pc help me!!

[Dreadpoet]

What connector out there is going to give me the purest signal from pc to my soundcraft GB4? I know you can go through the headphone jack...is there anything that goes through a USB port? Obviously I'm wanting to avoid buzz while have a high quality feed. Will I want it to have a 1/4" connector feeding in to the console, or a 3pin mic connector.

[gpforet]

If you're just wanting left and right, then just about any usb interface will give you what you want. M-Audio makes a few cost effective unit and provides you with two channels of input back to the computer as well if you're interested in recording your board output. Most of these units will have balanced/unbalanced 1/4" outputs which you can plug directly into your console.

Originally Posted by Dreadpoet

What connector out there is going to give me the purest signal from pc to my soundcraft GB4? I know you can go through the headphone jack...is there anything that goes through a USB port? Obviously I'm wanting to avoid buzz while have a high quality feed. Will I want it to have a 1/4" connector feeding in to the console, or a 3pin mic connector.

[mbenonis]

Probably the best solution will be a FireWire audio device, such as the ones made by MOTU, M-Audio (though they can be buggy), Presonus, etc. Short of that, USB can work but it was never designed for high-throughput, low latency audio work. Finally, sound cards will also work but you may need to use a DI-box between the computer and the sound console to balance the signal, isolate it electrically, and potentially break the ground.

[jkowtko]

To add to the above ...

For analog board inputs, an audio interface with balanced outputs will ensure the cleanest and strongest signal. These will be 1/4" TRS (no one makes them with XLR outs). You will see some of the lowest end units with 1/4" TS (unbalanced) or RCA outputs (also unbalanced) ... signal won't be nearly as good. So stick with something that has TRS balanced outputs.

I personally own the M-Audio FastTrackPro which is USB ... works great from my laptop and sounds about as clean and punchy as the M-Audio Delta 1010 and Delta 66 I have at the theater (both of which are PCI card-based installed on desktop machines)

A friend of mine just bought a Presonus Firebox which uses Firewire ... loves it. These are both <$200 units.

[howlingwolf487]

The digital domain will definitely keep many of the problems found in analog audio transmission to a minimum.

Presonus makes some good stuff, both USB and Firewire. Also, Sound Devices makes a great, rugged 2-channel USB interface called the USBPre.

If you want to go with an analog option, Whirlwind makes the PCDI and ProCo makes the iFace.

Check out the options...let us know your decision.

[DuckJordan]

this is what we have in our theater and its worked amazing. we've almost completely gone digital as far as sound effects go

http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/FireWire/AudioFire4/index.php

they also have a smaller set up the AudioFire 2 which is a little less expensive but is also the less useful of the two cheapys. there are more high end but i am going to guess that your looking for a fairly inexpensive. you do not have to use professional software with this device either you can use any software. the computer treats it as an external sound card.

[Lightguy48]

If you get desperate and must use the internal sound card (I highly discourage this as 'non-pro' PC soundcards have tons of noise in their output) look at purchasing an ART CleanBox to convert from consumer levels to pro/balanced levels
Applied Research & Technology: ARTcessories™

[TimmyP1955]

1/8" TRS to dual 1/4" TS.

Radial ProAV1 and ProAV2 audio-video direct boxes

Radial Engineering - JPC Computer / A/V Direct Box

The USB or FireWire box of your choice.

[museav]

Originally Posted by Lightguy48

If you get desperate and must use the internal sound card (I highly discourage this as 'non-pro' PC soundcards have tons of noise in their output) look at purchasing an ART CleanBox to convert from consumer levels to pro/balanced levels

The biggest advantage of something like the CleanBox in this type of application would actually seem to be in the unbalanced to balanced conversion rather than the level interface, most mixer inputs would probably be able to work fine with a -10dBV level and you'd simply use the mixer preamp rather than an external gain device for the related gain.

If you are running into mic/line channels on a mixer then using a transformer based DI may have several advantages over a consumer-to-pro level matching device including more flexibility in use and potentially avoiding ground loops.

A little trivia, standard 'consumer' level audio is -10dBV (0.316VRMS) and standard 'pro' level is +4dBu (1.228VRMS) but the difference between them is 11.8dB rather than 14dB due to the difference between the 'V' and 'u' dB references. Thus the stated +20db unbalanced to balanced gain of the CleanBox seems a bit excessive while the -8dB balanced to unbalanced gain seems a bit low (it appears to be a fixed gain device with input (unbalanced-to-balanced) and output (balanced-to-unbalanced) level controls rather than a VCA device with adjustable gain).

[Dreadpoet]

I would prefer not to have to replace the soundcard in my computer...as I may want to bring in other computers. Knowing this, would the general aggrement then be that a firewire into usb device would be better than going through the headphone jack into soundcard if I'm only using consumergrade soundcards? Or am I totally missing the point?