capture card advice needed
 

I would like to capture stereo 1 and stereo 2 audio from the XL1 for use in Premiere 6. The card I currently have will only capture stereo 1. I'd also like to be able to output channel 1 (mono) audio to both channels 1 and 2 (i.e., L/L of stereo 1). The card I currently have will only output the information to channel one, so I only have audio coming from the left speaker. Is there a way to copy the sound to channel two within Premiere? Hopefully, I can find a card that does it automatically, as I know the XL1 is capable of outputting mono-recorded audio this way.
I don't want to spend a fortune on a capture card, but any advice on a card that will accomplish this would be greatly appreciated!!!
I understand that one solution to the latter problem is to use an XLR Y-splitter when recording with only one mono-microphone. Is this worth it? Is the quality of the signal greatly reduced by splitting it?

If you have a standard OHCI card, you can use Scenalyzer to capture either stereo track with their latest version:

http://www.scenalyzer.com/sclive20011115.zip

Another alternative would be to capture the sound through your sound card. I usually capture with Cinestream which has the ability to capture either stereo track built-in.

<I'd also like to be able to output channel 1 (mono) audio to both channels 1 and 2 (i.e., L/L of stereo 1). >

In Premiere, select an audio clip in the timeline. Right click on the clip. Choose Audio Options > Duplicate Left or Duplicate Right.

You can also you sonic foundry's Sound Forge to strip off the stereo 2 channel out of the DV-AVI. The second track is hidden to most of the video editors, but is contained in the AVI as a second audio stream. ( Newer AVI format supports multiple audio and video streams within the AVI itself). That is how I do it.. Good Luck.

Thanks for all your help!
The duplicate option in Premiere definitely solves one of my problems.
I'm working with the Scenalyzer software and my current capture card to capture four channels of audio. This is a really cool program, but I'm not sure that I can capture stereo 2 without stereo 1. All four channels appear to be mixed in one file. That's better than no stereo 2 at all, but there has to be a way to capture stereo 1 and stereo 2 separately - so I can edit them as separate audio tracks in Premiere. I'll take a look at the sound forge option tomorrow.

In Scenalyzer, you only have the option of capturing Stereo 1 OR Stereo 2. It does not capture both at the same time and does not create a mix of both in one file. Therefore, if you want to capture Stereo 1 AND Stereo 2, you actually have to capture twice. You pick the stereo channel you wish to capture on the "audio channels" tab. The options are:

capture first channel
capture second channel (when available)

I am using a Samson Mixpad4 to mix the output from my XL1s into two channels, prior to feeding it into digitized audio. With the Mixpad, you can also download a single channel of mono and mix it into two channel stereo output. Great little tool! Since the Mixpad4 outputs in 1/4 inch balanced audio jacks, I use a radio shack inductive converter to output to the RCA jacks used by my ATi Radeon video card input.