Monitoring

Monitoring means: hearing the track you're recording. The best way to achieve this is in hardware ("direct monitoring"), as this doesn't introduce a delay. Soft Monitoring can be used if you need to hear effects like the Guitar Amp while recording. It can also be used if your hardware doesn't support direct monitoring.

Direct Monitoring

If you're using the WinSound driverset you can access the sound device's internal mixer using the Studio menu's Audio Output Control option. Turn up the Mic or Line input (the one you're using) so you can hear it. Note that more faders can be made visible using the Options menu's Properties window. Cheap or onboard sound devices typically support this.

If you're using the AsioSnd driverset then you can use the sound device's control panel (if available) to set up monitoring. Some sound device have a hardware knob to control direct monitoring. Not all sound devices have monitoring features, in this case an analog mixer can be used if available.

Soft Monitoring

Note: this option works with the AsioSnd or VistaSound driversets only.

If this option is used recording audio tracks will send the signal they're recording to the Audio Out Device after having applied any effects. This way effects (like Guitar Amp or Reverb) can be played "live".

It is not recommended to use this feature as a means of monitoring the dry signal you're recording, as there is an inherent latency between the input and the output signal. Using a low latency will increase the risk of glitches in the recordings. All these problems can be avoided using direct monitoring.