I recently bought a Mackie spike xd-2 to use with my AKG c1000 condensor mic. Prior to this, I used cool edit and a 30 dollar headset on a generic sound card and got some pretty decent equality out of it. (you can check my site for examples) With a better microphone and the spike i expected to outdo myself a few times over but the tweaking seems to be holding me up.

Recording in tracktion is sort of annoying and therefore out of the question. I dont like having to turn my instrumentals into waves.

Recording in cool edit, i have tried various options between stereo and mono and I have messed with the main and gain 1 (which the mic is hooked into using xlr) dials on the front. I have also messed around with stereo/mono on the xd-2 app but the best thing i can get is a recording that is super low (with phantom power on), which has a constant buzz which you can hear through the headphones and a distorted beat coming thru the speakers or headphones while trying to record. Playback is fine without recording in cool edit tracktion and allother applications, does anyone use this set up or a set up similar to this?

I was also told it could be all the cords and plugs i have so i rearranged the wiring in this room and made everything neat, and even switched the xlr. No help. Any ideas? hit me up on aI'm msn yahoo or here. I would really appreciate it

I'm thinking it may be a buffer issue as far as the distorted beat but i tried changing some numbers in cool edit and it really didnt make a difference. I have no idea where the buzz is coming from, I can get it pretty low after fiddlingwith the mix and gain dials ut its still there, and because the vocals are low, when i amplify the vocals, the buzz is amplified too so its no good. I was told i should record in mono because in stereo it only records one channel, and copying one channel to the other will not give you a true stereo sound. I'm not sure what i havent tried yet, theres got to be something i missed.