Help Please--connecting a laptop to sound console

[LightingTiger]

I am a sound newbie--a sound zygote really--and was hoping someone might be able to help.

Here's what I am trying to do:

We have a Behringer 1832fx console. I want to connect a laptop to the console in order to get sound from the laptop through the system. Anybody know if that's possible? The manual just talks about sending a signal TO a computer for recording but not sending a signal from the computer to the console.

Anybody?

 

[jkowtko]

The easiest way -- buy a Hosa CMP-153 or CMP-159, which connects your laptop's headphone jack to two 1/4" jacks to plug into the board's standard input channels (line connection). You can use one of the stereo channels on the board for this.

The sound won't be great because you're using the onboard sound card from the laptop. If you want to go a step up, there are USB and Firewire external sound interfaces from $75 and up that you can get and will give you much better, cleaner sound. Suggest you look at M-Audio, Tascam and Presonus web sites for this.

 

[Dionysus]

There are many ways to accomplish this, most of them result in less than stellar sound quality... Also depends on the inputs your console has.

1) 1/8"TRS (headphone) to 2 RCA (AKA "Component") Jacks, adaptor, directly into RCA inputs on your console.
2) Same thing, with 2 RCA to 1/4" Adapters.

3) An 1/8"TRS to two 1/4" Jack connectors, adaptor. Plugged into 1/4" inputs on two channels.

4) Taking the 1/8"TRS output from your computer, and plugging that into an "AV DI" (like this one, the Radial Pro AV 2 DI). Then taking the two XLR outputs into two channels on your console. Much better than the first options.
If your computer has a good sound card, this can be an excellent way to go.

5) Using a small USB or Firewire pro sound device. There are many different options, and they will give you the best sound. There is a very wide range out there. By far the best option.

6) Using a console with integrated in/out audio from USB or Firewire. There are many examples of this. Tends not to be as good as the high-end pro-audio sound cards, or external USB/Firewire devices, but still a good solution for the most part.

 

[Studio]

This board supports USB audio in and out.

USB/Audio interface
The USB interface supplied with the unit is a perfect match for the XENYX Series and serves as a powerful recording interface to your PC or MAC®. It supports the digital transmission of signals on up to four channels with max. 48 kHz and extremely low latency. When wired to the CD/TAPE INPUT and OUTPUT connectors, the interface transfers the stereo mix from the console directly to a computer. Both the recording signal and the playback signal from the computer can be monitored at the same time. In this way, you can use several recording runs to produce complete multi-track recordings.

 

[Dionysus]

OKAY...
I had looked at the console, and it did not appear to have any USB connectivity. But NOW I SEE, It COMES with the UCA200 USB interface. Plug that into your computer, and then connect the RCA outputs however you feel-like into the console. Route the output, and boom, playback from your windows-audio (or mac, linux, whatever).

 

[LightingTiger]

OKAY...
I had looked at the console, and it did not appear to have any USB connectivity. But NOW I SEE, It COMES with the UCA200 USB interface. Plug that into your computer, and then connect the RCA outputs however you feel-like into the console. Route the output, and boom, playback from your windows-audio (or mac, linux, whatever).

Thanks, everybody! I was able to figure it out after finding that USB interface. I just get a little nervous when doing things I've never done before.

I appreciate all of the advice!