Very Simple Question from a Beginner

jdeas3 wrote on 3/26/2002, 5:28 PM
Hey everyone. If you don't mind, I'd like to ask a question about Vegas Audio that is very simple. I'm a novice. Here's the deal: I just goof around recording my own music (I use the very cheap Cakewalk Homestudio), and I'm thinking about getting Vegas Audio. Ok- Cakewalk can only record one track at a time- thats why I want to get VA. So my question is this: how do I record two tracks at once and mix them completely independently? For example, how could I play guitar live with my friend playing bass, and have those end up on track 1 and 2, completely isolated? I just don't see how it works with the sound card having 1 input. Is there some way to link the PC and the external mixer I have? I just don't know how it works... Thank you very much! Please make it very simple for me, ie, plug your guitar into input one, change this or that in vegas audio, etc. Thank you again and sorry for being such a novice. :)

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 3/26/2002, 8:38 PM
I don't know if this feature exists in Vegas 2, but it does in Vegas 3. And if you don't already have Vegas, then version 3 is the one you'd be getting anyway.

If you right-mouse-button click on the track header, there is a "Recording Input" option on the pop-up menu. This lets you select Stereo or either right or left only for the input to that track. You could use your external mixer to pan the guitar hard to the left channel and the bass hard to the right, connect the mixer output to the line input on the computer's sound card, and then record the left channel into one track and the right channel into the other.

Of course, you'll be limited to recording two tracks at a time if you only have a stereo soundcard. But, this is still better than one track at a time.
jdeas3 wrote on 3/27/2002, 2:44 PM
Great! Thank you. So am I to understand that recording two tracks at once is the maximum? If so, what other audio recording software/hardware (PC or Mac based, anyway) let you record multiple tracks at once?

thanks a lot
Chienworks wrote on 3/27/2002, 3:16 PM
If you have a multichannel sound card, Vegas has no limit to the number of simultaneously recorded tracks. You would be limited only by hardware. I believe i've seen reports of 16 tracks being recorded at once.
jdeas3 wrote on 3/27/2002, 6:32 PM
Thank you so much. I'll definitely look around.
dbarry wrote on 3/27/2002, 9:06 PM
By the way, you can use Cakewalk to record multiple tracks, maybe 2 at a time.
The "single" input on a sound card is only single if it is a microphone input. Many soundcards have a stereo line in jack also. With a stereo Y to mono pair connector, you get 2 inputs (at line levels). This can be used as 2 tracks, L + R. Then you set up 2 more tracks and arm them for record in Calkwalk. If you do not mute the original tracks, they will play along as you record your new tracks. When all done you can mix all the tracks down to a wav file. I used to record a midi drum track first to get the timing correct. All this using good old free Cakewalk that comes with a bunch of sound cards. I think the old Home Studio version of Cakewalk allowed 8 tracks. I use CW PA 8 and I forget the limit, it is a large number.