Problem recording more than one audio track with monitor

Getting Stuff Done How do I .... ?
#1

Hi,
I’ve got an Audigy 2 sound card and in Ardour I’ve got as far as being able to record a track from a microphone input. I’ve set up a headphone monitoring bus, and am now attempting to record a second (vocal) track, while listening to the first in the headphones. I’ve used a post-fader send on the first track (mandolin) to send it to the headphone bus. The problem is, when I try and record the vocal part I get the mandolin on it as well.

Here’s a screenshot of my Jack connections:
http://www.rebelschemes.net/temp/Screenshot-Connections%20-%20JACK%20Audio%20Connection%20Kit.png

As far as I can tell the only input to the vocal track comes from the sound card (alsa_pcm), so why am I hearing/recording the mandolin track on it? Is it something the sound card is doing? Can I disable it?

Any help or suggestions gratefully received.
Many thanks,
Richard

#2

You need to check what signal the h/w is setup to “capture”. Ardour and JACK do not attempt to change this. If you are capturing the output stream (possible on a number of devices), you will get precisely what you describe.

You can use alsamixer or various GUI h/w mixer control apps to check on this.

#3

That’s done it, thanks! In alsamixer I turned down the volume on all the capture inputs apart from the ‘Mic’ and ‘Analog Mix’.

#4

I am pulling my hair out over a similar issue. I am trying to record on my thinkpad. I have only two connections, one headphone and one stereo mic. I am using the thinkpad because I can more conveniently practice and record while away from home. I can’t seem to record a second track while listening to the first track without the first track also being recorded onto the second track. I believe I have tried about every combination I can think of on the inputs and outputs and ALSA volume control.

If I open the Ardour mixer I believe I can get the inputs working like I want in that when I play the first track I can see the output levels moving and they don’t show up on the second track’s input levels and when I strum the guitar I do levels do go up on the 2nd track. The only problem is, now I can’t hear anything on the headphones. I know this has to be a n00b issue.

I think it has something to do with ALSA. In my ALSA GUI I have several switches listed like so:

  • Mic Boost
  • Video
  • Phone
  • Aux
  • Mix
  • Mix Mono
  • External Amp
  • Stereo Mic

I have to have “Mix” selected in order to get the mic input get a signal to Ardour. Is it possible that it can’t be done with this hardware or should I keep at it? Is there something I might need to do in qjackctl? Thanks for any help!