Karaoke Forums

What are you using between the laptop and Mixer?

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SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE LAST TUESDAY

I personally use a simple 1/8" headphone jack to a stereo RCA (2 x phono plugs - red/white) cable.

This goes from my headphone out to my stereo input on my mixer.

You can often get even better sound by using an external USB soundcard and running phone plugs from that into your stereo input.

ive used the headphon socket to stereo input on the mixer too with no problems ,but it depends how good the soundcard of your laptop is ,if not very good then you will need to use an external usb sound or get a mixer with a usb input like the A&H Zed 12fx that i use.

I USE A USB CABLE, i HAVE THE MACHIR EFX12PRO, IT HAS A GREAT SOUNDBOARD BUILT IN. I TRIED THE HEADPHONE JACKS, IT WASNT NEARLY AS CLEAN AS THE USB

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

I don't care for the headphone jack as the sound is ok, but not great. I run the Lexicon Alpha USB interface between the computer & mixer. MUCH better sound & pro balanced 1/4" jacks.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

The reason I'm asking is I'm getting computer noise.Will the lexicon eliminate the computer noise.

I'm currently running out the headphone jack.

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SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE LAST TUESDAY

I think getting an external USB sound card will help. I ran into this same type of thing with an old laptop. Turned out the sound card was mounted in close proximity to the hard drive and picked up noise from the hard drive's motor. Wasn't noticeable until you put it throuhg a big PA with all that amplification. Getting the USB sound card took care of that issue.

I have a new laptop now and I use both a USB sound card and the internal card. One is for house (filler) music and the other for Karaoke tracks (allows me to control them separately and have the Karaoke tracks trigger ducking on the house music). Both sound cards get connected with an insert ("Y") cable that has a single TRS 1/8" plug on one end and a pair of TS 1/4" plugs on the other end.

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

I got a lot of hum from my headphone jack if the computer wasn't grounded properly, the Lexicon did eliminate that & improved the sound overall.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I am currently disc based, but am getting ready to go laptop. I will use the Lexicon for sound. My mixer supports 9 audio inputs, I use 3 regularly for my shows. I do use the little 1/8 inch to RCA cable to connect IPODs and the such to my system. This has been helpful for private parties. If I don't have a song, the person almost always has it on their IPOD, so I plug it in.

Felix the KJ

I use a firewire based external sound system but I just got it so I haven't done a live gig yet with it. It's M-Audio Firewire 410. I think it sounds better than the built in audio but the laptop is a bit underpowered and haven't figured out if this will work better than the internal audio. The internal audio was skipping once in a while so it may be resource issue, which I hope the external audio system will work better.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Thanks for all the info,I will be getting an external sound card.

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SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE LAST TUESDAY

M-Audio USB interface, but just about any quality interface will eliminate the laptop fan noise.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I'm using the Creative X-Fi, it's like an external USB sound card. sounds good to me, at least when compared when I was using the headphone out

I used to get noise from my laptop and bought an external soundcard.
Then a friend online told me to use a 3 to 2 prong adapter for my electrical cord.
Sounded funny to me...but I tried it and voila! no noise and have great sound. Now I don't have to use my external sound card.

hi there

can you please tell me how to "ground" the laptop?

oh and also what is a Lexicon?

thanks Kev

It's never good to take the ground off of anything that is meant to be grounded - even if it works, it's not safe.
Lexicon Alpha is an external sound card that plugs into the USB port of the computer that runs inline to the mixer.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Yes removing the ground will help to eliminate the hum - not safely, but yes will work, but I fail to see that the external didn't sound better than the built in, unless the external wasn't a very good card to start with.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Most laptop power supplies don't need three-prong plugs, and a lot of them only use two-prong plugs. The hazard should be minimal since no AC is going to the laptop itself.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Try disconnecting your adapter/charger so your laptop is running on Battery. If it makes the noise when it is running on Battery then I don't think my solution will work.

If the noise stops when the laptop is running on Battery then you can do the following to fix your problem:

I use a Creative SB Live External. Mind you I tried several other External USB interfaces, but the Laptop noise didn't go away until I 'lifted the ground'. (i.e: used a 2 prong plug)

Easiest way to do this is to break off the Grounding Pin on the plug and the noise stops immediately.

Some people claim this is unsafe, however I researched this endlessly before I decided to go with this option. The materials used in laptops today is generally non conductive, so there is little to no risk of electric shock. Further, there is no AC going into the laptop.

I hope this helps.

Vic in Sydney

I have noted if you get an aftermarket power supply for your machine they seem to be all grounded. I personally haven't owned a laptop yet that came with a grounded AC adapter. If you go straight from the wall to machine with no adapter in between I wouldn't pull the ground. If you have an AC adapter between wall and machine your machine runs on DC and you shouldn't have a problem removing the ground.