[BenWaB3]

The header pretty much says it all. I recieved mine yesterday but haven't broken the seal on the package yet, in case I want to return it. Can anyone confirm that the line-in input is stereo? If so, I'll keep it - if not, it goes back. You would think it has to be stereo but they aren't saying it anywhere on the packaging & it's the same as the mic input I'm not sure. TIA.

Ben

 

[BenWaB3]

Oops...should have proofread a little better....the header should have said Line-in, not Inout. Sorry.

Ben

 

[ROBSCIX]

Yes. The line in is stereo.

 

[BenWaB3]

Thanks Rob. That's what I was hoping to hear. In it goes!!

Ben

 

[ROBSCIX]

If your using it for recording germanium did some recording tests with the this hard and received excellent results recording in 24/192 mode. Perhaps he will chime in...

If your planning on using it for recording some home recording that is.

 

[BenWaB3]

Most of the home recording application I'll be using this for will be vinyl conversion. Using the Majix Audio Cleaning Lab software I can record at 24/48 to do the cleaning & prep work before converting to wav & 256 mp3. Ironically, my USB interface (Lexicon Lambda) wouldn't support that speed. I'll do most of the listening while editing through phones to pick out the most detail. Thanks.

Ben

 

[germanium]

Best recording I've done is with Sony's Sound forge 10 Pro. It comes with a program also for cleaning up analog recording as well though I haven't tried thast part yet. 10 Pro does 24 bit 192 KHz recording with true 24 bit resolution with this card.

Sony's Sound Forge 9 Audio studio does well also but only to 24 bit 96KHz & doesn't have the audio cleanup suite the the 10 Pro does. This one also does true 24 bit recording.

Forget Audacity & Sonar LE that came with the Xonar D2/PM as these only dither the 24 bit recordings down to 16 bit & do not record the full 24 bit audio no matter what the settings.

 

[ROBSCIX]

Can I ask why your not recording in 24/96 - I am having a bit of trouble understanding the posting?
24/96 is usually to preferable recording rate as it allows more headroom for effects and cleaning.

 

[BenWaB3]

Thanks for your replies guys. The Sound Forge sounds great & I've seen it recommended by quite a few people. Unfortunately the price is above what I can do right now. As for recording in 24/48 that's the top resolution that Audio Cleaning Lab has. Did have the card installed yesterday & tested out the first recording. It does sound cleaner than the card that came with the computer (at that price it better). Had a "What tha -----...) moment trying to just play a record & listen w/o the software running. No sound was coming out at all. Finally figured out I had to check (or uncheck...don't remember exactly now) a feature of the line in in the recording menu. Thanks again.

Ben

 

[germanium]

Try here for Sound forge 10.

High-Software.net

Basically $120 compare to almost $400. You don't get the CD though.

You can also get the Sound forge 9 Audio Studio here as well for $19.90

 

[ROBSCIX]

Line in monitoring?

 

[BenWaB3]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you guys. Yes, it was the line-in monitoring I had to get the right combination on for it to work. Right now I'm trying to put together a vintage rig to offset the "digitality" of the Essence. I'm running the preamp out from a Marantz 1060 to the Essence input, then running its output to the amp in on the Marantz. It sounds pretty good but that routing seems to defeat the volume knob on the Marantz. Only got a chance to do a little fooling around with it yesterday but did notice w/ Audio Cleaning Lab that to get the recording level up to an acceptable level I had to have it turned up to where it was blasting in either headphones or the speakers. When running the speakers this is where having the marantz volume knob working would come in very handy. I just let the headphones dangle off my neck if trying them or it could lead to some hearing damage over the long haul. The virtual volume knob on the essence works but that affects recording level. I might start out with your suggestion on the Sound Forge 9 to see if it's input sensitivity is any better. The site says it does have some cleaning effects, I'll just have to see if they would be enough to work. One thing I like about the ACL cleaning suite is the noise filter, where I can sample a 1/4 second of the recording between tracks & use that to filter out the surface noise. Does SF 9 have that or would that be something only found in SF 10? Thanks again for your replies.

Ben