Can I record my vinyl sets with my internal soundcard (Korg Zero 4)

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Can I record my vinyl sets with my internal soundcard (Korg Zero 4)
Posted on: 09.08.2012 by Nereida Jasnoch
So I was watching TV and I saw a hard dnb set, I immediately fell in love with the genre again. It's been months since I played dnb.

And was real pumped and did an hour long set with all my HARD dnb records.
It was amazing. Best improv ever.

But is there a way to record that set ?

Please note:
-The mixer has a record out, but it's currently in use, I hook up my speakers with RCAs instead of XLR.
-The mixer is digital and I can hook it up to a laptop with FireWire (Audacity perhaps ?)

I guess the only way is to buy one of those soundcards specificly made for this, but I don't want to spend the money.
I've seen some routings but that is for traktor scratch setups...
Nereida Jasnoch
20.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
I recall downloading something - I thought there were drivers included - but maybe it was just the traktor adapter for the zero 4 that was included. I'm glad you got it to work. Are you picking up any static or is it clean when recording with vinyl?
Yeah must have been the traktor adaptor. My recordings are pretty crisp but my monitors do have some hissing/static. But it's only noticeable when I'm not playing anything.
Carmelo Politowicz
20.08.2012
Originally Posted by MyUsername
1. There are no Mac drivers, only PC drivers. It works fine without drivers for me, did you download any ?
2. Thanks. A quick change with the edit software and it worked like a charm. In audacity too.
I recall downloading something - I thought there were drivers included - but maybe it was just the traktor adapter for the zero 4 that was included. I'm glad you got it to work. Are you picking up any static or is it clean when recording with vinyl?
Nereida Jasnoch
19.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
Have you installed the Mac drivers (firewire) for it? Run the zero edit to make sure its communicating properly.
1. There are no Mac drivers, only PC drivers. It works fine without drivers for me, did you download any ?
2. Thanks. A quick change with the edit software and it worked like a charm. In audacity too.
Danae Dumler
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
I do however have a slight hiss/crackle on the recordings, both vinyl and those recorded/played through traktor. I do not get any hiss/crackle through the mains or the headphone monitors, so its not perfect unfortunately (at least, in my experience).
This may be an issue with your firewire port, I have seen this on other soundcards that use firewire. If you get a chance to experiment with another Mac or another port give that a shot.
Ciara Cuttill
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
I meant he should just connect his speakers to the main out since he has his regular speakers hooked up to record out now.
I agree fully with this, that way he can utilize the volume controls without messing with the speakers.
Ciara Cuttill
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
Yeah even if you end up recording over firewire I would still hook up the speakers this way to the main out via xlr and not the record out- record out doesn't have volume control on the mixer.
the record option has no volume control so this is where I would utilize the recording software. I usually use the booth for my speakers so I can adjust volume on the fly and mute if I wanted to.


xlr to 3.5mm would be ideal, but I couldn't find those cables locally so I'm just rocking booth outputs for now.
Romelia Stankard
10.08.2012		The mixer has a soundcard via firewire- install the zero 4 drivers and you should be able to record right off the soundcard into audacity or wherever with no extra wires or anything.

Originally Posted by Eliot Han
audacity for line in ... how are your speakers setup???

if they utilize rca, you can get an xlr to rca cable to plug into the back of your mixer to your speakers freeing up the record for recording.
Yeah even if you end up recording over firewire I would still hook up the speakers this way to the main out via xlr and not the record out- record out doesn't have volume control on the mixer.
Jenna Skeem
10.08.2012		Instead of buying xlr's and worrying about levels do this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1M-Metre-T...item4163c447a0

18j5697.jpg

then Just use a simple RCA to 3.5mm into your line in on the MBP
Nereida Jasnoch
20.08.2012		I'm sorry Vandalus, how exactly do you have it set up in the software?

I only did a quick test yesterday, just one record, didn't want to wake the neighbors.

When I did a mix today I was getting all channels not just the master. So as soon as I dropped the needle on the second record with the channel faders still down for that deck I was already hearing it on my recording.
Nereida Jasnoch
20.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
I recall downloading something - I thought there were drivers included - but maybe it was just the traktor adapter for the zero 4 that was included. I'm glad you got it to work. Are you picking up any static or is it clean when recording with vinyl?
Yeah must have been the traktor adaptor. My recordings are pretty crisp but my monitors do have some hissing/static. But it's only noticeable when I'm not playing anything.
Carmelo Politowicz
20.08.2012
Originally Posted by MyUsername
1. There are no Mac drivers, only PC drivers. It works fine without drivers for me, did you download any ?
2. Thanks. A quick change with the edit software and it worked like a charm. In audacity too.
I recall downloading something - I thought there were drivers included - but maybe it was just the traktor adapter for the zero 4 that was included. I'm glad you got it to work. Are you picking up any static or is it clean when recording with vinyl?
Nereida Jasnoch
19.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
Have you installed the Mac drivers (firewire) for it? Run the zero edit to make sure its communicating properly.
1. There are no Mac drivers, only PC drivers. It works fine without drivers for me, did you download any ?
2. Thanks. A quick change with the edit software and it worked like a charm. In audacity too.
Danae Dumler
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Vandalus
I do however have a slight hiss/crackle on the recordings, both vinyl and those recorded/played through traktor. I do not get any hiss/crackle through the mains or the headphone monitors, so its not perfect unfortunately (at least, in my experience).
This may be an issue with your firewire port, I have seen this on other soundcards that use firewire. If you get a chance to experiment with another Mac or another port give that a shot.
Carmelo Politowicz
10.08.2012		I have this same mixer. Have you installed the Mac drivers (firewire) for it? Once plugged in via firewire, the yellow connector on the mixer should light up. Run the zero edit to make sure its communicating properly. Then, open audacity, or really any audio program and your korg should show up and from there you can record whatever is coming out of the mixer. The issue is you need to run the zero edit to find (or amend depending on how its set up) which channel the master sound is being sent to digitally. I have tried recording in ableton which worked much better than audacity - for some reason with audacity I wasn't getting the right channels. Ableton picked it up right away and everything recorded perfectly. I should add - I only messed around with audacity for maybe 2 minutes, realized it wasn't working right and said screw it - went back into ableton and it worked perfectly so I'm not saying its not possible, just I didn't bother to spend the time figuring out audacity to make it work.

I do however have a slight hiss/crackle on the recordings, both vinyl and those recorded/played through traktor. I do not get any hiss/crackle through the mains or the headphone monitors, so its not perfect unfortunately (at least, in my experience).
Ciara Cuttill
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
I meant he should just connect his speakers to the main out since he has his regular speakers hooked up to record out now.
I agree fully with this, that way he can utilize the volume controls without messing with the speakers.
Romelia Stankard
10.08.2012		I meant he should just connect his speakers to the main out since he has his regular speakers hooked up to record out now.
Ciara Cuttill
10.08.2012
Originally Posted by Xonetacular
Yeah even if you end up recording over firewire I would still hook up the speakers this way to the main out via xlr and not the record out- record out doesn't have volume control on the mixer.
the record option has no volume control so this is where I would utilize the recording software. I usually use the booth for my speakers so I can adjust volume on the fly and mute if I wanted to.


xlr to 3.5mm would be ideal, but I couldn't find those cables locally so I'm just rocking booth outputs for now.
Romelia Stankard
10.08.2012		The mixer has a soundcard via firewire- install the zero 4 drivers and you should be able to record right off the soundcard into audacity or wherever with no extra wires or anything.

Originally Posted by Eliot Han
audacity for line in ... how are your speakers setup???

if they utilize rca, you can get an xlr to rca cable to plug into the back of your mixer to your speakers freeing up the record for recording.
Yeah even if you end up recording over firewire I would still hook up the speakers this way to the main out via xlr and not the record out- record out doesn't have volume control on the mixer.
Danae Dumler
10.08.2012		If you're on a Mac go into Audio MIDI settings and see if you can find the sound card that way; you may be able to set the sound card to go directly through firewire which is what it sounds like you want to do. Most mixers with built in soundcards can do that. It sounds like you can see the mixer's soundcard in your software but you're not getting the right outputs from the mixer; the soundcard has more than one output so you have to find the ones that are actually sending the mix out through it. I'm sure it's there, it is on most other mixers I've seen that have soundcards.

I don't know audacity very well; I use a program called SoundStudio on the Mac and it allows me to select which output ports from the soundcard I want directly in the software. I would assume audacity has the same feature; if not, it should... then again, that may be something that has to be configured by the mixer somehow.
Jenna Skeem
10.08.2012		Instead of buying xlr's and worrying about levels do this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1M-Metre-T...item4163c447a0

18j5697.jpg

then Just use a simple RCA to 3.5mm into your line in on the MBP
Janyce Henningson
10.08.2012		lol, I dunno was just looking at the back of the mixer - it has S/PDIF out and your macbook has an in port so might work.
And lots less cables - and a pure digital signal.

But I have no idea really, never tried myself so don't know if it works.

One thing I believe I read ages ago when I was looking at buying one was there was a problem with mac's and 192KHz setting so make sure it's not that as well..
Nereida Jasnoch
10.08.2012		^Why do you believe that's better in some way ?
Janyce Henningson
10.08.2012		What about the S/PDIF?
Never tried it myself so unsure?
Nereida Jasnoch
10.08.2012		Hahaha, I appreciate it you took the time to make a nice diagram. First thing I saw this morning and my day was made.

But isn't XLR to 3,5 mm easier ?
I actually just wanted to avoid having to buy cables. But since it is a €10 investment I'll give it a go.
Ciara Cuttill
09.08.2012		There probably is a way to utilize the audio interface, but I don't know much about that mixer. I did however create this diagram for you. It is similar to how i have my mixer setup for recording.



I know it doesn't answer your question, but I'd figure I'd still post this workaround.
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012		I tried with garageband and again the mixer is recognized as an input source and I select it but the recording has no audio in it.
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012
Originally Posted by Eliot Han
... sorry, cant quite understand what is going on here. what kind of mixer do you have? when you say using the digital on your mixer what does that mean? from my understanding, digital mixing (midi mode) would utilize the internal mixing on a dj program vs external mode, the analogue way of channeling in your decks on multiple sound outs. if you are trying to record you spinning vinyl, you would have to record by utilizing the record out or the speaker out on your mixer. digital will only record whats being mixed internally.
Let me clarify then:

The mixer I have is a Korg Zero 4 (I believe I mentioned that a few times) and I thought that digital is not necessarily MIDI (yes it can send MIDI, but that 's not relevant here)

I doubled checked and it can serve as a MIDI interface but also as an Audio interface it says in the manual that it can send the signal of an input source (TT or whatever) or the mixed signals to your computer.

ALSO NOTE: I did this vinyl set without any software, I never mixed in traktor or anything. You might have thought I was doing it in traktor. At least that's what I got from your last post.

Does this give you a better idea of the situation ? I really hope I can work this out. I thought I had it when Audacity recognized the mixer but no...
Ciara Cuttill
09.08.2012		... sorry, cant quite understand what is going on here. what kind of mixer do you have? when you say using the digital on your mixer what does that mean? from my understanding, digital mixing (midi mode) would utilize the internal mixing on a dj program vs external mode, the analogue way of channeling in your decks on multiple sound outs. if you are trying to record you spinning vinyl, you would have to record by utilizing the record out or the speaker out on your mixer. digital will only record whats being mixed internally.
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012		In audacity I can select the Zero 4 as an input source when hooked up with FireWire.
But the recordings are empty. Input VU-meters are showing nothing. Input volume in the software is at max level.

Now what ?

EDIT: FAQ was also not helpful
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012		Mixer > RCA to mini jack cable > speakers

I have shit speakers. They sound well but lack of any professional connections is a pain in the ass.

I guess it's an XLR to mini jack cable for me then.
Or I'll download Audacity right now and give the FireWire a try. You never know.
Ciara Cuttill
09.08.2012		audacity for line in ... how are your speakers setup???

if they utilize rca, you can get an xlr to rca cable to plug into the back of your mixer to your speakers freeing up the record for recording.
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012
Originally Posted by mr.Byrd2593
The 13 in. macbooks headphone port works both ways.
I thought so, but thanks for the confirmation anyways.
Buford Vitto
09.08.2012		The 13 in. macbooks headphone port works both ways.
Nereida Jasnoch
09.08.2012		I have a 13 inch MBP. It has no audio in port like the 15 & 17 inch models. Or does that mean that I have one port that works both ways ? I don't know.

And my speakers don't support XLR or anything else for that matter. Perhaps it's time for an upgrade in that department.
And once the audio reaches your laptop then what ? Audacity ?

But actually I was really hoping I could work something out with the FireWire.
Ciara Cuttill
09.08.2012		cant you just buy a aux to headphone cable and plug into record or one of the outs and into the line in in on your computer???



this is how i record my mixes off my mixer.



EDIT**
nevermind i just reread your post. maybe utilize the xlrs for your speakers and the record for the line in.


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