Topic: What all do I need at this point?

[dmbdvds]

3.50 mm (1/8-inch) optical miniplug-to-optical SPDIF cable



Does that make sense to anyone?  I want to record digitally with this soundcard which it seems I can.  But the cable being used....  I have an optical cable, but it seems like I only need one of these:
http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Toslink-Female-Adaptor/dp/B000I990VI

Can someone shed some light on this for me?  Thanks

[Brian Skalinder]

What two pieces of gear, specifically, are you trying to connect?  A soundcard, it seems...but which one?  And with what other gear?

[dmbdvds]

I will be doing soundboard recording.  I want to capture it all digitally and I don't think a simple rca jack will do that. 

The soundcard is a Soundblaster Audigy2 ZS.  It does 24bit 192kHz/104dB SNR

[blastroknow]

so the soundguy is rolling off a DAT and you are going to take a pull off the Optical Out from his DAT and feed your SB audio card?  Then yes if you have a standard TOS Optical cable the mini adaptor would make that connection.

Keep in mind DAT is only 16bit audio, though and that is what will pass to your recording.

[dmbdvds]

im not doing what the picture shows.  I want to capture sbd straight to my laptop without and in between devices.  just trying to figure out the cable.

also when i capture on my laptop will it be digital at that point? 

[blastroknow]

im not doing what the picture shows.  I want to capture sbd straight to my laptop without and in between devices.  just trying to figure out the cable.

also when i capture on my laptop will it be digital at that point? 

The SBD will most likely be an analog out {not digital} so you will need cables {depending on the board} to go analog into your SB card or use an Analog to Digital converter in the middle to get a digital signal to put into your SB card.  If you send an analog input into your SB card it will then do the digital conversion and the signal will be digital at that point inside your laptop.

I think you have some confusion on analog vs. digital.  It is a little confusing at first.  Don't get hung up on having everything be digital.  You can still make a great recording with the analog board feed.  Search in the Cables section for some advice on the selection of adapters to take so you can patch out of the board because they are all different.

[bconnolly]

im not doing what the picture shows.  I want to capture sbd straight to my laptop without and in between devices.  just trying to figure out the cable.

also when i capture on my laptop will it be digital at that point? 

It has to be analog at some point my man.  I have never seen a soundboard with a built in A/D (but they do exist).  You're going to need a cable that can take either 1/4" or XLR or RCA (preferably all three just to be safe).  Then you can use some pigtail adapters to get it down to 1/8" stereo mini and plug it into your sound card.

If you really want to go optical into your laptop, you're going to need an outboard A/D converter.

[John Kary]

It has to be analog at some point my man.  I have never seen a soundboard with a built in A/D (but they do exist).  You're going to need a cable that can take either 1/4" or XLR or RCA (preferably all three just to be safe).  Then you can use some pigtail adapters to get it down to 1/8" stereo mini and plug it into your sound card.

As others have said, don't worry about a TOS-to-RCA.  You can do TOS-to-Digital Coax (which looks like an RCA plug but is digital-audio) but that will gain you nothing if your source is analog like a sbd feed is.  You will be best off getting either 2x Male-XLR --> 1x 1/8" Phonoplug and run that as a line-in to your laptop.  I carry one of those and also (2)  XLR-Male --> RCA-Female adapters and a longer 2x RCA-Male to 1x 1/8" Phono.

The cheap way would be buy two XLR-Male --> RCA-Female adapters, two 1/4" --> RCA-Female adapters, and then a 25ft 2x RCA-Male --> 1/8" Phono cable.  That way your adapters can cover all three most commonly used ways to patch a board and you only have 1 cable which is relatively cheap to buy.

[bgalizio]

This set-up should do it. Adjust the "JB3 end" to whatever your laptop soundcard can take. Most likely, it will be the same as in the below thread (1/8" male stereo).
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,34254.0.html

[willndmb]

is this the xlr adapter shown in the pic posted above via archive thread
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GXF132/

anyway john, they make a cable thats mini one one end and reg tosolink on the other
no adapter needed
but as stated above, you are not going to need that cable in this case

[bgalizio]

is this the xlr adapter shown in the pic posted above via archive thread
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GXF132/

Yes, that is an RCA (F) > XLR (F) adapter.

[willndmb]

thanks
now how come everytime i need something from sweetwater its out of stock, just my luck