I've been practicing for my live show with a friends PA system, but the way I'm currently mixing everything isn't working out too well.
I've got a Lexicon Lambada USB interface that I'm mixing everything into (Acoustic guitar, my rack, piano, etc...). The Lambada is also the "Audio Out" from my laptop playing my backing tracks, backing vocals, and also the midi controlled VSTi's.
My laptop isn't a great one, a year old Dell that I use for all my recording as well. But when I'm playing the backing tracks and using the VSTi's in the same program it tends to crack and slow down for a moment. Should I play the backing tracks from an iPod via 1/4 cable and keep the laptop for just the VSTi's. Any suggestions?
I've also had some difficulty with the Lambada because the system to hooking it up to a mixer is two 1/4 cables for L and R, which I've found a lot of mixers don't have inputs for (usually just one 1/4 connection for input). How else could I get the sound from my laptop onto the PA?
I know I've kinda quickly gone over these issues that I'm facing, but if anyone can help me that would be greatly appreciated. I'll be checking this often so if you have any questions about what I've said please ask to help me further.
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I think you have the right idea dedicating the laptop to the vir
I think you have the right idea dedicating the laptop to the virtual instruments, and using an iPod for playback. It will be considerably less taxing on the computer.
I think you'll need to use the Lexicon interface and its 1/4" outs to playback the VSTi's. If your mixer doesn't have enough inputs, that's a whole separate problem.
Why not plug your acoustic guitar, rack, and piano into the mixer rather than the Lambda for the live show?
Do you know what kind of mixer you'll be using for the live show(s)? A lot of the new mixers have stereo input channels that use a pair of 1/4" inputs. Does the playback need to be stereo? If not, you only need to connect the left or right.
These are a handy interface for getting your iPod and some laptops into a single XLR connection in your PA system
[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.markerte…"]LTI interface[/]="http://www.markerte…"]LTI interface[/]
Good luck.