pages of sermons, bike rides & photos. I plan to put some of it back after a hefty restructure when the dark nights return.

I worked now and again in Southampton with Royal Mail (Romec) - it seemed nicer than Stoke!!

Amp - I'm not sure about the model of speakers that you've bought. If they're powered, then you won't need an amp – it’s in one of the speakers. If they aren't powered, then you will.
My setup is that I have Spirit Absolute 2 Studio Monitors and these aren't powered.

From the audio out jacks on the card, I feed the left and right into a physical mixer (Spirit Folio). From there I output the mixer to the amp and the amp to the speakers.

I would suggest anyway that you need something like this because, even if your speakers are powered, you may at some stage wish to work through headphones - keeps the neighbours and family happy.
Seeing as how you got the speakers cheap, you may wish to buy a cheapish hi-fi amp, like a Denon and a small mixer like a Phonic MM1002 a.
Okay, it's more expense, but the spending comes to an end eventually !!!

Did I read that you plan to do some singing (?)
If that's the case then you'll need to feed a mic into the audio ins of the Scope card. Of course this will need to be pre-amped and a Phonic mixer (about £40) does the job for me.

Yes, I've got 2 mixers - one for output and one for signal input.
There was a good reason for doing this, but for the life of me I honestly can't remember why. I think it was something to do with monitoring the output through headphones being kept separate from a dry input. Anyway, that's something you can get to in the future.

I'm more than willing to put my default project in my webspace for you to download if you wish. It depends on whether you're using something like Cubase as your sequencer etc, but it may give you a few clues.
I have a bit of a busy week, but I could take time out to do this with a few notes to accompany it.

If you wanted to email me through our website, I could reply with a project and notes attached.

I keep trying this pesky PM but it isn’t playing since the upgrade.

Hope I've helped - enjoy your week
Neil B

[draynum]

Hi Neil B,

My speakers are not powered!

I have been looking at this
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/option ... 1Qod3kllqA

and this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/BEHRINGER-Tube-Ul ... .m14.l1318

What say you?

Could one preamp handle the mic and speakers?

I had a look at eBay here for Professional/studio preamps

http://electronics.shop.ebay.co.uk/item ... 0262177672

At the risk of making a nuisance of myself I rather ask people that have been in the game for some time. This beats learning from experience which could take quite a while longer.

I would like take a closer look at your latest message and contact you as suggested.

Thanks

[garyb]

Scope starts automatically when I switch on the PC.

Unfortunately the default Routing Window loads which is unconfigured, so my PC sound is dead.

Can someone tell me how I can make my saved sound File default on startup?

Thanks

on the live bar(file set ?) click set/settings/projects and press the "save as startup" button.