Using Usb Mixer Wih A Computer
Using Usb Mixer Wih A Computer
PC Connection
1. Boot your computer (Mac/PC) and wait until everything has loaded completely, then turn on your USB mixer.
2. Connect your mixer to your computer using a USB cable.
3. Windows will immediately recognize the mixer as a “USB Audio Device” or “USB Audio CODEC” and automatically
install the drivers if necessary.
4. The first time you do this, your mixer will de automatically assigned as the Default (or “preferred”) Device for sound
playback on your computer .All of your computer’s sounds will be sent to the mixer via the USB cable.
5. You can now open any media players or recorders on your computer and they should play and record through your
mixer. This includes Windows Media player and almost any other audio player that works on your PC. To prevent
your computers system sounds (bleeps and bells) from going to your mixer, you may want to disable your
computer’s sounds or redirect them to your computer’s speakers (see below for how to do this).
(Note, for Windows 98SE, you may need to insert your need to insert your original Windows 98SE CD ROM during
the installation process.)
Changing Your PC’s Default (or preferred Sound Playback Device)
If you are not hearing sound from your mixer, you may need to tell your computer to send audio to your mixer instead of
another sound card or the computer’s onboard speakers. Here’s how to do that:
1. Click Start, Settings, and Control Panel and double-click the Multimedia icon (Windows 98); click Start, Settings,
and Control Panel and double-click Sounds And Multimedia (Windows Me/2000); or click Start and Control
Panel, select the Sound, Speech, And Audio Devices link, and then click Sound And Audio Devices (Windows
XP).
2. In the Sounds and Multimedia Properties dialog box, click the Audio tab.
3. Grab the pull-down selections under “Sound playback”. The
mixer should appear as a “USB Audio Device” or “USB Audio
CODEC”.
(If you already have another USB Audio Device attached to you
computer, then the mixer will appear as “USB Audio Device
(2)or USB Audio CODEC (2)”.) Select the desired playback
device.
4. Similarly, under the “Sound Recording” pull-down, select the
desired recording device.
5. Make sure the “Use Only Preferred Devices” box is not
checked.
6. Click Apply or OK.
7. While using your computer with your mixer, it is a good idea to
keep the “Sounds and Multimedia” box open in the background,
since you will need to access this often.
Note, some programs, like Windows Sound Recorder, give you
quick access to the “Sounds and Multimedia” box. In Windows
Sound Recorder, click under the “Edit” menu item and select “Audio
Properties”. The box will pop up and allow you to change the
preferred Audio Devices.
Playing and Recording
Once you have performed the above steps, you can immediately use your favorite playback or recording programs
with your mixer! If you don’t have any special DJ playback or recording programs, you can use Windows Media player
and Sound Recorder, which come with Windows. Normally, Windows Media player starts when you double-click on an
MP3 or other audio file.
Using Both USB Ports at the Same Time (For Mixers with 2USB ports Only)
If you USB mixer has two USB jacks (like the DJ-10 USB, for example), you can attach a different computer to each
USB Jack. Or, you can connect both jacks to a single computer. Each USB jack on the mixer will appear as a separate
USB audio device to your computer. You can play two audio files simultaneously from one computer and send both of
those audio streams to separate channels of your mixer by using two USB cables.
If you do this, we suggest using one of the many commercially available software programs that support multiple sound
cards.
However, if you don’t have software like that, you can use two separate software media players instead. To do this you
need to Start the first media player, then change the preferred Audio Device to the second USB port, then start your
second media player.
Note that some applications (like Windows Media Player) will not allow you to have multiple instances running
simultaneously. When you try to open a second file, the first one will stop playing and the second file will be loaded. TO
get around this, you can use different players to play the second file. For example, use Windows Media player to play
channel 1, and Musicmatch Juke Box player for channel 2.
Also, not all will “remember” what sound card they were using at the time of launch.
Mac Connection
1. Turn on your computer and mixer.
2. Connect a USB cable from your mixer and to your computer’s USB port.
3. Click on the APPLE logo in the upper left corner of the screen.
4. Select “System preferences”.
5. Click on the “Sound” icon.
6. Select the “Output” box (or “Input” box if you want to record to your computer).
7. Adjust the volume and balance.
Now, you’ll need to re-direct your system sound effects to your computer’s speakers so they won’t go through your
mixer. It is easy to do that on a Mac. Here’s how:
1. Follow steps 1-4 above.
2. Click on the “Sound” icon.
3. Click on the “Sound Effects” box.
4. Choose “Play alers and sound effects through:”
5. Select” Internal Speakers”.
Troubleshooting
Problem: The computer did mot recognize and automatically install my miser.
‧ The mixer is not turned on. Turn on your mixer.
‧ The USB cable is not connected. Connect the USB cable to your computer and mixer.
‧ You have already installed a USB Audio Device before. In that case, your mixer should work without any
installation process. Just plug it in .You may have to change your computer’s Default Sound playback Device,
however.
‧ You don’t have the proper version of Windows or Mac OS. Make sure your OS is one that is compatible with this
mixer. (For example, Windows 95 does not support USB, and will not work with this mixer).
Problem: The recording quality is poor.
‧ The word length and sample rate are not set to CD-quality in your recording software. Change the word length to
16-bit and sample rate to 44.1kHz for CD-quality results.
‧ The audio is distorting. Turn down the gain on your mixer to reduce the audio level.
‧ The audio level is too low. Increase the level until you see activity in the meter LEDs.
Problem: I’m trying to play one song into channel 1 and the other into channel 2, but they both bet mixed
together into only one channel.
‧ The Sound playback Device was not set properly for one of your audio applications. Close one of the playback
applications, then change your preferred Sound playback Device as described above, then re-open the
application. Note that this technique will not work with all media players like, for example, Real player.
‧ Use a dedicated audio program that supports 2 sound cards.
Problem: The sound is coming out of my computer speakers instead of going to my mixer.
‧ The Sound playback Device was not properly set. Close your audio playback application, then change your
preferred Sound Playback Device as described above, then re-open the application.
Problem: My computer’s system sounds (beeps and bells) are going into my mixer.
‧ The Sound Playback Device is still set to your mixer. Change the Preferred Sound playback Device as described
above.
‧ Silence your computer’s system sounds altogether by doing the following: Select Sounds and Audio Devices in the
Control Panel and switch to the Sounds tab. Under Sound Scheme, Choose the No Sounds option and click OK.
‧ If you have a Mac, you didn’t select “Play alerts and sound effects through Internal Speakers”. See the Mac setup
section for how to do this.
PART 2. Help with Windows Sound Recorder
‧
Playing a Sound
To play a sound, open the file and click on the Play button.
1. On the File menu, click Open. A dialog box will
appear.
2. Navigate to the folder containing the sound file you
want to play, select the file and then click Open.
3. Click the play button to start playing the sound.
4. Click the stop button to stop playing the sound.
Navigating a File
When working with long sound files, you’ll want to move through them as quickly as possible.
• To move forward or backward, use the Sound Recorder scroll bar, or the keyboard left & right arrow
keys.
• To move to the end of a file, click the Fast Forward button , move the scroll bar to the right or
press END on the keyboard.
•To move to the beginning, click Rewind , move the scroll bar to the left or press HOME on the
keyboard.
• To play part of the sound file, slide the scroll bar to any point in the file and click Play .
Note that the Rewind and Fast Forward buttons work instantly; one click takes you immediately to the
beginning or the end.
Step 2
Use the Choose from: pull-down menu to select
Recording formats, and click Convert Now...
Step 3
In the "Sound Selection" window, use the Attributes:
pull-down menu to choose 8.000 kHz, 16 Bit, Mono, 15
kb/sec. This will change the settings to create a recording
that sounds comparable to a good cell phone call. A one
minute sound recording should be just under 1 MB
(megabyte) in size.
To compare, an audio CD uses ten times as much data:
44.1 kHz/16 Bit/Stereo, for a file size of 1 minute = 10 MB.
Step 4
To save these settings, click the Save As... button. A
pop-up will prompt you to "save this format as." Type in a
name you'll remember, such as "Audio E-Mail," and click
OK.
Step 5
You'll return to the "Properties for Sound" window. Click
OK on this window, then OK on the Properties window,
and your next sounds will be recorded at the 8 kHz/16
bit/Mono format.
If you've already recorded your voice at high-quality, you probably ended up with some large files. To
reduce the file size of existing recordings:
1. Open the previously recorded sound, then click the File menu, and Properties.
2. Use the Choose from: pull-down menu to select Playback formats, and click Convert Now...
3. On the next dialog box, use the Name: pull-down menu to select Audio E-Mail, the name of the
quality level you created above.
4. Click OK on this window, then OK on the Properties window, and save your file with a new name.
5. Compare the original file with the new file saved at lower quality. The new file size should be much
smaller.
Here are 3 files created from the same recording, saved at different recording settings. Compare sound
quality vs. file size.
File Length Quality (kHz/bits/channels) File Size
Editing a File
The editing tools are located in Sound Recorder’s Edit menu. After you edit a file, click Play to listen to
your changes. If you like what you hear, save the file. (You’ll probably want to change the name.) If you
don’t approve of the new sound, and you haven’t saved the file, choose Revert from the File menu to
restore the file to its previous state.
The editing options are:
Insert File
This inserts an entire sound file anywhere in the current file.
An inserted file will increase the sound file’s length.
To insert Ding.wav into Chord.wav, you:
• Scroll to the desired location in the Chord.wav file.
• Select Insert File from the Edit menu. The Insert File
dialog box appears.
• Select Ding.wav.
• Click OK.
To listen, click Play.
Remember, if you want to save the file, change the name. (You don’t want to write over the original
Chord.wav file.)
More Information
Installation - If the Sound Recorder (sndrec32.exe) is not already installed on your system, you will find
instructions for its installation by clicking Start>Help, then choosing the Index tab and typing "Sound
Recorder". Display the instruction by double clicking on Installation. Also, install the Windows 95 volume
control by placing a check in the volume control box when checking the Sound Recorder box during the
Sound Recorder installation process.
Microphone - To record sound, any inexpensive microphone with a mini plug that fits into your sound card
microphone jack on your computer will do. An inexpensive stand microphone that you can buy in a
computer store is nice, since it frees your hands for keyboarding. A slightly more expensive
headset/microphone allows you to also listen in privacy without disturbing others around you.