Budget Master recorder?

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Here's my setup:

I record through an analog board into a hard disc based machine. From
there, I sometimes go into a pc to mix. But sometimes I also mix with
the board. When I mix through the pc, I obviously just burn to cd from
there. No digital loss between the two steps.
However, when I mix with the board, the board has two 1/4" outs that
go to whatever master recorder. I have it going into the pc, but the
card on the pc is whimpy and only has a 1/8 stereo jack. So on top of
going into that presumably lame converter of the card, I'm also using
an adapter to get those two 1/4" cables to go into that cheap little
jack.
I usually only use this for rough mixes, so it's not a big deal. But I
have $100 - $200 to spend if there were indeed a better way (within
that price range) to record to a master. Maybe a stand alone cd burner
would be a better way to go? Or should I just stick with what I have?

[Laurence Payne]

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007 14:57:08 -0800 (PST), wrote:

>Here's my setup:
>
>I record through an analog board into a hard disc based machine. From
>there, I sometimes go into a pc to mix. But sometimes I also mix with
>the board. When I mix through the pc, I obviously just burn to cd from
>there. No digital loss between the two steps.
>However, when I mix with the board, the board has two 1/4" outs that
>go to whatever master recorder. I have it going into the pc, but the
>card on the pc is whimpy and only has a 1/8 stereo jack. So on top of
>going into that presumably lame converter of the card, I'm also using
>an adapter to get those two 1/4" cables to go into that cheap little
>jack.
>I usually only use this for rough mixes, so it's not a big deal. But I
>have $100 - $200 to spend if there were indeed a better way (within
>that price range) to record to a master. Maybe a stand alone cd burner
>would be a better way to go? Or should I just stick with what I have?


That's more than enough to buy a M-Audio 2486 PCI card for your
computer. (RCA jacks, not 1/4", but that doesn't matter.) Then your
computer can do everything a stand-alone CD burner can do, and much
more.

Actually, as long as that 1/8" jack on your computer leads to a Line
In, it may not be all that bad.

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >,
> wrote:
>Here's my setup:
>
>I record through an analog board into a hard disc based machine. From
>there, I sometimes go into a pc to mix. But sometimes I also mix with
>the board. When I mix through the pc, I obviously just burn to cd from
>there. No digital loss between the two steps.
>However, when I mix with the board, the board has two 1/4" outs that
>go to whatever master recorder. I have it going into the pc, but the
>card on the pc is whimpy and only has a 1/8 stereo jack. So on top of
>going into that presumably lame converter of the card, I'm also using
>an adapter to get those two 1/4" cables to go into that cheap little
>jack.
>I usually only use this for rough mixes, so it's not a big deal. But I
>have $100 - $200 to spend if there were indeed a better way (within
>that price range) to record to a master. Maybe a stand alone cd burner
>would be a better way to go? Or should I just stick with what I have?

Buy the best sound card you can with the money you have to spend.
Ditch the cheapie with the unbalanced inputs.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Laurence Payne]

On 4 Dec 2007 19:52:05 -0500, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>Buy the best sound card you can with the money you have to spend.
>Ditch the cheapie with the unbalanced inputs.

But don't obsess on the inputs being balanced. It makes little
practical difference at line level, in a domestic environment.