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I have a Compaqu computer with a stock sound card (line in,Line out,mic in) and i was thinking about getting a mixing board to hook up to the computer but i'm not clear on how to hook up the mixing board to the computer the correct way, if someone could explain it very clearly on how to hook up a mixing board to a computer i'd be very happy i know this is a novice question sorry thanks alot

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anonymous Mon, 09/06/2004 - 12:51

What mixer is it?

How to do it depends in part on the mixer.

You need is a cable to go from the line in on the soundcard to the mixer's output, but the question is which of the mixers outputs.

Small project mixers usually have a tape out section with RCA connectors. That may be the easiest to use, since a RCA male to 1/8 stereo male cable is easy to get (try radio shack).

Most proaudio gear will have 1/4" connectors rather than the 1/8' mini plugs on the computer or RCA connectors like a home stereo. Just getting an adapter may not work because of a difference in impedance (the amount of signal coming out of it. usually measured in db. most RCA and 1/8" connectors are at -4db, pro audio is at +10db a LOT more signal. guitars, mics, and other instruments are usually closer to -10db, much less than pro audio and even home audio, which is why they need a pre amp or DI box)

To get sound out of the computer to the mixer, same cable to the tape in section.

hope this helps

anonymous Mon, 09/06/2004 - 13:35

if i were to hook up a cabel from the line in (computer) to the RCA jacks (mixer) how would i go about doing that if i have to plug the cabel into 2 RCA jacks with only one cabel? If my computer has only 1 line in,1 line out, and 1 mic in, how would i go about doing this say i were to get this exact mixer, than how would i do it

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/631235/

anonymous Mon, 09/06/2004 - 14:28

the cable is stereo 1/8" mini to 2 mono rca male

this is one that they have at musicains friend
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/search/detail/base_pid/333055/

for more on how to do it with this particular mixer,
(Dead Link Removed)
see page 8
you can even see where to plug it in on the front of the manual.

BTW, I would post here and ask for recomendations before I bought a mixer. Many of the people here have a lot of experience, and have gone though the process of finding what REALLY is the best bang for the buck, with out all the advertising hype. They have to cut through the B.S., they do this stuff for a living.

anonymous Mon, 09/06/2004 - 19:07

Before anything, be aware that your not going to get high quality sound from the sound card your Compaq comes with.

Yet, if that is what you want to do, then regardless of what mixer you buy there are all type of adapters to connect from your sound card to a mixer. (Radio Shack)
(Markertek)

To connect the line out from your sound card you will want to get two or one of these cables (it all depends what you want to do with the mixer):

At one end a stereo 1/8" plug, at the other end it will split up into 2 RCA plugs, then you will need RCA to 1/4" adapters.

From the info a gathered, that's what I think you need. If you can be more specific about what you want to do, then I can help even further.