I have cubase 6 running on windows 7 64bit, im not sure about my sound card or if i even have 1.
I have Logitech g35 headphones which are usb headphones. Is it possible to use these in cubase 6?
If it is possible which driver should i be using in Device setup? I have 2 options ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Driver or Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver or no driver… If i select ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver an alert message comes up and says
“Impossible to record audio because the Audio input is not active.
Open ASIO DirectX Duplex Setup dialog. Make sure that a device is selected in the Input Ports section and that its check box is activated.”
If i click on control panel at this point or any time whilst in ASIO DirectX Full Duplex Driver activated Cubase suddenly has an error and has to close…
Is my problem with my soundcard? do i need special headphones and a soundcard to use headphones with midi keyboard and cubase?
If your headphones are USB connected, they have an integrated soundcard. This is not recommended for Cubase, but you can get it to work. Download and install ASIO4all. In Cubase device setup, select this driver. Open de control panel and enable your headphone output. Now go to VST connections (f4) and make sure the output bus is set to the headphone as well. You should be able to work like that.
I would recommend getting a good audio interface though. With your current setup you probably can’t record external audio sources very well, like microphones or other instruments. As long as you use midi and software instruments that is no problem though. You might however find that the USB headphone audio interface is not really capable of running heavier projects with lots of plugins. In that case, you can improve a little by increasing the latency in the ASIO4all driver control panel.
If you could post your specific needs and budget, we can help you selecting a good soundcard.
thanks for the reply i am leaning away from these usb headphones and thinking of now getting a decent set of monitoring ones, but im not sure what to look for.
My budget isnt a problem really. Im solely into producing dubstep at the moment. What soundcard would you recommend, and could u please explain what an audio interface is? Im guessing its what you plug the headphones into or something?
Audio interface is just another word for soundcard, it’s the same thing really. It’s just that in the studio environment people prefer to call it an audio interface because generally soundcards are what people use for media playback, and audio interfaces are more aimed at providing good recording facilities as well as playback.
I can give you dozens of suggestions on audio interfaces, but it helps if I know what you are trying to do. Do you have any instruments you might want to record? Are they mono (guitar, microphone) or stereo (keyboard, synthesiser).
Do you have any hardware effect processors you might want to use on your recorded signal? Do you want to connect more than 1 pair of speakers and headphones?
If no to all the above, then you’ll only need a basic audio interface.
How are your speakers connected? Just a simple stereo mini jack plug? Or do you have an amplifier connected with RCA (red/black connectors usually)? Or balanced Jack/XLR?
Well firstly im basically just trying to produce some tunes. Im not going to be recording and instruments or singing or anything just using vsts like native instruments and the stock Cubase vsts. I only want to get a set of headphones to use when i cant use speakers ie. family members home etc. Im not sure about hardware effect processors or what they even are tbh I am extremely new to producing sorry again for noobness.
My speakers atm are just 5.1 logitech they connect with the yellow black and green plugs thats all i can really tell you about them lol. Idealy I would like to get a set of headphones also a set of speakers and be able to use them both with relative ease on cubase.
I see. Surround speakers like that are unfortunately a little difficult to use with an audio interface, because audio interfaces generally have mono balanced outputs instead of the stereo minijacks you need. You can probably get it working with some extension leads and some magic in the driver control panel. However, surround speakers are not recommended for producing music, unless you’re into film music
What I would do if I were you, is to keep the surround set connected to your onboard soundcard as it is now, and use that as the default soundcard in windows. That way, everything you normally do (media playback) will still play back over the surround set.
Next, you should invest in a basic audio interface. Steinberg makes some good ones themselves, but there are many more on the market. Check out this page for the cheapest Steinberg audio interfaces. Even the cheapest CI1 does what you need. If that is still too expensive for you, there are cheaper options around from Behringer for instance. You can also see if you can get a nice second hand deal perhaps.
Lastly, invest in a nice reference monitor system. These can go from 40 to over 10000, so it’s really a matter of how far you want to go with those. I suggest you don’t spend too much here as of yet, because when you go over 300, you’ll find that your room acoustics are more of a bottleneck than your speakers, unless of course you have an accoustically treated room. I personally use Alesis M1’s which go for around 220 a pair, but there are many similar models around, all of which perform well. Check some reviews to see if you’re not buying into junk . See this page for some more info on monitors.
As for Headphones, there is a lot of documentation on headphones for use in a studio. I think SoundonSound regularly do headphone comparisons, so check those out. Just make sure you buy one with a regular jack instead of USB
So I’ve familiarized myself with audio interfaces and monitors. Ive been looking at a few options i was thinking the CI2+ interface. Now this is USB powered correct? Meaning I have to plug my monitors into the interface via USB? Or plug the interface into the computer via USB? lol my noobness is probably irritating sorry.
On that note, my budget is around $400 for monitors so i was looking at these → https://www.storedj.com.au/products/BEH-B2030A? Would they be ok with the C12+ thinking about the acoustics of the room im using i dont want to get the wrong thing. Im in a square room aprox 5x5meters wide and 2.4meters high. There are 4 windows, 2 on 1 wall, 2 on the opposite side, and a door on another wall… If u can picture that… lol. Its also on the 2nd story of the house and theres no other rooms on any outside so its not very good if u can imagine. Would it be worth moving my setup downstairs underneath the stairs to dull the sound a bit or… =s
If you were wondering why there is a door it leads to a bridge which goes accross to a higher part of ground. Just thought id mention that it looked weird saying there was a door…
USB powered means it needs no power supply. You connect it to the PC with USB, where it sends all incoming audio to the PC and all outgoing audio to the monitors. the monitors you connect using regular stereo jack-jack cables, or Jack-XLR. I couldn’t really find cabling on the website you found the monitors on, but your CI has 1/4" TRS outputs, the monitors have 1/4"TRS and XLR inputs. So you can get TRS-TRS or TRS-XLR cables, whichever you want, there’s no real difference.
They are nice speakers and should serve you much better than a surround system.
This should be a nice setup to get you started. I suggest that after you set everything up, spend a good few months exploring your system and possibilities before buying anything else. Gear lust is something most musicians fall for, but in my experience your music gets better from knowing your tools, not from buying new stuff
I would not worry too much about acoustics as of yet, unless you are a very critical listener. If you don’t get too much noise from outside (busy road etc.) you should be allright. If there’s some furniture in the room, curtains, carpet etc, the room should sound good enough. There are some guides on how to place monitor speakers (I think there was one on SoundonSound recently, google it), so you can have a look at those to get some tips. If you’re only just starting out, there’s no need to get worried too much about this yet. When you are at a point where you can clearly identify the faults in the musical representation in your room we’ll talk again, you can safely produce 50 songs before that time.
i am leaning away from these usb headphones and thinking of now getting a decent set of monitoring ones, but im not sure what to look for.
thinking about the acoustics of the room im using i dont want to get the wrong thing. Im in a square room aprox 5x5meters wide and 2.4meters high. There are 4 windows, 2 on 1 wall, 2 on the opposite side, and a door on another wall… If u can picture that… lol. Its also on the 2nd story of the house and theres no other rooms on any outside so its not very good if u can imagine. Would it be worth moving my setup downstairs underneath the stairs to dull the sound a bit or… =s