Cannot Get Signal From Mixer to SAW!

[Tom M]

This may be my last question for a while.

I am using SAW Studio BASIC with a VERY basic audio interface (the $29 Berringer UCA-202) which has always worked fine and sounds more than good-enough for my voice-over/music productions. I am willing to replace it if you guys insist that doing so will fix my problem, but first, here's the issue:

I can play audio from the computer on which SAW is installed, but I cannot receive audio from an external mixer connected to the Berringer interface. This was never a problem with my previous computer or my previous version of SAW.

When I go to set the "in" audio properties in SAW, the Berringer comes up as a USB Microphone, same as it does for the "out" setting. I select it and then try to send in a signal from my external mixer and nothing happens. I even tried putting SAW into "Record Ready" mode and still did not get any signal.

I have also disabled the computer's internal sound card, reinstalled the Berringer interface, messed with volume levels, tried both the "output" jacks on the Berringer and the "headphone out" jack and nothing wants to work.

My guess is that you real audio guys are going to come up with a simple solution that makes me look and feel like a total doofus, but I can handle it, as long as it solves this last major issue I am having with SAW.

Thanks in advance for this - and all the OTHER - answers you have provided over the past couple of weeks. Because of all of you, I am enjoying SAW more and more each session.

[Bob L]

In Win 7, 8 and 10, for many soundcards, the inputs and outputs depend on having devices actually plugged in... then Windows attempts to be smart and in all its plug and play wisdome can muck things up pretty nicely.

Sometimes you will not see input choices until something is actually plugged in... so try first plugging your mixer into the soundcard inputs... then go to the Windows Control Panel Sound options and hopefully you may now see other choices besides the default mic choice... you will hopefully have a line in choice... set that as the default and leave the mixer plugged in at all times.

Then in SAW, you will now hopefully have a choice for the line in selection in the Options/Audio Device Setup.

Set this... and save the default preferences once you get things working.

Bob L

[Tom M]

Nuh-uh. The mixer is plugged in and still no signal.

I found it odd, but not inconceivable, that the Beringer came up as a USB Mic. You say the "USB Mic" is some sort of default? Then how come when I unplugged the Beringer, the USB Mic option went away?

[UpTilDawn]

Nuh-uh. The mixer is plugged in and still no signal.

I found it odd, but not inconceivable, that the Beringer came up as a USB Mic. You say the "USB Mic" is some sort of default? Then how come when I unplugged the Beringer, the USB Mic option went away?

It's not a SAW default.
It was suggested, because the Behringer input may be recognized as a USB mic by default..... if you get what I mean... I can't explain what I know... others might want to.

It goes back to the drivers everybody keeps mentioning.

[cgrafx]

Nuh-uh. The mixer is plugged in and still no signal.

I found it odd, but not inconceivable, that the Beringer came up as a USB Mic. You say the "USB Mic" is some sort of default? Then how come when I unplugged the Beringer, the USB Mic option went away?

The Berringer UCA-202 is a single stereo channel audio interface with LEFT/RIGHT in and out.

There are no Mic inputs. It should show up as either two mono channels or a single stereo channel.

I don't have any idea how it would show up is a Mic, it isn't a mic preamp, just a basic line in/out interface.

There is a 32-bit and 64-bit driver, both support WDM and ASIO, you should be using ASIO.

[Tom M]

OK, humor me, cuz I've never really understood drivers.

My computer installed whatever drivers it needed to make the Beringer functional. Are you saying that, despite there already being drivers installed, I should tick off the ASIO box as you illustrated above?

I tried exactly what you suggested and, after selecting "ASIO Protocol," all I get is a pop-up box with a blank numbered list -- no instructions, no indication as to what to do next.

Sorry to sound like a putz. I'm good with files and edits and mixes, but I suck at the back-end stuff that makes it all work.

[Tom M]

Just did some homework and discovered an article about how the Behringer (what the heck is the correct spelling anyway?) will not function correctly without the original ASIO drivers that came with it. So I downloaded and installed them from some creepy website and now I am getting signal from my board to the computer. Yeah!!! BUT...

I cannot monitor the audio while it is going in. I can playback audio once it's recorded, but not while it's being recorded. I have tried using both the Line Out and the Monitor (Headphone) Out on the Behringer and neither one works. I have also set both the "In" and "Out" audio devices in SAW to the new choice, which is something like "Behringer Line In," or "ASIO Line In." (Wish my studio computer weren't in another room and wish I could remember stuff from one part of the house to the next.)

This may be a simple issue that I will figure out on my own with a fresh head tomorrow, but until then, if anyone can think of a reason this is happening, I'd appreciate another one of your magical tips.

[UpTilDawn]

Most of my original comments are irrelevant since you've posted some level of success while I was still typing an answer -

But, maybe this can help a bit...
There was a rather lengthy video on setting up a n external dj mixer with the usb202, where the guy uses both the interface and the computer's built-in realtek soundcard output jack for a bit more elaborate scenario....... it may be worth looking at and may strike a chord with you to get to the bottom of your issue.

I can say that the only usb interface I have used is the Behrigner x32 system and I have never been able to monitor my input to the laptop. I can only watch the levels and see how it sounds after the fact. I can monitor off the x32 mixing console as I record, but that isn't the same as monitoring what's going into SAW, or in my case, SAC/SAW combined.

[Microstudio]

This may be my last question for a while.

I am using SAW Studio BASIC with a VERY basic audio interface (the $29 Berringer UCA-202) which has always worked fine and sounds more than good-enough for my voice-over/music productions. I am willing to replace it if you guys insist that doing so will fix my problem, but first, here's the issue:

I can play audio from the computer on which SAW is installed, but I cannot receive audio from an external mixer connected to the Berringer interface. This was never a problem with my previous computer or my previous version of SAW.

When I go to set the "in" audio properties in SAW, the Berringer comes up as a USB Microphone, same as it does for the "out" setting. I select it and then try to send in a signal from my external mixer and nothing happens. I even tried putting SAW into "Record Ready" mode and still did not get any signal.

I have also disabled the computer's internal sound card, reinstalled the Berringer interface, messed with volume levels, tried both the "output" jacks on the Berringer and the "headphone out" jack and nothing wants to work.

My guess is that you real audio guys are going to come up with a simple solution that makes me look and feel like a total doofus, but I can handle it, as long as it solves this last major issue I am having with SAW.

Thanks in advance for this - and all the OTHER - answers you have provided over the past couple of weeks. Because of all of you, I am enjoying SAW more and more each session.

Have you tried putting SawStudio in "Live Mode"? It has to be in that mode to work without it recording. Also if you are using a mic and you want to hear it you need to patch into a Mixer Channel.

[Ian Alexander]

Here are a few thoughts after reading the manual for the interface:

Make sure the mixer is actually sending audio by connecting it to something else, like an amp or stereo receiver.

Make sure the USB interface works by feeding a signal to it from something else, like a CD or MP3 player.

The interface has a button to push to route the input to the output. With that button in, do you get audio back to the mixer?

The interface is extremely simple and the manual doesn't mention a driver, let alone anything akin to a mixer applet. It does mention an LED that should be lit when it is receiving power via the USB cable.

With no driver apparent in the manual, you may have to set up the interface in Windows as the default soundcard. Maybe you've already done that.

Hope you get it working.