How to capture sound and music? \ VOGONS

How to capture sound and music?

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First post, by jheronimus

Posted on 2019-12-14, 10:44

jheronimus Offline

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Posts: 1539
Joined: 2015-12-10, 00:09

Hi, all

Over the time I have amassed a considerable amount of different sound cards, from PAS Plus and early SB clones to Turtle Beach Tropez, GUS, AWE32 and the likes. I'd like to record some samples to put them online via Soundcloud or may be even my own site. Problem is, I don't have any device that can take line input.

My main computer is a 2019 MacBook Air (2 USB-C ports, one headphone/mic jack, a USB-C to USB3 external adapter). I also have an iPhone 8 (Lightning only, but I have a Lightning to audio jack adapter) and iPad Air 2 (has both Lightning and audio jack). So the plan is to capture sound using any of these devices.

Obviously I need an external audio interface of some sort. I've read countless reviews on Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, Behringer UM2 and even things like iRig Pro I/O. They all seem to be designed for professionals, so I'm trying to understand whether I need them.

Basically all I need is a device that would allow me to capture line input on my Mac (or a mobile device) without introducing any extra noise or "alterations" to the OPL3 and MIDI music that I'm playing on my retro PC.

It would also be cool if the device could act as a passthrough. In this scenario I'm feeding all audio into this interface, send it to my MacBook or iPhone and still hear the sounds through a speaker set.

Logically it seems to me that there should be a cheap way to do this, but I'm okay with spending around $100 if that would make capturing easier or give me better results.

Any advice?

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Unicore catalog

Reply 1 of 3, by jaZz_KCS

Posted on 2019-12-14, 10:59

jaZz_KCS Offline

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Ideally you would want a USB soundcard/device of sorts with inputs that connects to the PC/Mac via USB. That way you are not prone to any additional loss of quality when capturing as the soundcard would transfer the data digitally to your computer. Like for example the Behringer UMC202HD, if one pair of channels is enough. This way you could do both, record everything you hear and ofc passthrough, as you undoubtedly have your Audio HiFi connected to your computer. Equivalent devices would ofc also work, these Behringers are just a slightly expensive example, and you wouldnt need phantom power and XLR/jack combo connectors probably...

Generally a USB soundcard akin to the one mentioned above with the appropriate type and number of inputs for your scenario would suit you well.

Reply 2 of 3, by derSammler

Posted on 2019-12-14, 11:42

derSammler Offline

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I use a dedicated PC running Linux with an Asus Xonar PCI-E sound card for capturing audio. It has an SNR of 112 dB, which is good enough for non-professional use.

You can also use any USB audio device, but stay away from the very cheap ones. If you plan to use it more than once, better get some semi-professional device like a Roland UA-20. They aren't very expensive these days.