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DL1608 Aux out to PC sound card

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KingOfF00LS:
Hey everyone,

I am very much a neophyte and am hoping someone can give me tips on what I may be doing wrong.

I am trying to connect an aux out on our DL1608 to the input on a PC soundcard for recording purposes.  In case you want to know why, we have had issues where occassionally recording to the docked iPad does not work properly and the recording ends up being a few minutes of good recording interspersed with several minute long stretches of nothing but static.  It doesn't always mess up, and I have been unable to come up with a reason why occasionally it does it.  But that means that when it does happen the entire recording is destroyed and unusable for us.

So I'd like to also run an aux out to a PC to do a secondary recording, so that way if one of them screws up then hopefully the other is ok.

The problem is that when I run a cable from an aux out to the PC line in or mic in I get a recording that is either very faint and distant sounding or simply has no audio at all.  I've tried changing the options of (going by memory here, so forgive) pre-fader vs post-fader vs post dsp etc and that doesn't seem to help.

I have tried several different cables, but maybe I am using the wrong one.  I tried a 1/4 mono plug to the aux out that converts to 1/8 stereo jack, then plugging a stereo 1/8 cable into that and the other end into the PC soundcard which seemed reasonable to me would be correct, yet it didn't work.  So clearly what seemed reasonable to me wasn't very reasonable :)

Does anyone have any thoughts, suggestions, or guesses as to what I should be trying here?

I'm using the last version of Master Fader, by the way.  I believe it's something like 4.5.1 but I'd have to look.  It's the latest one available on the app store.

Thanks for any suggestions.

dpdan:
welcome to the forum!

your request is not unusual but does require the correct cable.
I am assuming that you don't want or need a stereo recording but just clean mono audio.
You need a cable with one 1/4 inch TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) male plug on one end, and it would connect to one of the 6 Aux outputs on the DL1608.
The other end of the cable would have one 3.5 mm (tip-ring-sleeve) male plug, and it would connect to the 3.5 mm input on your computer.

There are no cables like this that can be purchased for what you want to do because you are connecting a balanced line level signal from the Aux output to an unbalanced stereo input on your computer. Without knowing more about your computer's connection, I can not make any suggestions for you apart from sending me a picture of your computer's connector, and then I would make the cable for you and mail it to you which I will be happy to do.

In order to get any consistant "reliable" results, I highly recommend not recording using your computer unless you purchase an inexpensive "audio interface" for it. An audio interface will connect to a USB port on the computer and then the interface will allow a number of different sources to be recorded ie: XLR mic inputs, line level 1/4" inputs etc.

Another thing to consider is to not use the computer at all and purchase an inexpensive portable recorder like a Tascam or Zoom. With one of these recorders you could then import the audio after you are finished recording and then edit the material with your computer and the DAW program of yourn choice.
If you need help deciding on which one to get come back here and we will help you.

Are you in the USA?
       

KingOfF00LS:
Great info so far, dpdan.  Thank you.

Yes, I am in USA and yes having separated stereo channels is not important.  This is for recording services at our church, and I just want to make sure that when people listen to the podcasts later on they can hear out of both left and right instead of having audio from just one side which is very uncomfortable for me and many of them.

I did not realize there were USB devices that were designed in such a way that they would be a better interface for the DL1608, and I had never even considered the possibility of simply using a separate recording device.  Both of those are great ideas.  Do you have links for examples of both that I could look at, or could you give me the exact terminology to use when I google to make sure I am searching for the correct thing?

By the way, as far as the computer goes, it is just a standard sound card.  I think it's a soundblaster Audigy, but it's been awhile since I slapped that machine together.  So it has the typical 1/8 line and mic jacks you would expect to see on a sound card.

Thanks again for your help on this.  It has been a source of frustration for months.

(PS Not long after I started this thread I noticed someone else had the exact same issue recording to iPad on MF 4.x.  Should I revert back to MF3?  If I do that will all the EQ and other settings be lost since I would be downgrading the firmware or would they still hold going from a higher version firmware down to a lower version?)

Edit:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QY4RLRQ/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2KSKDLNTN98NS&coliid=I3UYAIXIA2UWPM&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NACC6M/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2KSKDLNTN98NS&coliid=I3IRNTI9CUEO1Q&psc=1

Are these good examples of the devices you had in mind?

dpdan:
I do not know if you would lose our shows/snapshots if you were to go back to Master Fader 3.
You could always export the show via email, then go back to version three and then check to see if the shows are still there,
my guess is they would not be, but it's possible,... I just don't know.

The Tascam is a self contained device with nice combo XLR connectors that will allow you to connect the proper cables to it from the DL1608.
I had one of those units and it does a good job. I am not familiar with how you get audio to your podcast, but I am assuming you do that with a computer?

If you choose to get one of these portable recorders, let me know via personal message and I will mail you the cables you need as a gift.






 

shufflebeat:
I can do perfectly reasonable stereo recordings by taking a feed (6.5mm TRS jack to 3.5mm jack) out of the headphone socket into my Boss Micro BR line in.

Headphone volume is good at about 40℅ and the line in on the BR about 60℅, depending on your material of course.

The BR can be bought second hand for peanuts. Transfer WAVs to PC via the freely available software and edit in DAW, Reaper in my case.

Once the BR is hooked up you can monitor recordings via it's own headphone output. Be careful not to deploy the 'solo' function as that will mute everything else going to the BR.

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