[LAU] Questions on New Recording Gear

[fons at kokkinizita.net]

On Tue, Jan 26, 2010 at 12:33:22PM -0600, Ectropic Harmony wrote:

> > There's nothing wrong with turning them up as high as necessary.
> 
> This is good to hear. I have only hesitated to turn the "gains" up any
> higher because of fear of "overpowering" their levels.

??

> > As a starting point set all DAC/ADC levels
> > to 127 (that's max for the DACs but not for the ADCs).
> > Above 127 the ADCs have extra gain which you don't need
> > since your mixer will provide more than enough output level.
> > In the envy24 monitor mixer mute everything.
> > In the envy24 patchbay set all analog outputs to 'PCM'.
> 
> I'm not sure where to find "127". Is that in the Envy24?

In the 'Analog Volume' tab. 

> The levels on my Envy24 application have a minimum of "96" and a maximum of "0".

That's the monitor mixer (first two tabs). Set them
all to '96' and muted. If you want just 8 independent
inputs and outputs you don't use this mixer. The meters
can occasionally be useful to check if signals are 
present, but normally you wouldn't use them. 
Most distros will save the settings when you shutdown
the computer and re-apply then when booting. If that's
the case you don't need envy24control anymore once things
are set up correctly.
 
> By mute everything in "envy24 monitor mixer" do you mean in "Monitor
> Inputs" and "Monitor PCMs" or just one of them?

Both.
 
> I'd think that I should leave the ones I'm using un-muted so the signals send.

No, just mute them all. Mute here means they won't appear in
the stereo mix that can be made internally in the soundcard.
 
> I changed the "Patchbay/Router" settings all to PCM Outs now. I did
> have 1 & 2 set to "Digital Mix" (L&R) while my Delta 1010's Out 1 and
> Out 2 are physically connected to a strip on my mixer set to Main Mix.
> However, before I get my monitor speakers I'd like to use my computer
> for the headphone monitoring if possible. Maybe the PCM Outs will make
> that work.

'PCM' means that the analog outputs will be the first
8 digital signals from the computer. 'Digital Mix' is
the output of the monitor mixer.

> In Ardour, with the current default general level settings, when I
> record audio I only receive a very small "wavelength" graph in the
> actual recorded tracks. I'd figure it'd be much larger.

It's not meant for level metering. Use the meters ! 
 
> Maybe I should crank my mixer "gains" even higher (currently ~35 or
> ~40 out of 60 on gain levels). :-\ The level meter thing is only
> showing 30 or 20 (not going up to "0"/"Level Set").

Then turn up the gains, nothing is going to explode.

Ciao,

-- 
FA

O tu, che porte, correndo si ?
E guerra e morte !