My laptop has no stereo line-in.

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Russ Johnson
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 8:10 pm

My laptop has no stereo line-in.

Post by Russ Johnson »

Hi,

I just discovered my laptop only has mono line-in. I was hoping to use the laptop to do a lot of line-in recording with MT.

Is there any work-around for this? Do those USB line-in/mic adapters work well?

If they do, is it easy to use them with MT? Will MT recognize audio input from USB?

Many thanks. I am kind of new at this.

Russ J
Robomusic
Posts: 483
Joined: Tue Dec 07, 2004 2:23 am

Post by Robomusic »

There are a plethora of options with a laptop, puruse thru these, and pay attention to the USB, firewire, and PCMCIA options
Mac
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:38 am

Post by Mac »

I'm using an EMU 1616M pcmcia card on a laptop with MTS.

Be sure to check out this option, too!


Love it.



The "M" at the end means you get true Mastering Quality Convertors. Cost is about $100 more, well worth it IMO, but the "standard" 1616 convertors are not shabby by any means if you are on a tight budget it is a good way to go, too.


Recently picked up an ACER 5002WLMi lappy for my wife and was pleasantly surprised to find that this model does indeed come with Mic and LINE inputs, right on the front panel no less next to the headphone jack. Maybe the rest of the laptop designers will start to catch on about this sorely lacking feature on laptops.


--Mac
Mac
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:38 am

Post by Mac »

I don't know if Russ is still around, but here goes:

Just noticed your "mono line in only" statement.

Something's up.

Either it is really a MIC in, which is mono on most laptops, or if you really do indeed have a LINE input, it may indicate that you are simply using a mono plug in the jack when what you need is a TRS 1/8" mini breakout adaptor, for the Line Input is a stereo input that has both L and R channels on one jack.

Radio Shacks have the proper Y breakout adaptor, as do other electronics supply places.



--Mac
Russ Johnson
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 8:10 pm

Post by Russ Johnson »

Hi Mac,

Thanks for your message. The one jack is a combo Mic/Line in jack. I did a test recording through it and it was indeed mono.

Russ
Mac
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:38 am

Post by Mac »

Russ Johnson wrote:Hi Mac,

Thanks for your message. The one jack is a combo Mic/Line in jack. I did a test recording through it and it was indeed mono.

Russ

What brand and model laptop?

What did you use for the 1/8" input plug?

Did you try a true TRS 'Y' breakout input (with one RED and one WHITE connector at the other end)?


--Mac
Russ Johnson
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 8:10 pm

Post by Russ Johnson »

Hi Mac-

No, I just used a stereo cable with 1/8" stereo plugs on each end to patch between the laptop input jack and the output jack of the audio device.

If I used a "Y output" on the laptop and a corresponding "Y input" from the audio input device...that would make a difference?

The laptop is an M3 (not sure who that is)....the minimal manual I have calls this jack "Microphone & Audio Input" ... "This mono microphone jack can be used to connect an external microphone or output signals from audio devices."

thanks
Russ
Mac
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:38 am

Post by Mac »

It is not a true Line Input.

If you cannot find "Line Input" on the software recording control applet and invoke that and have its fader control the level, it is not a true Line Input.

Probably the Mic input fader controls the level.

This would be a noisy input for good audio and music work.

Highly recommend that you seek a good quality sound device, the EMU1616 or 1616M with mastering grade converters is an awesome thing sonically but can be difficult in the learning curve. The Audigy pcmcia is a lower cost and good enough device, too. There are USB and Firewire solutions also, I personally prefer the pcmcia route and leave my Firewire port available for driving a second hard drive for the audio streaming. USB is getting better as time marches on but can still sometimes be troublesome in the audio recording game.

I don't think the internal sound device is worth much more time personally.

If you are going to be wanting to do multitrack recording by overdubbing or recording separate tracks for multiple playback at the same time, a noisy audio preamp plus consumer grade Analog to Digital convertor and its noise can be a big problem because the noise, just like the desired audio, is ADDITIVE in nature. That means that one track by itself might not sound so bad, but three or more tracks played back at the same time can sound terrible. Many new users don't know what causes that sound. Best to avoid going through the situation by getting and using a decent quality sound device like one of the ones described above from the gitgo.



--Mac
Kid Dutch
Posts: 13
Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2006 3:52 pm

I've seen some laptops with mono line-in (ump!)

Post by Kid Dutch »

I've noticed a lot of Acers at Newegg have this limitation.

For example:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115303
Mac
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 5:38 am

Re: I've seen some laptops with mono line-in (ump!)

Post by Mac »

Kid Dutch wrote:I've noticed a lot of Acers at Newegg have this limitation.

For example:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834115303
I bought an Acer 5002WLMi for my wife. It has a front mounted Mic, Line and Earphone jack on it.

The Line Input is indeed Stereo capable. They designed it for the home user who wants to transfer mp3s and such from iPods and the like over to the laptop. I tried it, it works in stereo. But the wife won't let me play with it much anymore (grin).

This is the exact same model you point the link to.

But you gotta realize we are still dealing with a laptop's onboard sound device here. Not the greatest thing for multitrack recording. But I must say they have been steadily if slowly improving along that front.


--Mac
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