Firewire to USB adapter

[balanceandswing]

That's what I figured.
I see everyone's computer information at the bottom of their posts but not on mine. I have gone over my profile but don't see where the setting is to share my computer information. Is it because I am the one who started the post that it doesn't get displayed?
Thanks
Joe

[JoelG]

Nope, you can add a signature by going into "User CP" at the far left of the tool bar above, then Edit Signature from the options on the left.

Joel

[balanceandswing]

Do you recommend balanced or unbalanced cables with the Focusrite? I believe the specs say either will work with the device but I am trying to determine what is recommended. Perhaps balanced is recommended for acoustic instruments?
I am using Bartlett condenser mics on my fiddle and mandolin. I am not sure if they are balanced or not. I need to go back and check.

Also, the room I plan to record in has hardwood floors and is very lively, very loud. I don't think it will be an issue dealing with all of the ambient sounds of a live room since everyone either has a direct connect condenser mic or 1/4 inch ino guitar and keyboard.

But, if I wanted to record without direct connects with say some kind of omni mic, would it work with a lively room and can you recommend a couple?

Thanks
Joe

[JoelG]

I'd go balanced if you can choose between balanced or unbalanced. That said, any decent mic is going to be balanced anyway.

I personally only have a handful of mics, I'll let someone else chime in for recommending a good room mic.

Joel

[balanceandswing]

I am having difficulty getting Protools First to recognize the different mic inputs from my digi002 using firewire.
It works but very poor audio quality when selecting the digi as the playback engine. So I end up having to switch back and forth between the windows playback engine (so I can play back the audio through the pc speakers) and the digi playback engine so I can record).
Basically when I am in windows playback engine mode, it does not recognize that I have multiple pres through from the digi and the 1394 interface. It show either no input or the default microphone inputs that come with the onboard PC sound system.

I am thinking it is not possible or something has taken over exclusive access to the digi making protools not see it at all as a viable input. All eight digi channels show as ready on the system sound recording tab. I have tried changing the properties multiple variations (exclusive access, not exclusive...)on the system sound recording tab for the digi but protools does not recognize any of the channels.

Is there a utility one can use to check if an other application has taken over exclusive access to a device driver, in this case the digi device? (There is probably something in windows device manager but I have not stumbled upon it yet.)
Wondering if I will run into this when I finally make the leap to the Focusrite.
Thanks for any input.

[balanceandswing]

Nevermind on that last question I posted. It was user error. I was trying all kinds of different settings on the Recording tab under Sound to try and get the Digi002 recognized as an input device under Windows Audio Mode. I tried setting all of my recording channels to listen under the Sound->Recording tab->Device -> Properties.... Don't set them to listen. Leave them alone and set to Default Playback Device. Otherwise you will get very distorted mic recording audio. Protools still does not see the digi002 as an input device under Windows Audio Device but I am ok living with switching back and forth between playback engines. I am such a newb at this, maybe that is the way it is supposed to work. Will have to make time to get through the Protools First FAQ.

Also, if you are looking for ways to troubleshoot what device driver may be taking over exclusive rights to a device, there is a treasure trove of utilities that might be of help under Windows SysInternals.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals

One recommendation to Protools first I would make is creating a separate Playback Engine settings utility outside of the main app. Waiting for the app to start and holding down N takes forever sometimes. A separate utility would really help.