Audio problem

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belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

I have a bit of an audio problem that I hope one of you guys may be able to help with.

It's only vaguely pc related so I'll only post on the other forum If nothing works here.



I acquired a midi system on the weekend that has a 3 disc CD player, tuner and two cassette one with record and there is a mic in socket. By itself the system reaches adequate volume with little interference.

The problem I have is that over 95% of my music collection is on the laptop. It has a DC/DVD burner but I don't want to burn every CD as that is a bit wasteful. I've tried the laptop headphone out to midi mic in, but at the very lowest volumes the interference is awful.

If you can tell me what I'm doing wrong, or better what I can do right it would be appreciated. These are some thoughts I've had so far.



The length of cable between sockets is 15m and coiled, is a magnetic effect causing

my interference?



I am not using line out/in as there is no configuration possible. Is the interference

therefore from over-amplification?



I have no interest in the tuner, cassette decks or CD come to that. Can I use one

of their outputs to the midi amp as a line in?



Your thoughts please.




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RedeyesUK
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Audio problem

Post by RedeyesUK »

belchingmatt wrote:I am not using line out/in as there is no configuration possible. Is the interference

therefore from over-amplification?







Your thoughts please.
Very possibly, that would be my first thought. What exactly do you mean by 'no configuration possible'? do you mean there is no proper line-in on the midi system? or no line-out on the lappy?




I have no interest in the tuner, cassette decks or CD come to that. Can I use one

&nbsp; of their outputs to the midi amp as a line in?




Worth a try if all else fails.
belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

Laptop

line in

mic in

headphone out



Midi

speaker l/r out

headphone out

mic in



Thinking about it the midi mic in is probably mono, so not a good option anyway.

I'll open it up later and see what I can find. I'll also un-coil the cable and see if that helps. I couldn't think of this when I was working on it last night because of the beers I'd consumed.



As I'll probably have to go from one of the midi components output wires, does anyone know what I'm lookinf for? I sure as hell don't. Must remember to unplug midi before I start working on it.

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<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



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Big_Adam
Posts: 1635
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Audio problem

Post by Big_Adam »

ah. i know. i shall ask all knowing Fred........if he stays awake long enouth.



[quote=""msn""]

Big_Adam says:

fred...you dead?



bring your own bombs says:

yes thats it im dead



Big_Adam says:

gotcha. before you go zombie i have question. only quick



Big_Adam says:

http://s12.invisionfree.com/The_Wired/inde...p?showtopic=297



Big_Adam says:

don't know what belching's doing wrong possably do you?



bring your own bombs says:

um

Big_Adam says:

yeeessss.



bring your own bombs says:

the 15m of coiled wire would create interference but not much



bring your own bombs says:

um



bring your own bombs says:

i would try all the possible inputs into the hifi



Big_Adam says:

cool. cheers fred. i'll post that.



bring your own bombs says:

he says he is not using line in /out thats what i would use



Big_Adam says:

aye.



bring your own bombs says:

ah its says he is going in to mic in which is the microphone socket that is why



Big_Adam says:

??



Big_Adam says:

bad idea then?



bring your own bombs says:

yer cos mics for little midi systems need to be powered to get the volume and quality up



Big_Adam says:

ahhh..........



Big_Adam says:

shall i post then and let you die.



bring your own bombs says:

yer just say not mic in find an aux in or other input for the cd or cassette or something

[/quote]



fear fred knolge of hifi stuff........if only i knew what he said.








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belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

Thanks for that Adam and Fred.



Thinking about it, the mic in socket did have an amplifier as well. I'll definitely ditch that Idea then.



Decisions, decisions. which midi component do I use/lose to get the signal to the midi amp.

CD - I have one in the lappy, but if this doesn't work then I might need to burn a couple anyway.

Tuner - I don't listen to the radio except in the car so losing this won't be an issue.

Casstettes - who still uses these. The main issue is that I may have to push play to get the signal to work, and then the motor will be a pain in the ass, unless I disable it.



Right in this order, cassettes, tuner then cd. That gives me 4 attempts to get it right.



Wish me luck. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
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Audio problem

Post by JJW009 »

I'm not sure I understand what you're going to do - are you saying the midi system doesn't have any line-inputs so you're going to open it up and nick one from the integrated components?



If so - you don't need to nick it; just feed an input onto the volume control. If it has a digital volume control then it's not quite so easy - you need to ID the chips involved, but it is do-able. You need 4 resistors, a stanley knife, and a steady soldering hand...



Once you've done it, you'll have a line-in which is always live and will mix with any playing signal. To use it, set the midi to tape or cd or anything else which is silent.




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belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

The volume is an up or down button, from 0 to 30 in increments of 2. So probably digital.

I'm happy to try something new so I'll see what info I can find on the interweb thingy.



Thanks




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
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Audio problem

Post by JJW009 »

OK yes digital - trace the buttons to the chip and see what you can find out.



At the worst - you could tap into the amp stage, which means the volume on the midi wouldn't work so you'd have to use the laptop controls.



Post a photo of the guts if you can <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->




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belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

This sounds like your area.



I'll open it up later and post some pics.

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--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

Right, I've opened her up and have released the board that has the control switches on it. I'm not going to take piccies tonight as I am once again inebriated. <!--emo&:rolleyes:--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='rolleyes.gif' /><!--endemo-->



I'm not particularly bothered if I wreck the thing having a go at this, as it was a skip-dip job, but I have since wondered if it might be worth 9easier) getting one of those contraptions that you would use from a portable CD player, as an input to a tape player in a car.



Would that work.



btw, each microswitch for the digital volume control has 6 terminals, that I can remember.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
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Audio problem

Post by JJW009 »

The tape thing would work fine and would be easy - but you'd need the play button pressed in all the time.



The connections on the volume control aren't relevant because it simply controls a chip somewhere - no audio signal goes to the switches.



It is hard without seeing it, but if the selection switches are push button then they most likely have no signal on either.



You need to identify the chips on the board and find out where the signal goes, then splice into it. Like I say, not easy to advise without seeing it. If you can find a schematic then I can easily show you on that!




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belchingmatt
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Audio problem

Post by belchingmatt »

I still haven't managed to take any piccies yet, but was able to have a little play around with it on the weekend.



For the time being I went down the easy route, and spliced the signal onto the mainboard, via one of the cassette deck signal connectors. This along with uncoiling the cable did improve the performance from where it was, but it still has lots of interference.



I'll try and have a look around the board again this week, but the attempt I had suggests to me that a laptop lineout would be better than headphones out. If only it had one. PCMCIA sound card perhaps. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->



Whatever happens to the midi system is no big loss as I was able to get music onto the rooftop anyway. The audio cable I made just filled the gap between the external speakers and subwoofer, probably louder and better quality than the midi anyway.




--------------------


<div class='signature'> I'm not addicted to porn, I'm addicted to masturbation. Porn is just an enabler.



<img src='http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y81/ma ... Threat.gif' border='0' alt='user posted image'>

There are plenty more fish in the sea, get your tackle out and see what bites.



Divers go deeper and stay down for longer.
JJW009
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Audio problem

Post by JJW009 »

I have home made audio equipment all over the house... but I am so disorganised, that my 240W speakers in the living room are running off a 3W amp which is about 3" by 1" big <!--emo&:P--><img src='http://i2.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/tongue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tongue.gif' /><!--endemo-->



SOunds OK though...



Currently listening to... "Forest" ... "The Cure"



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