This is the successor to the long-lived Komplete Audio 6, originally released in 2011. It was a smart little box made from an aluminium extrusion and featured the six channels of audio (four analogue inputs and outputs, and S/PDIF) that gave it its name. At a time when everybody else was making fiddly little 1U rack height devices with all the controls on the front panel, it had a very cool volume dial on the top. The MkII goes for a completely different aesthetic but retains all the most important features.
On the computer there's very little in terms of control software. There are no mixer applications or routing options, just a box to set buffer size and sample rate. And that's fine by me. I often find that audio interface mixing applications tend to get in the way, adding an extra level of potentially getting things wrong between the hardware and your DAW. But it can also be a little too simple as you can't set up any monitoring options or routing. So you can only 'direct monitor' via the headphone sockets on the front using the knob to mix between direct and host. You can't direct this to an output on the back and get a mix of wet and dry input through your main speakers. Once you're in your DAW or virtual instrument then all six inputs and outputs present themselves for work via the ASIO driver and you're ready to go.
Komplete Audio 6 Control Panel S
Recordings were crisp and clean with a good amount of headroom, with nothing unusual or remarkable for this price. In terms of latency, from the buffer size menu, you can select all the way down to an almost mythical eight samples. Most interfaces rarely give you an option below 32 samples. This translates to a millisecond or two of latency, but it's not quite as simple as that. The control panel has a 'Safe Mode' tickbox that hides a secret buffer in the background, allowing the input latency to come down to tiny levels while keeping the output latency at a slightly buffered level of an extra millisecond or two to prevent audio glitching. It's a useful function if a little bit mysterious.
You only have the four DC-coupled outputs, and if you're also using audio from your computer then you've only really got outputs 3+4 spare for controlling your rack. It's vital that you don't get your outputs confused as your speakers are not going to thank you for sending them flat voltages.
The Komplete Audio 6 MkII's front panel is where we find the XLR/jack inputs and associated gain controls, a knob that mixes direct input monitoring and software monitoring, and a pair of headphone ports with volume controls.
This kit is centered around the MV88+ microphone, specifically engineered to deliver Shure's broadcast-quality sound to your phone and adds all the accessories needed to create a portable, self-contained audio/video rig. Access additional features and controls with the free ShurePlus MOTIV App. Download the ShurePluse MOTIV App here.
Komplete Audio 2 is a two-input, two-output design with two identical mic/line/instrument inputs. Connections are on space-saving combi XLRs with individual selector switches to select between line and instrument. 48V phantom power meanwhile is engaged globally via a single switch. In addition to the inputs, the front panel includes a hardware monitoring balance knob (Input/Host) and headphone output with independent control.
This is controlled by the Windows sound card mixer - the Record Control and Play (or 'Volume') Control panels. To open the Play Control, double-click on the speaker icon in your taskbar, usually at the bottom of your computer screen in the right-hand corner, or go to Start Programs Accessories Entertainment Volume Control. The Play Control is for OUTPUT; it allows you to choose what outputs you listen to and how loud they are.
In the Properties window, you can choose which audio device you wish to control (the "Mixer device"). Normally you don't need to change this. You can also select which volume controls you want displayed in the Record/Play Control panels.
Another way that you control audio recording and playback is by choosing your audio input and output drivers. If you only have one sound card you don't normally need to worry about this. There are two places you can choose your audio drivers:
If you get an error message when you try to open the sound card mixer or nothing happens when you try to open it, this means that the selected audio driver doesn't have an associated Record or Play Control window. In this case, the audio device will usually have a separate control/mixer console that you can access from the Control Panel. You will need to check with your sound card documentation if you are not sure where to find it.
Close the environmental audio window, saving the settings, and start upPowerTracks Pro Audio or Band-in-a-Box. The reverb and chorus controls from within PowerTracks Pro Audio or Band-in-a-Box will now work.
If you have a sound card or audio interface that has more than one input port, you can record from each port on a separate track. You can record as many tracks simultaneously as your hardware supports. To set this up in PowerTracks, go to Options Preferences Audio Drivers. If you are using the ASIO diver type, select each input port that you want to use by control-clicking. If you are using the MME driver type, select each input driver that you want to use, and make sure that Microsoft Sound Mapper is not selected. To record, you simply need to select a single track - PowerTracks will use as many tracks as it needs to. Note that each Input port is a stereo pair, with a left and right channel. If you select 4 Input Ports, then you would be actually getting 8 input channels, since each audio port has both a left and right channel. This would use up 8 mono-audio tracks.
*If you are using the Roland VSC as your MIDI Output Driver, you can adjust the VSC's response time in the VSC Settings window: Open the VSC panel, click on the Setup button, and click on the Performance tab. You may be able to get it down to slightly below 100 ms without experiencing any audio glitches, depending on the speed of your computer.
If you want to record the track, you need to first set your computer to record audio input coming from your CD-ROM drive. To do this, go to Start Programs Accessories Entertainment Volume Control. This will bring up a windows mixer utility, where you can control the way that windows receives and outputs your computer's audio. Once the mixer windows comes up, click on 'Options', then 'Properties'. Now select 'Recording,' and make sure that the 'CD Audio' check box near the bottom of the window is checked. Press 'OK'. This will bring up your input mixer. To select your CD-ROM as your input device, simply place a check in the check box under the 'CD Audio' volume fade. Note: in some cases, you may need to select Wave, rather than CD Audio.
If your goal is just to have PowerTracks receive a dump by initiating the dump from your synth (such as by pressing a certain button on the synth, or executing a certain comand from the synth's control panel), then you would just press the [Receive] button in the Sysex window. Then it's just a matter of entering the command on the synth's control panel to get it to transmit the SysEx, and PowerTracks will download the sysex as it is received from the synth. Here are the basic steps:
Choosing a single synth to play all tracks: The easiest way to use a single DXi or VSTi synth for all of your MIDI tracks is to go to Options MIDI Devices and place a checkmark beside "Re-Route MIDI playback to default DXi Synth". In the "Default DXi Synth" combo box, choose the synth that you want to use and press OK. Now all of your MIDI tracks will use the DXi synth you have selected. If you want to view the control panel for the synth, you can click on the [DXi] button in the main PowerTracks toolbar. If you want to select a default VSTi synth, you must first open the DirectX Window and manually add the VSTi synth to your plugin list. To do this:
There is a pitch bend range controller message that tells a synth how far to stretch a note in response to pitch bend messages. Many synths have a front-panel setting for that if you push enough buttons. The most common setting is +/- 2 semitones, which is the GM standard, but some synths have a default of +/- 3 semitones, and some guitar controllers/synths use +/- 12 semitones. You should probably set the synth to a pitch bend range of +/-2 if you want to play third party files. The pitch bend data is the same number range in all cases (0 thru 16383), but the synth just stretches its pitch a different interval in response to the pitch bend data.
The two most frequent causes of this problem are (1) you have outdated, buggy, or incorrect sound card drivers installed on your computer, and/or (2) the latency is set too low in the sound card's ASIO control panel.
Next, go into Options Preferences Audio and click on the [ASIO Driver's Control Panel] button. This should launch your sound card's control panel where you should see a latency setting. The setting may be referred to as "buffer size". Note: some cards require that ASIO not be in use when you change the latency setting. In these cases, you will need to either close PowerTracks, or select the MME driver type temporarily, then open the sound card's control panel from outside of PowerTracks. You may have an icon in your task bar to launch the control panel, or you may be able to access it from the Windows Control Panel. In any case, increase the latency setting until you don't experience any playback or recording problems.
This is set up in the M-Audio control panel. Open the M-Audio control panel, usually by clicking on an icon in your task bar. The specific steps may vary between cards, but the basic steps are to choose the Patchbay/Router tab, and select 'Monitor Mixer' underneath the ports that you want to monitor on. Then, click on the Monitor Mixer tab and ensure that the appropriate mixer controls are not muted and set to a good level. 2ff7e9595c
Comments