KneesUp
Guru
I've just set up a hi-fi of sorts in LittleKnee's bedroom - and 8 year old me is very jealous - she has an old Technics amp I had spare (an SU-X120 if anyone is interested - a decent bargain at £20 from a charity shop) and a pair of speakers off an old compact stereo. It has a bluetooth receiver connected, so she can use Spotify on her laptop and play it via the amp. So far so good - she has all the music on Spotify to run at and it sounds fairly decent. Hence 8 year old me being jealous - it's better than the Pye cassette deck and two tapes I had at the same age!
She also has a keyboard, and would like it set up so she can record herself playing it on her laptop. The current set up is:
Bluetooth adapter on Aux1 - so she can play music from SPotify via Bluetooth or pull the cable from the adapter and plug it straight into her laptop for slightly better quality at the cost of convenience.
Keyboard on Aux2 - so she can play it via the amp and speakers, which are better than the ones in the keyboard. The only 'out' on the keyboard is the headphones socket and this works fine.
Record OUT has phono to 3.5mm cable in currently. The plan was that this could then plug into her laptop so she could record her keyboard playing in Audacity, whilst still being able to hear it coming through the speakers (better than not using the amp because otherwise you have to connect the headphone socket on the speakers to the laptop and then you can't hear the keyboard)
The problem I've run in to is that her laptop has no Audio In socket. I thought the headphone socket worked either way, but it seems not to. However, in testing it with my laptop it seems that it's far too loud anyway - I guess because it's a line level signal into a mic socket.
So I *think* I need a USB sound card for her laptop. It seems to me that it's the sort of thing I should be able to get for about a fiver on eBay, but all I can find is ones with mic level input. The Griffin iMic has a switchable input, but they are £25, which feels like more than it's worth - although I'll pay it if there is no alternative - but given that she's had the keyboard over a year and never shown much interest, I'd prefer to spend a fiver
So - should it work as a way of recording the keyboard whilst being able to hear yourself playing, and can anyone recommend el-cheapo USB sound card with a line (not Mic) level input?
Cheers.
She also has a keyboard, and would like it set up so she can record herself playing it on her laptop. The current set up is:
Bluetooth adapter on Aux1 - so she can play music from SPotify via Bluetooth or pull the cable from the adapter and plug it straight into her laptop for slightly better quality at the cost of convenience.
Keyboard on Aux2 - so she can play it via the amp and speakers, which are better than the ones in the keyboard. The only 'out' on the keyboard is the headphones socket and this works fine.
Record OUT has phono to 3.5mm cable in currently. The plan was that this could then plug into her laptop so she could record her keyboard playing in Audacity, whilst still being able to hear it coming through the speakers (better than not using the amp because otherwise you have to connect the headphone socket on the speakers to the laptop and then you can't hear the keyboard)
The problem I've run in to is that her laptop has no Audio In socket. I thought the headphone socket worked either way, but it seems not to. However, in testing it with my laptop it seems that it's far too loud anyway - I guess because it's a line level signal into a mic socket.
So I *think* I need a USB sound card for her laptop. It seems to me that it's the sort of thing I should be able to get for about a fiver on eBay, but all I can find is ones with mic level input. The Griffin iMic has a switchable input, but they are £25, which feels like more than it's worth - although I'll pay it if there is no alternative - but given that she's had the keyboard over a year and never shown much interest, I'd prefer to spend a fiver
So - should it work as a way of recording the keyboard whilst being able to hear yourself playing, and can anyone recommend el-cheapo USB sound card with a line (not Mic) level input?
Cheers.
