Hi
Thought I’d ask some questions as I’ve ordered (although not yet received) a Steinberg UR22, specifically for the purpose of recording my digital piano.
I have a laptop I use in connection with / dedicated to my digital piano(s) - although not for use as a software piano or virtual instrument - I’m content with the native output from my digital piano(s).
I wanted to record things I’m playing - sometimes just pure audio, other times I may well record video as well - and then (hopefully) mux the direct recording of the audio with the video recorded.
My first attempts were using audacity on my laptop (it is a reasonably contemporary laptop, but has no dedicated line-in, just a kind of virtual one). I used a stereo output from my digital piano through to a 3.5mm jack on my laptop, and used audacity to record it. The result wasn’t very good - pauses and bits with no sound, plus lots of hiss and hum. I then used one of my old minidisc recorders (using the same kind of cable) and it was a reasonable recording, which I then captured on another PC in the house (in another room) which does have a true line-in, and recorded with audacity. And with some minor clean-up in audacity, was a reasonable / listenable recording, but not something I was particularly happy with, plus the process was pretty laborious - recording it to minidisc, then recording it on another PC.
So I decided to get a dedicated USB audio interface, and chose one that appeared decent and tried using it. It appears a very similar type of device to the Steinberg UR22 - USB with 2 dedicated TRS / XLR inputs on the front, midi input and output on the back. There still seemed some background hum that I wasn’t pleased with, though.
It appears the two front 6.35 jack inputs on the front are mono, which whilst I can record in audacity, even taken as two channels, is just going to be mono. So I’ve ordered a 6.35 stereo jack, to left and right, mono 6.35 jack outputs - but hasn’t yet arrived (I currently have both mono and stereo 6.35 to 6.35 jack instrument cables).
As one way, or another, I’ve been underwhelmed with the USB audio interface I’ve already got, I decided to order a Steinberg UR22 - as it was originally my first choice, and I only bought the one I’ve got because it was a fair bit cheaper at the time.
So my question boils down to this, in order to record true stereo (as I got when recording to minidisc, going from 6.35 stereo jack from the digital piano, to 3.5 stereo jack input to my minidisc recorder), when I’ve got my 6.35 stereo jack to 2 x 6.35 (left and right) mono outputs, if I use the stereo jack in my digital piano’s stereo output, and use the left and right mono jacks as 1 and 2 on the UR22, then use audacity to record these, will I get two independent channels, usable as a stereo recording?
Or will Windows / audacity only take one channel from the UR22 as mono, and if recording that as 2 channel, just make 2 channels of the same mono output?