[Kat Dalton]

Will do. Thanks again!

Kat

[Kat Dalton]

Hello Ty,

The inputs on my speakers are “3-pin XLR female/1/4 inch TRS Phone Combo, balanced.” With my old video setup, I used cable with XLR into speakers and TRS out of mixer (which was connected to audio/video hardware). I read that one can put TRS plug into TS socket, so I thought I could use my old cable with Apogee (which has TS socket for out to speakers). Or do I need new cables? TS both ends?

You are right, _sometimes_ the new technologies can be cheap and good!

Thanks for your help. Beautiful guitar playing, by the way.

Best,
Kat

[Kat Dalton]

Hi Jordan and Ty,

Thank you so much for your replies.

The buzz is there even if Dual Pre not plugged into AC outlet (running off USB power).

I went to Audio/Midi utilities folder and set in/out to Dual Pre. Unfortunately, that didn’t help either. But thanks for cluing me in….I didn’t know about that folder.

So I am looking around for replacement interface. The Sound Devices one you suggest, Ty, looks nice. I’m also reading a lot of rave reviews from users of the Apogee Duet. The fact that it is designed to integrate with Apple software is a plus. It’s firewire, though. But I would think all these people raving about it are using it with FW hard drives. As you say, Ty, USB is cantankerous…..so it’s not perfect either.

Both of those devices have unbalanced out for speakers. My powered speakers have balanced inputs. This isn’t a problem, is it? My cables have TRS plugs. Can I use those in the TS socket in Duet, or should I get new cables? The Sound Devices unit has RCA out to speakers. Would a TRS > RCA adapter affect sound?

I should’ve known I couldn’t get away with spending just 79 bucks!

Thanks again,
Kat

[Kat Dalton]

I realized that the buzz is there in Soundtrack whether a file is playing or not.

Then I saw that if I change the input setting in Soundtrack to something other than the Dual Pre, the buzz goes away. So the input setting can only be set to the Dual Pre when recording. Otherwise, there’s a buzz. I also have to turn the Dual Pre “pre-amp/computer” knob to “pre-amp” when recording and to “computer” when listening.

Kind of a nuisance to have to constantly change these two things as I record/listen, record/listen. I didn’t have to constantly change input settings with my Aurora video system. I just set the input and output to Aurora and left them.

I also don’t like the way I hear clicks when I open and close files or windows.

By the way, if I open OS Sound Preferences, I also hear the buzz if both input and output are set to the Dual Pre. When I close the Preferences window, the buzz goes away.

No buzz in Quicktime even if Dual Pre selected as both input and output in OS Sound Preferences. No buzz in FCP either, but I don’t have input into FCP set to Dual Pre because I can’t (FCP isn’t seeing it).

Am I doing something wrong?

The Dual Pre doesn’t require any drivers.

Do I need a more sophisticated audio interface? Would I be better off getting hardware and software that are meant to work together? Such as a MOTU ultralight with MOTU software?

Thanks.

[Kat Dalton]

Thank you, Shane and Walter, that’s reassuring. I have a fear of upgrading. I wonder if there’s a name for that……

[Kat Dalton]

Maybe I should mention that FCP 4.5 on old system (since I’d be using clips captured there).

[Kat Dalton]

Hi Ty,

Thanks for your further thoughts. Maybe I’ll just buy something which is returnable and try it out.

I’ll check out your articles and recordings. My sister has a Martin guitar which she bought many years ago, too. Acoustic instruments can sound so beautiful.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Best,
Kat

[Kat Dalton]

Hi Ty. Thanks for responding. Not happy to hear that even if I add a firewire card to my laptop, I could still run into trouble. Darn. What are you audio guys using for storage when you use firewire audio interface? SATA? I don’t really want to have to buy a SATA raid right now.

What about USB for the audio interface? From what I’ve been reading, people tend to not like USB, but maybe it’s just USB 1 they don’t like. I found the Edirol UA-101 which is USB 2.

Actually, I don’t need all the i/o on UA-101 (or the MOTU Ultralite for that matter). But the less expensive, less i/o interfaces seem to be FW (Edirol FA-66, Presonus Firebox 6×10) or USB 1 (Edirol UA-25).

Thanks for your help. I enjoyed your performance in the YouTube video. Great sound, too. I was surprised to hear such good sound on YouTube.

Kat

[Kat Dalton]

Thanks, guys. Sounds like I’d better continue to keep things separate.

Kat

[Kat Dalton]

Wow – what great recommendations. Thanks Walter, Gary, and David. Makes my decision easy. (Just have to ponder the SD/HD issue. . .)

Kat