Hello knowledgable world… I’m very green behind the ears here, and trying to set everything up between a Tascam US-16x08 interface & Ardour 6.9 DAW… I’ve got ubuntu 20.04.3 OS.
My plans are to record some drums. I’m not sure what sound server API’s I’ll need to get to make everything function correctly. I appreciate any tips or advice, thank you so kindly
Hello again everyone!
I’ve been recording a few times WITHOUT USING the Tascam us16x08 DSP mixer application, I open it up when I record, but I haven’t tried activating it and recording with it yet. Everything sounds quite good, though, without using it, but I want to give it a shot later and see what it can do.
When I open up the Tascam us16x08 DSP mixer app, I can only see the mixing board, there’s no display at the top of the equalizer or compressor. If I go to the top left corner and open “file”, there are no options to access the equalizer or compressor. Saying that, EQ and compressor are offered on each channel on the mixing board, so I guess they are there but not displayed. Is this all a normal state of affairs?..nothing unusual?
Like I said before, I’m a complete novice at all this(recording for dummies), so I’d like to ask a few other basic Qs if I may;
Is the mixing board used for modifying the incoming sound during recording?..and also used for modifying the finished recording?
How do I prepare each channel when I want to modify the incoming sound to be recorded?
What are the basic steps?
What buttons do I activate and in what order?
…I owe you guys a few beers already, so now I can increase the bar tab! Thank you kindly for your advice.
The EQ and compressor settings are the knobs you can find on the top right hand corner of the window.
See the screenshot here to check if you have the same interface : https://github.com/onkelDead/tascam-gtk
The knobs settings correspond to the selected channel.
The mixer settings changes the sound that is captured by the interface so the sound is changed before it comes to Ardour (to the computer to be precise).
So once it is recorded in Ardour, those settings cant be changed after recording.
To get the best out of the sound you capture and as you are novice, I suggest you do not change the settings in the mixer.
The mixing step is done under Ardour from the “true”/raw sound. Indeed with Ardour you can EQ, compress and many more the sound afterwards in a far more controllable way than playing live with the tascam mixer.
The most important stuff you should address is the input level. You have to set the levels so that the “nominal” level is set to around from -18dB to -10dB (there are multiple approaches, I let you make your own idea/preference based on the multiple resources on the web).
You should set that level using the physical knob on the interface. Doing so, leave the software levels to 0dB.
Talking about the API, I interpret your words as “audio backend”. The prefered way is using Alsa but using Jack is ok too. It depends on what’s your process/goals… There are dedicated questions that better details this subject on this forum.
Hello and thx for responding!
Yes, I do have the same as what is shown on github.
It’s great to know that I’m doing the right thing so far on the “novice plan”.
The sound I’m getting is really quite good, everything considered, I don’t have my own
studio and have to go to practice studios and use the 4 different drum sets in 4 different rooms,
but that’s like forced experimenting, which is what I need and want!
So I’ll just keep a sharp eye on the input levels and adjust to the “nominal” settings.
All I really want is a raw accoustic drum sound, something edgy and the counter-point of ultra modern.
Reviving an old skool sound in modern context.
Anyway, thx again for the much needed reassurance.