Request to moderators.

[ras1983]

Moderators, can you please explain what midi, spdif, and the other 1/8 inch connections are on most soundcards/mixers.

Where the hell do i conect my bass to my audiophile 2496?

Thanks

 

[Petebass]

Moderators, can you please explain what midi, spdif, and the other 1/8 inch connections are on most soundcards/mixers.

Where the hell do i conect my bass to my audiophile 2496?

Thanks

I'm not sure why this is diercted at me as a Moderator. the truth is there's a lot of guys who frequent this forum who know a lot more about PC recording than I do. But I'll have a crack at explaining your qustions in general terms, then leave it for the experts to jump in and elaborate.

The midi section of your sound card is what you typically use to connect a keyboard, drum machine, or any other midi enabled device.

SPDIF is basicaly a digital input/output that uses fibre optics. My soundcard has one but I've never used it, so I can't really offer any advice on practical uses for it.

The 1/8" connectors is pretty much the standard size connector for any sound card. Usually one of them is an output that you connect to an amp and then on to speakers so you can hear what you're doing. One is usually a mic/ line input that enables ou to feed audio into the computer.

I'm not familiar with your specific sound card. My advice is to read through the manual and see what you can find. And don't rush. Take your time, learn what you need to know. It'll save all sorts of headaches later.

 

[ras1983]

Thanks mate. i just thought a moderator would know of some threads that maybe i hadn't found.

Thanks again.

 

[Droog]

MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface. A protocol for transmitting info between MIDI devices and or devices with some kind of MIDI support. Most often used in conjunction with a sequencer, hardware or soft. Think of it as a modern day player piano. You record the MIDI infor and the sequencer plays it back through what ever device you tell it too. Of course there are many other uses for MIDI. Sysex, footswitches, lighing control, but its all the same thing, information. MIDI is not audio, I repeat MIDI is not audio.

S/PDIF, Sony/Phillip Digital Interface, a protocol for transmitting stereo digital audio. Commonly found in the form of an unbalanced 75 ohm coaxial cable with RCA connectors, also can be transmitted optically. Considered by most to be "consumer" as aposed to "profesional" AES/EBU which is basically the same signal but sent on a balanced line with XLR connectors, though sometimes BNC's are used too.

1/8" jack is simply an analog means to transmit stereo audio, or balanced mono audio, but not in the case of your PC. It is not prefered, nor recomended for serious work. Generally the noise floor is very high, frequency responce is poor and the analog to digital conversion is the cheapest possible.