USB microphone not working with Novation AudioHub mixer

[Ty Ford]

Hello Laura and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

USB audio devices are not considered “professional” so not many here may have had much experience with them.

I have several thoughts.

1. Sometimes the USB device requires power from the computer that may not be available at a hub. Plug directly into the MBP.

2. Audacity requires that you choose what input it will receive. That may be in the Audacity preference panel or on the Audacity interface itself. (and I’m sure in its instructions).

3. After plugging the mic in, also visit the Mac Sound System Preferences panel and choose the USB mic for input.

4. If this works, try inserting the hub in the chain if you need it.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog

[Laura Meoli]

Thank you for the detailed response Ty. Yes I see the these devices don’t have much support online or anyone who is readily available to help. (not even customer service for the hub/mixer).

I do appreciate your help. The hub has a power supply and the instructions say that it CAN power any USB devices plugged in. So I am not sure why the mics would not be one of those devices.

I’m trying to figure out a workaround right now, maybe to bypass the hub all together. I have three USB mics, and there are 3 usb inputs on the computer so I could conceivably plug them in directly. But now my question is… How do you tell Audacity to record from 3 microphones? I have not been able to do this. The preferences give only 1 selection.

Is there another audio recording software/application that can record three USB mics? I’m even willing to cut down to 2 mics if that’s all we can do for now.

Thanks again Ty. Have a great night.

[Ty Ford]

Hi Laura,

You’re operating on the fringes, so there won’t be much help. I have recorded two USB sources into Garage Band; mic and guitar. Each went into a separate USB jack. Garage band saw them both. That’s about all I know.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog

[Richard Crowley]

That “Novation Audiohub 2×4 Combined Audio Interface and USB 2.0 Hub” is not an audio mixer in any sense of the word.
There are no audio mixers that will mix multiple USB audio inputs that I have ever seen or even heard of.

People who use USB microphones are typically using only one microphone and most (all?) software applications will recognize only one USB audio source at a time. Now the USB source may be multi-channel (typically 2-channel stereo).

The reason there are no “USB mixers” is because there are almost no “use cases” of people needing to mix multiple USB audio sources.

Your USB microphones will be useful for applications where you need only one microphone (perhaps a solo podcast or recording voice tracks, etc.) If you need to mix multiple microphones, there are a myriad of selections of conventional XLR microphones and XLR mixers. Many of the XLR mixers have a USB sound interface built in so that the result of the XLR mixer can be plugged directly into your computer for streaming, recording, communication, or whatever.

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Recording audio without metering and monitoring is exactly like framing and focusing without looking at the viewfinder.

[Laura Meoli]

Thank you for your help everyone. I did get Novation customer support on the phone and they confirmed that indeed the audiohub is NOT a mixer- and it does NOT take ANY microphones. All the inputs are for line level and by the time I convert the signal, for that price I might as well just buy a real mixer.

Their product description is VERY vague and the reason for the confusion, hopefully others won’t make the same mistake. But that’s the good thing about Amazon– RETURN!
=]

Have a great day!

[Ty Ford]

Hi Laura,

Thank you so much for adding to the Creative Cow Brain Trust!

Regards,

Ty Ford
Cow Audio Forum Leader

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford\’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford\’s Blog