Routing input on one device to the output of another

[Brett]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to the whole home studio setup and I've learned some of the basics. What I'm trying to do at this point is to be able to input audio from one sound card, and output it through another.

Specifically, I want to take the input from my Echo Gina3G's Analog 1 port (an external device that plugs into a PCI card), and output it through my Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro's 2.1 speaker port (in the back of the PCI card).

It seems the only way I'm able to do it is input through the Gina3G and output through the same device, even though I have Windows XP's audio settings set with the Gina3G as the input, and the X-Fi as the output.

What does work is if I record something on the computer through the Gina3G, then simply play it back (it plays through the speakers connected to the X-Fi). I want to be able to hear what I'm recording live through the output.

Is that possible? Thanks in advance for your help!

[AndyH]

It is if you use a program which provides for software input monitoring. You monitor through the osundcard of your choice as you record through the input of your choice.

Also, there is software such as Virtual Audio Cables, that often allows one to use ports with no hardware connection by connecting through the software.

[Viracocha]

Why do you need two soundcards though? You are almost definitely going to run into driver conflicts at some point, can't you just use the Echo?

Do yourself a favour and get rid of the soundblaster. I'm no gear snob but when dealing with audio, there's only one place they're fit for, and that's in the computer of someone you don't like :)

You can't ouptut from one to the other because there is no physical connection.

When one is working, the other can not, as the pc can only use one set of drivers at a time.

Make life easy for yourself and use the echo for everything, it's a good card.

[AndyH]

It is not necessairly true that only on soundcard at a time will work. Mostly mulitple soundcards will work fine. Restrictions exist, however. Two soundblasters can not work in one computer, even if using only one at a time. Two different cards, both using ASIO drivers, can't both work at the same time unless both cards are the same brand and special drivers have been made by that manufacturer to allow them to be used together. There is another general driver, ASIO4ALL, that sometimes gets around this restriction.

[Viracocha]

Yeah true. But 9 times out of ten when someone runs into problems with this configuration then that's the problem. It's kind of pointless to try and run a soundblaster in a pc when you all ready have a decent card that can do the job, as in this case.
A lot of people when starting out don't realise that their new 'interface' is actually just a soundcard with a fancy name and more connections, so they think they have to keep their original 'soundcard' in.

Note to anyone thinking this: You don't!

The joyof getting a better card means you can dump your old card out the system, always a good bet with a soundblaster anyway.