It's Time For Frostbyte to get Hardware (Page 1 of 3)

I think you'd be disappointed with sound-shaping on a 31-band EQ. EQs are primarily designed for shaping frequency curves across the 20Hz-20KHz range, to add a bump here and a dip there, and not really that useful for more "creative" use, if you get what I mean.

I'd put your two GBs into your computer without the EQs. You can easily EQ on the computer anyway with freeware tools. And the computer will give you a whole world of sound-shaping software. Not so easy to do live, though.

I see. Have you bought any of the kit? The 31-band I would consider overkill and would keep it out of the signal chain, although seeing as it's chip, keeping a clean signal path isn't really a concern.

If I were in your shoes I'd look for a small four channel stereo mixer, but I'd avoid Behringer - they're cheaply made and not sturdy, as is reflected in the low prices for their kit. Look for a Tapco or a Mackie or a little Soundcraft Folio.

Behringer have their defenders, and if you want cheap stuff, then you can't beat the price. But the stuff is typically low build quality. The founder, Uri Behringer, has a philosophy of copying existing designs, making them as cheap as possible, and flogging them off at very low prices. If you need more convincing, visit any sound engineering forum (NB not a forum like this, I mean Gearslutz or SOS) and ask about Behri stuff.

If you're on a budget, instead of buying a new Behri, go for a second hand mixer in the ranges I mentioned earlier. They're reliable and built to last, so as long as they work well, will continue to give good service. I'd go for a good second hand mixer over a cheap new one any day.

Re your last question: Any device will add noise. With chip music the noise floor tends to be high (because games consoles are noisy) so this is less of a problem. Any good EQ should be very quiet and have a low noise floor, so you needn't worry until you get into higher fidelity stuff.

Last edited by InactiveX (Aug 25, 2011 7:24 pm)

That will add some noise, because most built in computer sound cards aren't of the best quality.

Along with how noisy Chipmusic is, as InactiveX said, I'd recommend a USB mixer or audio interface. A USB mixer will still have analog outputs (RCA, 1/4", etc.) while also allowing you to connect to your computer through USB without the noise a standard 1/8" input would have. You don't have to do this, but you said you wanted to get serious about recording.

It shouldn't sound different unless it's damaged, but from what I've heard the durability isn't good. So, bad durability means it could get damaged easily resulting in degraded sound.

you'd be wasting your money if you didn't first upgrade you audio interface.  1/8 in is crap pure and simple.

but a decent sound interface with at least 4 inputs so you can record 2 stereo channels.
record directly in the box.  eq in the box.

buy a cheap little mixer for playing live

You'd be right in saying that soundcards with only 1/8" outputs are generally "bells and whistles" cards, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong or bad sounding about 1/8". I'd happily use it for pro work (but only if I had to, 1/4" being the standard) and have done in the past.

Most likely a pot will fail, a switch will fall off or a fader get scratchy with no fix. They don't last very long.

Last edited by InactiveX (Aug 26, 2011 8:35 am)