Recording via Headrush - USB - help!

gearaddict

I'm a complete novice to recording but my son wanted to record a guitar part for his music course at school so I was trying to get the Headrush to connect to the program they are using - Audacity - but completely failed. I managed to get the DAW to see the Headrush in the input options (plugged in via USB, set to input to a DAW in the HR Global settings, installed the latest Windows drivers) but couldn't get any sound to register...any suggestions for things to try?

TheBigDipper

I've got a home DAW setup with a PreSonus iTwo audio interface into either a MacBook Pro (Logic Pro) or an iPad (GarageBand for iPad), so I know the software end of my setup is working. 

I've just started experimenting using my recently-purchased HR Gigboard as an audio interface, to see what it can do. I'm connecting to the Mac with a USB cable and to the iPad with the USB cable into an Apple Camera Kit (essentially a USB-to-Lightening convertor). I don't know everything, but here's what I've done so far... It applies to both the Mac and the iPad - they're working the same. 

Like you, I'm using DAW in the Global Setting for USB audio. Did you set the USB Audio from OFF to ON, BTW? Easy mistake (DAMHIK, OK?). I don't think your computer would "see" the HR if you hadn't, but you never know... 

So, first thing I did was test my ability to play back music. Can you hear audio on the HR headphones o/p if you play a YouTube clip, for example? That will tell you that the hardware is working for playback purposes. 

Then I set up a little recording session. I set up the DAW to record a stereo track using an audio source - the i/ps coming from inputs 1 & 2 on the HR and sending the outputs 1 & 2 to the single stereo track. Because I'm in DAW mode on the HR, I couldn't hear what I was playing unless I made the DAW monitor the track and send the audio back to me. The Gigboard doesn't have the ability to do monitoring within in the audio interface. The HR Pedalboard may do - I don't know. 

It works for me. Which is sort of what you want to hear, I guess. The HR does its job as documented. 

A suggestion? If you can play back audio it's likely everything you've got wired up is correct and the problem is within your Audacity setup. I wouldn't have bothered to read this post if the title had included "Audacity". I wonder if Audacity users won't read it because it says "Headrush"? Title change, perhaps, to attract more Audacity experts.

FWIW, I tried to use Audacity a few months ago because I (cough) believed it might let me capture live streams of audio as they played. I couldn't get it to work. It doesn't look very intuitive to me. 

Good luck, fella!

TheBigDipper

Oh, and one thing I have found with the Gigboard in DAW mode is that signal levels need attention. I had a preset with a couple of scenes (one rhythm, one lead) - the difference being a distortion was turned on in the lead scene and off in the rhythm scene. When playing them normally, sending the output to an amp or a monitor, they were of similar volumes to my ears and the output meter in the output block showed they were well below unity. In DAW mode, the lead scene was clipping like crazy and very very hot. I had to go into the output block and reduce the output gain from 0dB to -18dB to get a usable level for recording. Odd, but workable. 

gearaddict

Yeah - Audacity is just the one they use in school. Probably not the best.

I was hoping I could connect the Headrush as an input to Audacity and monitor it using his normal PC speaker (actually a PA speaker plugged into the PC).

It seems to connect but when I play I see nothing happening on the track and hear nothing.

Dunno - I'l play with it a bit more.

gearaddict

I managed to get it working but if you try and monitor while playing, there is a huge latency...not sure if I need a dedicated sound card in the PC, or should the Headrush act as the soundcard and I've not set things up correctly?

TheBigDipper

gearaddict said:

I managed to get it working but if you try and monitor while playing, there is a huge latency...not sure if I need a dedicated sound card in the PC, or should the Headrush act as the soundcard and I've not set things up correctly?

When you're connected via USB Audio, then the HR is the soundcard/audio interface. That means your PC speaker will not be getting the audio output from anything you run. It will be bypassed by Windows. Digital audio out will go back to the HR for it to convert to analogue and for you to listen on headphones plugged into the HR or send it out to another speaker/amp etc. 

It's a decent audio interface. I'm not planning on using my PreSonus when I'm tracking guitars throgh the HR. 

Maybe you could run the USB in LIVE mode rather than DAW and listen to your playing without going through the DAW and back like it does with monitoring from within the DAW. I have to say my iPAd (and my Mac) are both fine when I'm monitoring via the DAW, there's no noticeable latency - but all hardware is different, as is the load we place upon it with our software. In DAW mode, your guitar audio only goes to the PC via USB. In LIVE mode, it also sends it to the main output sockets. 

gearaddict

Thanks - got it sussed now I think. 

gearaddict

Further to this saga - we now have a synth in the mix...and I had the bright idea of plugging this into the aux input of the Headrush. This does allow us to hear both guitar and synth through the same speaker setup but the aux input doesn't seem to get recorded in the DAW...anyone know if it is possible to get the DAW to record both guitar and synth? Otherwise, we have to switch cables around and stuff...which is workable but not ideal.