Welcome to RO David !

Which eight tracks is it ? Stand alone recorder or audio interface ?

The best setup (without knowing all the details) is to import the video into your DAW or if it isn't compatible with videos, extract or record the audio of the video first in your DAW.
Then play along while recording. 99% of audio interfaces lets you hear what comes out of the daw and record more tracks at the same time.

Please say the make and models of your equipment so we can have a more precise answer ;)

This is a Tascam 8 track. I'm feeding the sound of a video through the laptop audio out and monitoring the i/o from the 8 track. But I want to take the 8 track's line out and feed it to the audio interface and save it to the computer. (I'm currently feeding the output from the laptop into the 8 track while playing along with it without the daw). I could then record it as audio (not midi) with the daw or other program. (I can copy the stream already and import into the daw)
The simplest question is does the audio interface record to the USB as audio and
Does the laptop audio port continue to function with realtek high definition speaker output?

Thanks!
David

David Brook, post: 457512, member: 51313 wrote: The simplest question is does the audio interface record to the USB as audio

Yes. Some interfaces also have a standard midi port(s), and will do both simultaneously.

David Brook, post: 457512, member: 51313 wrote: Does the laptop audio port continue to function with realtek high definition speaker output?

Depending on the driver... the short answer is no (on windows pcs) generally you will disable the onboard sound card, in favor for the interface. Using ASIO4all, a free general purpose audio driver, allows you to aggregate multiple sound cards and interfaces, if I’m recalling correctly. The expense comes in the form of higher latency, the amount of time it takes for what you play to be sent thru the interface and speakers. Macs allow aggregation standard.

Thank you. I received a Behringer UCA222 which although will not allow me to do everything, improves on the sound card and driver.
Before if I wanted to watch or record a video, I had to stop everything and close the apps before launching the Daw as they would conflict.
The Behringer acts as an inexpensive full duplex soundcard.
Other than not hearing the streaming video at the same time as recording, the only limitation is it takes over the sound mixing of the 8 track. It flattens the sound.
But all of the devices work together with no chirping which is what I got before when trying to listen to a video while having the daw open. I'm using acoustica Mixcraft 7.
There is a small amount of signal noise, possibly from the Behringer but for 29.95, you can turn the volume down to compensate for that.

Cool stuff.

David

David Brook, post: 457512, member: 51313 wrote: This is a Tascam 8 track. I'm feeding the sound of a video through the laptop audio out and monitoring the i/o from the 8 track.

Let's put it in consideration, your realtek sound card is crap. I wouldn't use it at all. I'm not even sure you need the 8 track. Daws gives you 100 tracks if you want.. just make the video play inside the DAW and record on top.. if your DAW doesn't do video it will surely extract the audio and you can bind it to the video later with a video editing software, if that's what you want to do..
Oh wait, is the video a live feed ?

Y. But there are good programs to extract video. And you're right, the 8 track is a high priced I/o device. But the cord is frayed on the mixer so the 8 track works to plug a few things in.
The thing is the limitation of how laptops have one port now. No line in.
Anyway, I learned a lot from this. I was even trying to use display audio, had my Daw muted and other things along the way.
Hopefully the system will be stable for a while before Microsoft decides to make too many updates.

Update: I set the output of the laptop for recording to be stereo mix with the playback through the speakers/headphones of the realtek audio card.
But most important, the playback had to be set to the Realtek as default for the 8 track and the daw to see it on the 8 track.
I was able to get the live video stream to record with the piano on the 8 track and daw. I also was able to adjust the sound levels of the 8 track.
It's now capturing the midi, audio, video, etc.
I only had intended to use the USB audio interface to record the live stream mix with the line in signal.
Amazed that this finally works.

You guys are great! Thanks for all your help in untangling that mess ...