multiple sounds from a pc

[Gaston]

is it possible to put say five soundcards in a computer and run five media players ( not necesaraly windows player or windows os ) and send each sound to a seperate soundcard at the same time?

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

Probably not, but why on earth would anyne want to?.

If you want separate audio output channels then get a suitable sound card, either PCI, USB2.0, or FireWire - for studio recording purposes they are available with quite a lot of channels.

 

[crusty]

is it possible to put say five soundcards in a computer and run five media players ( not necesaraly windows player or windows os ) and send each sound to a seperate soundcard at the same time?

Yes this is possible, though windows usually don't like more than 1 audio source, sometimes it goes all to hell, I would imagine the problem might be worse with added cards. I currently have on board audio and a creative card. First of all install them and make sure windows can "see" all the connected devices. Next you'll have to use audio playing software that you can direct the output device on, and doesn't use the default window's audio device. Winamp works great for this since you can specifically assign direct output to different hardware. What you'll have to do is install winamp, go into options, and select "allow multiple instances" which will allow you to have more than 1 winamp running, then under individual winamps go into the options and set your output source to the audio hardware you want, it SHOULD work, though it's not guaranteed. Also being as winamp usually only saves settings for the single installation, you'll need to make multiple installations if you want winamp to save your output audio configuration, as soon as you close all the multiple instances you'll only save the first winamp that was opened, if that makes any sense. Hope this helps you out a bit.

 

[Gaston]

i'll give it a try crusty.thanks. i need different sound effects going at the same time hence the need for multiple outputs

 

[justDIY]

if you use linux and the alsa sound system, you can not only run multiple sound cards, but you can also break a single sound card down into multiple output streams.

for example most cards made since 2005 are at least six channel cards (three stereo outputs), newer ones are eight channel. with alsa, you can output different audio streams to those channels discretely, or as pairs (stereo). with an alsa add on called JACK, you can also split and combine channels on the fly, simulating expensive audio distribution hardware completely in software.

there is no point and click interface for much of this - and alsa is poorly documented, so you'll need to do some experimenting to get things working the way you want.

edit:

I just read your last message ... you do not need multiple sound cards to have multiple sound effects playing at the same time. any modern sound card will have at least 32 voices, many have 128-512 voices. This is the number of digital audio streams the DSP / DAC can render at once. You just need some sequencing software such as cakewalk, or any number of other packages. most sequencing software will let you assign samples to keys on the pc keyboard (or a midi keyboard), and you can set options like repeat, delay, infinite loop, etc.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

i'll give it a try crusty.thanks. i need different sound effects going at the same time hence the need for multiple outputs

That's why I asked, you only need the one sound card - it will do everything you need with suitable software.

 

[Gaston]

and i can have say twenty different sounds playing all at the same time? with only one sound per speaker? how would i get a wire running to each amp when there is only a stereo output on the card? i have cakewalk too. if i go with linux which distrubution should i use. i've never used linux before but i think it might be time to learn.

 

[justDIY]

what are you trying to do, please provide LOTS of detail!

why does each sound need to come from a different speaker? your ear will just blend them all together again anyway

use ubuntu linux, it is probably the most user friendly right now. you can download a "live cd" to test everything out first, without having to erase your hard drive.

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

and i can have say twenty different sounds playing all at the same time? with only one sound per speaker?.

No, not seperate speakers - you didn't mention that before - this is why you need to be specific about what you're wanting to do.

Like I said in the first place, check sound cards (internal or external) intended for studio recording - you can get them with various number of I/O channels.

However, twenty might be pushing things a bit? - but if you're trying to do 'silly' things, it's often because you're going about it in the wrong way?.

 

[Gaston]

i need diferent sounds in different rooms. i produce a haunted attraction and im looking to use a pc for the sound effects rather than voice chips. but i need probably over twenty different sounds. i have a bunch of pc's so if i could get mabey five sounds per pc that would be ok. b

 

[Gaston]

i need diferent sounds in different rooms. i produce a haunted attraction and im looking to use a pc for the sound effects rather than voice chips. but i need probably over twenty different sounds. i have a bunch of pc's so if i could get mabey five sounds per pc that would be ok. b

 

[justDIY]

i need diferent sounds in different rooms. i produce a haunted attraction and im looking to use a pc for the sound effects rather than voice chips. but i need probably over twenty different sounds. i have a bunch of pc's so if i could get mabey five sounds per pc that would be ok. b

ok, so if you have a PC with onboard sound, there's 6 rooms... now add two or three more 5.1 sound cards (they're real cheap on ebay, sb live 5.1), that gives you 18-24 channels total. if the rooms are close to each other, cheap pairs of PC speakers could be divided between two adjoining rooms, each playing a different sound stream but sharing a common amplifier and stereo cable back to the PC

I have a script for linux that picks random files from a directory and plays them, that might help you or not.

edit:

this is the sound card I was referring to:

**broken link removed**

 

[Gaston]

so a 5.1 soundcard will out put five channles? then i would just have to use something like cakewalk to record a different sound on each channel? i have amps and speakers just need the line level sound.

 

[justDIY]

so a 5.1 soundcard will out put five channles? then i would just have to use something like cakewalk to record a different sound on each channel? i have amps and speakers just need the line level sound.

a 5.1 sound card has 6 discrete channels

a 7.1 sound card has 8 channels

I don't know if Windows will know what to do with 3-4 sound cards ... only one way to find out

 

[Gaston]

i would be satisfied with 6 discrete channels with one sound card. do you know if cakewalk could make a file with six descrete sounds like that? what kind of file would that have to be ? a midi ?

 

[justDIY]

if cake walk lets you select what sound plays on what output, you're ok ... otherwise you might want to look at launching multiple copies of winamp, each set to play on a different output.

honestly, i don't know how to do it in windows, my experience is with linux.

 

[Gaston]

i think i found a program that will let me wright a file with the six channles of 5.1. i have a 5.1 card too i just need to install it and give it a go. if it works that will be good. six sounds out of one pc is pretty good

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

i think i found a program that will let me wright a file with the six channles of 5.1. i have a 5.1 card too i just need to install it and give it a go. if it works that will be good. six sounds out of one pc is pretty good

Isn't it only 5 channels not 6?, the sixth .1 channel is a subwoofer output mixed and filtered off the other five.

 

[justDIY]

Isn't it only 5 channels not 6?, the sixth .1 channel is a subwoofer output mixed and filtered off the other five.

that is possible in cheap home theater receivers, like the "all in one" units that come with some really cheap speakers and a crappy amplifier dvd player combo

but a 5.1 sound card has 6 discrete channels, all of them full range and independent. the only possible restriction you'd run into is Windows trying to mess with things, or windows software doing some sort of "matrix mixing". that could result in what you refer to, mixing and filtering usually just the front two channels and pumping it out the sw channel. same goes for the center channel, its usually just a differential (not sure thats the right term?) mix of the front two channels, filtered for the vocal freq range

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

that is possible in cheap home theater receivers, like the "all in one" units that come with some really cheap speakers and a crappy amplifier dvd player combo

but a 5.1 sound card has 6 discrete channels, all of them full range and independent.

OK, I wasn't aware of that - bit misleading calling it 5.1 then?.

same goes for the center channel, its usually just a differential (not sure thats the right term?) mix of the front two channels, filtered for the vocal freq range

No, the centre channel isn't mixed and filtered for 5.1, it's an entirely seperate digital channel on the DVD, as are all FIVE - only the .1 channel is generated.