A hand full of small cool edit probs that aremakin me CRAZY

[drummerdan]

I'm using cool edit pro 2 on win98 with a lexicon core 2 card (8 analog outs). 2 of these outs are run into 2 line inputs on my mixer (for monitoring only...no headphone outs on the lex core 2). The Cool edit mixer has all its "outs" set to out 1, which on my soundcard is "analog output 1 and 2".

1)For some reason I get no sound in waveform view (but the meters work).
2)My pan doesn't seem to work. When I pan, lets say, 2 guitar tracks, they really don't sound hard left and hard right. (but when I solo them, the meter says its only on the left channel).
3)On my guitar tracks I get that tinkling digital noise (dumped them all off a 20b/48k adat digitally).
4)Does cool edit have bypass of any type? its seems silly....no bypass for the track eq, and no bypass for the real-time fx! how do I A/B it??

I think the first 3 questions have to do with how the CEP mixer is setup, but I've tried multiple setups and I'm at the end of my line.

[drliebs]

I am going from memory and it's been awhile since I have been in the CEP setup, but I know there are options for seperate IO's for multitrack view and edit view. Go into edit view and make sure the outs are setup the same, there may even be a tab or page for edit view settings.

Not sure about the rest, you say the panning is not that hard but I take it there is some panning going on. How about your mixer's inputs, are they stereo? Do you need to pan them? The outs in CEP say 1, is there an option for 1+2 stereo so that it isn't coming out in mono? Check to see that the mono check on the board isn't in, burned out LED's can drive you insane in a case like this. This may be obvious stuff you hvae checked but sometimes I often overlook the obvious thinking the problem is more extensive...

Tinkling: Did you down sample or dither?

Good luck, I am pretty sure you will find the answer to #1 in the setup/options.

[drummerdan]

The mixer isn?t using stereo inputs. I have a tascam 1516 and there is a "line b" jack on ch9 thru 16, which is a line-in that completely bypasses the pre. The output for my sound card shows up in the device window as "analog out 1+2". The way I used to have it was 8 analog outs from the computer into 8 line inputs on the mixer, and I paned each output on CEP hard left for ch1 hard right for ch2...and so on. But with this, the only way I could pan was on the hardware mixer, which is useless in the CEP mixdown, thus my problem...maybe that helps explain a little better.
I have no idea how to check the sample rate in CEP...what should I look for? And should it match my adats format?

unfortunately I'm away from MY comp for the weekend so I can cant try any of this.

[Frybyte]

I'm no expert and I don't know the equipment you are using [you listed it I just don't know much about it .
Anyway, the first thing I'd check is in Multi-track view click on one of the track's 'info section where the panning and volumen are shown. This should give you a window with all the parameteres
and make sure that in the bottom left corner of the window that the words reflect which pan you are using. If they don't click on the box and you get left only, right only, stereo or the equivalent.
..

It's one of the most frustrating things about CEP for me when signal goes in and nothing comes out but making sure all the pan and outs are the same is where I'm tripped up most often.
Hope this helps.
j

[drliebs]

It sounds like you are using the correct inputs on the mixer. Just to clarify, are you panning the channels on the mixer?

If chanel 9 is getting signal from output 1, the signal should disappear from channel 9 when you pan to output two. And vice versa. If this isn't happening, I am not sure what to check next. Does the new version of CEP have a mono check button? Make sure it isn't pressed...I am grabbing straws at this point. Does your sound card have a control panel? It might require you to pan the outputs.

[drummerdan]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I'm finally back at my computer and I can try these out. So these is a separate device properties for the edit view. Its actually the same box for multitrack, but I overlooked the "use in edit view" checkbox...DOH!
I noticed when I create a new session, I can choose the Sample rate and resolution. Now the adats are 48khz at 20bit. I can make the session 48khz, but the bit rate options are only 8, 16, and 32 (The 32 bit says "float" next to it). So does this mean I cant do a 20 bit session? If so, should I go for the 16bit resolution?

[tptman]

Record it at 32. This will capture the full 20 bit signal and will give you the highest resolution to work with during mixdown.

If you are having panning problems, it is occurring in your hardware mixer, not in CEP.

Let me know if you have any other questions about CEP, I'm a bit of an expert.

[Stan Keyhole]

tptman wrote:

Record it at 32. This will capture the full 20 bit signal and will give you the highest resolution to work with during mixdown.

I use Cool Edit, too, and that's exactly how I take advantage of my 24-bit cards, but is there a way he can actually record at 20, and not 24? Unless I am reading this wrong, he is transferring digitally over to the 20-bit ADAT, so if he is using a 24-bit card to record, and Cool Edit defaults to the highest rate the card can do (24), wouldn't this present a problem when he tries to transfer? I guess is he were doing the transfer as audio, it wouldn't be an issue, and maybe he is; I'm not sure.

I've never had this come up, so I'm not trying to come off as an expert, I'm genuinely curious.

[Stan Keyhole]

You know what, I was thinking that he was going from CEP to the ADAT, not the other way around. That probably renders my question moot.

[drummerdan]

I track to the adats, then dump them into my computer via adat digital. When I create a new CEP session, what should I set the bitrate? I don't know much about it, but it seems that if I dump 20 bit material into a 32 bit session, I shouldn't have any dithering problems...correct? To me it seems that a 32 bit session is more than enough for 20 bit material. Then again I'm a retard when it comes to frequency and bitrate compatibility (but learning!)
I was also thinking about my pan problem....Should the 2 channels on my hardware mixer be paned hard L/R, or should they both be at 12 o'clock? Because on CEP's meter, when I solo a track and pan hard, the meters show its its all good, but it doesn't sound that way.
Also, no bypass! No multiple solo! I miss my mixer. But I DON'T miss the lack of processing power!

[vvv]

32 but float is good (I stay at 44.1kHz), but you will want to dither if/when you go to 16 bit 44.1kHz or anything else.

I would hard-pan the mixer. It easy enough to check and adjust the panning in CEP.

No bypass, but in Mixer-View just re-assign the output buss of the individual track(s); and use the mutes to create a "multiple solo."

I find that I like to do a lot of pre-submixes, and variations on those.

[drliebs]

hould the 2 channels on my hardware mixer be paned hard L/R, or should they both be at 12 o'clock

Yes, this way everythin coming out of CEP 1 (or the left stereo field) will also come out of the left side of your mixer and vice versa. This would apply to any stereo source going into your mixer like an effects processor or even a couple of mics in a stereo configuration. Because the channel just sees the signal, it doesn't know where it is coming from or where it is supposed to be in the stereo field. If you connect the left output of a device to a mixer, pan that channel to the left. If it is coming from the right output pan it to the right.

Stereo channels on a mixer are nice for this sort of thing as they have two inputs to the channel and are "panned" internally. So all you have to do is patch Left out to Left in, Right out to Right in, and turn it up.

[drummerdan]

The Hard pan did it! thanks for the help...now i'm only mildly crazy