When I want to record only one track
I have a couple different sound cards, and I have the same question reguarding both of them.
When I want to record a track from my 4 input channel sound card, I set up a single track to record which seems to work fine. But when I finish recording, N-track inserts 3 more blank tracks. So every time I record something I immediatly have to delete the 3 tracks that I dont want. The same thing happens with my 2 channel sound card (but I only get one extra blank track so its not quite as annoying).
I’m hoping that this is a simple fix that I am just overlooking…
You have to set JUST the inputs you want to use in the preferences. Selecting “record from” isn’t enough to prevent blank tracks from being saved…though I think it should be. I’d really like to be able to change predefined IO configs with a single click. I don’t want to record 8 channels of drums when doing a tambourine and all I need is the two overheads, and I have the headphones coming out of a Gina and the speakers out of a Layla (there’s a reason I do this). I have to change prefs to use the phones.
If you want to do just one track from one input select it as the only input pair. Then click the hammer and set mono, stereo, or stereo to two mono tracks. Selecting mono will do a single track from the left or 1 of a 1-2 pair.
thanks phoo, that did the trick. I figured it was something simple. Although I can see what you mean - with a little more elaborate setup like yours it would get pretty tedious switching the IO prefs all the time.
...with a little more elaborate setup like yours it would get pretty tedious switching the IO prefs all the time.
It is. I use the Layla20 as a mixer for all the outboard stuff - GuitarPort (audio out), synth modules, and even as in input from the tape output of a tuner with a turntable and cassette deck. I also send from different pairs of the Layla20 to other things, such as the tape in on the tuner and a small guitar amp (ply through the GuitarPort and hear it out the guitar amp's speaker). The tuner doubles my headphone amp these days. That's all 16 bits as most of that stuff won't necessarily suffer too much by staying 16 bits in the digital domain. When I record live drums I switch all monitoring and recording over to the Gina24, which is hooked to a Behringer ADA8000 preamp, using the ADAT connector. That's 24 bits all the way, and because of the monitoring in the Layla20 I get the analog output of the Gina24 to the tuner for phones.
Because the Gina24 and Layla20 are not compatible when using the ADAT connector (Gina24 must use the ADAT clock and the Layla20 doesn't have that) I need to make a full switch from one interface to the other. Not only does that mean I need to change n-Tracks IO preferences, I need to change the recording format as well fro 16 to 24 bits or the other way around. I also switch some of the mono-stereo-stereo-to two mono tracks settings.
It really is a big pain, and occasional n-Tracks gets confused and I have to reset the prefs.
An easy (sort of) workaround would be to save off the n-tracks config files for each prefs configuration, then make a batch file that would copy one of those configs to the ntracks.exe folder and start up n-Tracks....maybe I'd try that eventually.
It is. I use the Layla20 as a mixer for all the outboard stuff - GuitarPort (audio out), synth modules, and even as in input from the tape output of a tuner with a turntable and cassette deck. I also send from different pairs of the Layla20 to other things, such as the tape in on the tuner and a small guitar amp (ply through the GuitarPort and hear it out the guitar amp's speaker). The tuner doubles my headphone amp these days. That's all 16 bits as most of that stuff won't necessarily suffer too much by staying 16 bits in the digital domain. When I record live drums I switch all monitoring and recording over to the Gina24, which is hooked to a Behringer ADA8000 preamp, using the ADAT connector. That's 24 bits all the way, and because of the monitoring in the Layla20 I get the analog output of the Gina24 to the tuner for phones.
Because the Gina24 and Layla20 are not compatible when using the ADAT connector (Gina24 must use the ADAT clock and the Layla20 doesn't have that) I need to make a full switch from one interface to the other. Not only does that mean I need to change n-Tracks IO preferences, I need to change the recording format as well fro 16 to 24 bits or the other way around. I also switch some of the mono-stereo-stereo-to two mono tracks settings.
It really is a big pain, and occasional n-Tracks gets confused and I have to reset the prefs.
An easy (sort of) workaround would be to save off the n-tracks config files for each prefs configuration, then make a batch file that would copy one of those configs to the ntracks.exe folder and start up n-Tracks....maybe I'd try that eventually.
| Quote (phoo @ Jan. 16 2005,12:16) |
| Selecting "record from" isn't enough to prevent blank tracks from being saved...though I think it should be. |
Yea it's a bit of a hassell but it is still nice to simpley go through the record vu meter to make your selections, you never know what the number of tracks might be. So with a delta sound card for recording you simply hightlite "multitrack" from the prefrences dialog box for audio in. And make your choices through the record vu'meter When needed, you have to check line levells anyway.
If you default a couple tracks here and close ntrack, it will remember those settings as default. Otherwise it's quickly accessable from the trackline or mixer view. It's great, that doesn't take long to get used to after the initial setup.
Another way is to click the red dots under the record meters and pick “disable”.
At the beginning of a session, I generally click the hammer and select the channels I want to use. Then, depending on what I’m recording for a given moment, I control what gets recorded using the red dots below the meters, and pick “disable” for any channels I’m not recording from. That gets rid of the extra tracks.
Still not quite what Phoo wants. It would be great to be able to choose saved setups from a menu. The next question would be how many parameters should be saved in a “setup”. And since I’m pipe-dreaming, here’s what I’d like saved with the setup:
1) user-defined names for input channels (a new feature)
2) VSTi/DXi instrument channels
3) Live mode (or not)
4) Sample rate
5) Audio input/output devices
6) MIDI input/output devices
7) Audio input/output channels & modes (mono/stereo, bit format, etc)
I would not want tracks saved. Some folks might want this as a “template”, but I think it would cause more trouble than it solves. For the feature I’m thinking of, most of it should be “song-independent”, so I could load a setup mid-song without any trouble. However, if when saving a setup it’s optional whether or not to save tracks, that would be fine (and it would kill two birds with one stone, providing the desired “song template” feature).
Perhaps it would be best, when saving a setup, to be presented with a dialog box with checkboxes for each of the things that can be saved.
Still not quite what Phoo wants.
Switching from card to card in my setup isn't a whole lot different from pulling out one multi-IO 16 bit card and putting in another multi-IO 24 bit card since they can't be used at the same time (normally, considering the way I use them) and the settings each needs are very different. When I change I have to do everything that you'd normally have to do to setup a new card that doesn't do well with the default wave mapper. So, whatever those parameters are that get touched, it would be nice to save that stuff.
Switching from card to card in my setup isn't a whole lot different from pulling out one multi-IO 16 bit card and putting in another multi-IO 24 bit card since they can't be used at the same time (normally, considering the way I use them) and the settings each needs are very different. When I change I have to do everything that you'd normally have to do to setup a new card that doesn't do well with the default wave mapper. So, whatever those parameters are that get touched, it would be nice to save that stuff.
Well, phoo – I think soundcard settings are saved in ntrack2.cfg. So, if you keep two copies, one for each soundcard, and clobber the current one with the one saved for the particular soundcard, that would sort you out. You could write a DOS batch file to do it.
It might be ntrack.cfg, but IIRC, it’s ntrack2.cfg. Easy enough to test and see for sure.
Yep…I mentioned doing up there somewhere, but haven’t got around to it yet. I’ll post it once I get to it. The only hang up will be if there’s anything in the config file that needs to get updated regularly, but I don’t know of anything.
Works like a charm!
This is the code in two batch files – one start n-Tracks with the Gina24 config and the other the Layla20 config.
| Code Sample |
| del n-track2.cfg copy n-track2_gina.cfg n-track2.cfg start ntrack.exe |
| Code Sample |
| del n-track2.cfg copy n-track2_layla.cfg n-track2.cfg start ntrack.exe |
They are in the same directory n-Tracks is installed to. n-track2_gina.cfg and n-track2_layla.cfg are copies of n-track2.cfg setup for the two configs I switch between.
To be safe - and it’s not now - to not loose the cfg files accidentally - they should be write protected. But, n-track2.cfg needs to be writable, so the batch files should do an attrib after the copy.
Pedro Feex Later…OK?
Any South of the Border fans out there