Subject:Totally Irrelevant

Posted by: Joe Crowe

Date:6/21/2015 3:53:55 PM

This is a plea for help which isn't a Sound Forge issue. My soundcard is a modest consumer grade thing and the rec out from my pre amp totally swamps it out. I am trying to find a soundcard which is speced for a +4dBu input. I have found 2, one the M-Audio 192 is discontinued and the Lynx L22 will cost me about $1K CDN. which is a tad out of reach. Anyone know of a substitute? I am hoping for 192/24 in but can live with 96/24 as long the input level works. Thanks in advance but please no "why are you trying to do that" replies it is what it is.

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: ChristoC

Date:6/21/2015 4:46:30 PM

I don't know so much about inexpensive sound cards (I use a very expensive SSL MX4, which has 128 chan of I/O on MADI digital connections), but have you considered an external USB box as a solution?

I have RME "BabyFace" which is expensive, but there are numerous USB interfaces available for reasonable prices which may fit your needs with pro level line (balanced or unbalanced) connections e.g. ALESIS "iO2", NATIVE INSTRUMENTS "Komplete Audio 6", FOCUSRITE "Scarlett" series, PRESONUS "Audiobox"; ROLAND "Quad-Capture", LEXICON "Alpha", STEINBERG "UR22" to name a few......

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:6/21/2015 8:21:00 PM

I've got an M-Audio Transit external USB sound card. It's only stereo in/out, but the quality is excellent and it handles pretty high levels very well. You can usually find it online for about $70.

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: colinu

Date:6/21/2015 9:11:19 PM

I am not sure what your setup is like, but what about in-line attenuators?

http://www.amazon.com/Harrison-Labs-Line-Level-Attenuator/dp/B0006N41B0

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Joe Crowe

Date:6/22/2015 10:47:02 AM

ILAs were my first thought but every review I read raised concerns about transparency so I have been hesitant thus far.

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Joe Crowe

Date:6/22/2015 10:48:03 AM

Thanks, I will look into it as M-Audio was one of the manufacturers that had what I needed before.

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:6/22/2015 5:19:35 PM

There couldn't be anything more transparent than a simple inexpensive resistive attenuator.

geoff

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:6/24/2015 2:26:01 PM

Well, i'll differ a tiny bit on that. A straight through cable is certainly more transparent than an attenuator, but not by much!

Also, if the attenuator is made cheaply enough with very poor solder joints or lousy resistors it could be a source of noise and hiss, possibly even hum if it's unshielded. When i've needed really good ones i've made them myself. It takes about $5 worth of parts or less and a couple minutes with a soldering iron. The nice thing about it is that i've now got a selection with exactly the plug ends i need for various situations so that i don't have to add additional adapters into the signal chain.

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: Geoff_Wood

Date:6/24/2015 7:16:27 PM

Would have to be pretty lousy components or and soldering ! No reason for them to be any different in quality than the source or destination device, and still only a few cents worth, plus the cost of an XLR-F/M plug !

geoff

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: rraud

Date:6/25/2015 7:45:50 AM

"Would have to be pretty lousy components or and soldering ! No reason for them to be any different in quality than the source or destination device, and still only a few cents worth, plus the cost of an XLR-F/M plug !"
Yeah, resistors are a dime-a-dozen.. though slightly more at the Shack o' shame (if can find one still open).. then of course an inexperienced person can screw up anything. If done properly though, no audible difference, probably even better than a cheap store bought 'made in China' in-line pad..

Subject:RE: Totally Irrelevant

Reply by: ChristoC

Date:6/25/2015 3:45:32 PM

This is a pretty fatuous discussion; the signal path is already stuffed with umteen resistors, so anymore will make no difference.... a simple pad is a good & cheap solution with no degradation of signal quality.