since i don't have a 'complete' set of recording equipment, i just use whats available to me. i recently acquired an audiophile 2496 card and was struggling with the settings on how to get the best signal to noise ratio. (or just to make it work during the first hour of installation) the rig is quad core / intel mobo system on xp pro sp3, cubase sx3, (still trying to work with studio 4 too) an old 12 channel mixer, dbx limiter eq, and - active bass guitar. back when im still using the on-board sound card, i can use modest settings in the mixer, but after installing the new card, i need to push things higher. the signal stays so-so when the settings are in 0 db on mixer's channel, gain and main out. so i sent the signal to one of the auxes - dbx eq/limiter got more gain plus noise reduction then sent it back to one of the channels. this way i got a pretty decent signal without clipping. (mixer bars are just below clipping but the signal strength in cubase is somewhere half of that ) i added a little compression and limiting on the input channel and the signal goes into an acceptable level.
the catch is every now and then i hear a weird cycling/buzzing sound on the recorded track. this actually boost the signal but its not a workable sound. im still in the process of isolating the cause of this issue. (by the way, i acquired the 2496 second hand) any ideas/suggestions are welcome.