My new practice gear

cain

Hi

I bought me a korg pandora PX5D this weekend. What can i say, this is one awesome little toy. The effects and amp modulations are really nice. I connect it to my pc via usb and it acts as a both a recording device as well as an external soundcard. This sounds stupid but .... imagine playing a backtrack in winamp etc and it goes to the korg, then your guitar sounds are also modulated in the korg. Plugging monitors/headphones into it then gives your guitar running over your backtrack ( very nice indeed ). Im sure you can play back the guitar into windows if you want to, but why would you want to ? This is like having a real mini studio move going!

My two problems, ive realised that im not getting the distortion sounds i want because of using the strats. I reckon i need a basswood or mahogany+maple top guitar with humbuckers to achieve this. Im deciding on an ibanez jem ( 6 string prestige, the top range on ) or a jackson king V select series.

The other issue my creative speakers cant handle the output from the korg that well so i need some studio monitors to handle the bass/mid/trebble sounds properly. Do you guys have any advice on what to buy. Im looking for something that sounds nice but wont cost me an arm and a leg.

Oh yes, and recordings will be up soon!

AlanRatcliffe

Sounds cool. Waiting for clips.... ?

Given the choice between a Jackson and an upper model Ibanez, Id go for the Ibby anytime.

Monitors are in most cases pretty much a case of "you get what you pay for". Sometimes there'll be one set that jump out as a "best buy" at a particular price range, but I'll need to know your price range. Also bear in mind they are often upgraded, so it's always possible to find a good set for less on the secondhand market, as long as you know what you are looking for.

cain

I will have to save up in any case alan. Prolly the 3k - 5k range. Which branding is good in this market ? M-Audio / Yamaha etc ? And can these monitors be plugged strait into a soundcard ?

AlanRatcliffe

KRK Rokit 6s are about the best in that price range - a really nice tight low end and lots of detail and accuracy. I nearly bought the RP-8s myself, but ended up stretching the budget to the KRK V8s.

Alesis are another contender, but tend to overhype the low end a bit. Yamaha and Roland are both overpriced. The Yamaha's in particular have a lot of accuracy, but a specific "sound" that takes a bit of getting used to.

Any active (amplified) monitor will work directly into a soundcard or mixer. Bi-amped is always better (separate amp for each high and low frequency driver).

Riaan

Alan, what's the best way to connect monitors to a soundcard with muliple outputs? Not having monitors at the moment, all I know is what I can figure out from webpage brochures and so on. It appears that most monitors accept either a XLR or a 1/4" plug (like a guitar cable?). Do monitors come with special cables with the right connections? And with multiple outputs from the soundcard, does one use 2 outputs and send a mono signal through each, or stereo via RCA connection?

cain

That is why you buy a decent soundcard. If you record, you dont use built in sound cards, you use pro soundcards. Most cheapo guys go for creative audigy's. Then there are all those Maya, M-Audio etc soundcards. All these mentioned has 1/4" jacks.

AlanRatcliffe

Riaan wrote Alan, what's the best way to connect monitors to a soundcard with muliple outputs?

Depends on if you are mixing in or out "of the box" (computer). Mixing internally, you sum everything to a stereo bus, and output to one stereo pair of your soundcard's outputs directly to the monitors.

If you are mixing out of the box, it'll be via multiple busses in your DAW, each bus feeding an output (or output pair, if it's a stereo bus) on your interface. You connect each with cables into a mixer. The mixer then does the summing to a stereo signal for the monitors. This allows you to mix with outboard processors (and you can count a good console as a processor too - some like the colouration that certain outboard consoles have). You can then do an analogue mix and either send it back to the DAW or to another recorder as the stereo master.

For most home studio users without a mixing console, "in the box" makes more sense, as you need minimal outboard gear to get up and running and you can automate your mixes easily, without needing an SSL or other automated console.

It appears that most monitors accept either a XLR or a 1/4" plug (like a guitar cable?).

Yup. In a better monitor it'll it'll be a balanced TRS (Tip/Ring/Sleeve - the same plugs they use for stereo) 1/4" input - it can also be used unbalanced with a TS instrument cable though.

Do monitors come with special cables with the right connections?

No. You supply the cables. It all depends on your interface's outputs:

If your soundcard has unbalanced TS (Tip/Sleeve)1/4" outs, a decent instrument cable will do
If it has balanced 1/4" outs, ideally you need a TRS-TRS or TRS-XLR cable to connect the two as a balanced circuit. An instrument cable will work, but the connection will be unbalanced and have 6dB less output.
If your soundcard has XLR outs, a decent mic cable is just the ticket.
If you have an interface with stereo TRS outputs for each stereo pair you need to split the unbalanced left and right using an insert cable (1XTRS - 2XTS 1/4").
If you have RCA outputs, you'll need RCA-TS cables or an RCA cable with adaptors to 1/4" on the monitor side (which is more stable than a male RCA-female TS on the interface side. Just make sure you've got decent RCA cables - as a general rule, if it comes from Ellies Electronics or HiFi Corp., it's not a good cable ?