External Sound Cards for Laptop DJing

It's all about the equipment

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Surreal
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#136 Post by Surreal » Wed May 02, 2012 12:14 pm

I've tried a couple of those super cheap usb cards before and they sometimes have terrible noise problems. I'd use them for cueing, and run the laptop output to speakers.

Toon Town Dave
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#137 Post by Toon Town Dave » Wed May 16, 2012 11:15 am

My Turtle Beach got fried at our last dance and a replacement is on back-order. Has anyone used the Behringer UCA202 or UFO202?

SoundInMotionDJ
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#138 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Wed May 16, 2012 11:45 am

Toon Town Dave wrote:Has anyone used the Behringer UCA202 or UFO202?
I have the UCA222 for headphone listening at work. It is reasonable for the $$$. I do not listen "loud" at all (maybe 2-3 max). I use the "ins" (with a converter) to plug in a headset for Skype-like voice meetings.

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kitkat
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#139 Post by kitkat » Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:47 pm

SoundInMotionDJ wrote:
Toon Town Dave wrote:Has anyone used the Behringer UCA202 or UFO202?
I have the UCA222 for headphone listening at work. It is reasonable for the $$$. I do not listen "loud" at all (maybe 2-3 max). I use the "ins" (with a converter) to plug in a headset for Skype-like voice meetings.
I just got a UCA202 this week. Using it for recording so far, not output. I like it for that, and I bought it because one of our local music-equipment specialty shops trusted it enough to stock it.

If I happen to end up w/ the right cords (2 RCA males to 2 1/4" males) I might give it a try as an output sound card.

The nice thing about my Turtle Beach is that most rigs at dance studios come w/ a 1/8" stereo to 2 1/4" males cord already plugged in, run through the equipment, and sitting on the DJ table. That, and it's tiny. But we'll see!

Donca
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#140 Post by Donca » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:06 pm

Toon Town Dave wrote:Has anyone used the Behringer UCA202 or UFO202?
I'm using a Behringer UCA202 as output card at parties. I feel is very good for its price.

Donca
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#141 Post by Donca » Tue Sep 18, 2012 1:10 pm

Surreal wrote:I've tried a couple of those super cheap usb cards before and they sometimes have terrible noise problems.
Excuse me if this is an obvious thing, but: have you tried it cancelling the "earth socket" (don't know the english word). I mean connecting the laptop to the AC with an only two pins plug.

Surreal
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#142 Post by Surreal » Wed Sep 19, 2012 1:06 pm

Donca wrote:
Surreal wrote:I've tried a couple of those super cheap usb cards before and they sometimes have terrible noise problems.
Excuse me if this is an obvious thing, but: have you tried it cancelling the "earth socket" (don't know the english word). I mean connecting the laptop to the AC with an only two pins plug.
Yes, or just running purely off battery. Those <$5 sound cards really aren't worth the hassle. Spend the $25 and get a Turtle Beach Micro or Behringer UCA202.

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kitkat
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#143 Post by kitkat » Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:29 pm

Donca wrote:have you tried it cancelling the "earth socket" (don't know the english word). I mean connecting the laptop to the AC with an only two pins plug.
Donca,

I am a language geek and love it when people help me with my vocabulary, so I'm jumping in with a quick English lesson.

I believe the closest phrase to "earth socket" in English would be "grounded outlet" (when referring to the device in the wall) or "grounded connection" (when referring to the flow of electricity between the plug and the outlet).

However, when talking about the plug itself, we don't say anything like "grounded plug." We tend to say "three-prong plug."
(Ordinary people also say "three-prong outlet," even though they are counting holes, not prongs.)


Unfortunately, I can't concisely translate your concept of "canceling." However, even if you were a fluent English speaker, you still might have needed your second sentence about using a two-prong** plug. Many people don't know electronics very well, but they can count to two!


**(In everyday American English, we tend to say "prong" rather than "pin" when speaking about electrical power plugs. We use "pin" for objects that are slender enough to remind us of a sewing pin.)

penguin
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#144 Post by penguin » Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:40 am

kitkat wrote:
Donca wrote:have you tried it cancelling the "earth socket" (don't know the english word). I mean connecting the laptop to the AC with an only two pins plug.
Donca,

I am a language geek and love it when people help me with my vocabulary, so I'm jumping in with a quick English lesson......
I suspect that this isn't an English translation issue (the original sentence made perfect sense to me), but one of America's insistence to use terms different from the rest of the English speaking world (e.g. gas/petrol, trunk/boot, sidewalk/footpath, imperial/metric etc.): earth and ground are used interchangeably (though earth is probably more common), as are socket and connection (outlet not usually referring to electricity) and pins more often than not used to describe plug configuration.

The global variations in English language are weird and wonderful (I'm often amazed by the variety of English words that are in Nepali e.g. Glaas, Tébul) and can be very entertaining (to the English pants means underwear, thus the "No Pants Subway Ride" is the "No Trousers Tube Ride" in London). :)

SoundInMotionDJ
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#145 Post by SoundInMotionDJ » Mon Sep 24, 2012 9:48 am

kitkat wrote:
Donca wrote:have you tried it cancelling the "earth socket" (don't know the english word). I mean connecting the laptop to the AC with an only two pins plug.
Donca,

I am a language geek and love it when people help me with my vocabulary, so I'm jumping in with a quick English lesson.

I believe the closest phrase to "earth socket" in English would be "grounded outlet" (when referring to the device in the wall) or "grounded connection" (when referring to the flow of electricity between the plug and the outlet).
Girl nerds rock!

The "earth socket" or "grounded outlet" or "three pronged plug" or "three hole plug" are all referring to the same basic thing....and in the US, they look like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-T5325-W-R ... B0012DRL4C

The "ground lift" adapter or "cheater plug" looks like this:

http://www.amazon.com/UL-Listed-Plug-Ad ... B003C24UM2

This is not a "solution" to the issue of humming in a sound system. I do NOT use these, or allow their use anywhere in my PA system. The ONLY thing I would ever use that with is the laptop....not the mixer, not the effects, NOT the amp. In all cases this does create a risk of electrical shock. The humming indicates some issue with the ground circuit in the place anyway...so take no chances.

Using balanced (e.g. XLR) signal connections is the best option. Plugging everything that goes into the mixer into the same outlet is the second best option. The various humm eliminators or DI boxes are the third best solution.

http://www.amazon.com/Ebtech-Hum-Voltag ... B0002E4YI8
http://www.amazon.com/Ebtech-HE-2-XLR-E ... B00101WA4C

Donca
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#146 Post by Donca » Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:08 am

Thanks for everyone. I will try to keep on learning.

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Chilli Poppin
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#147 Post by Chilli Poppin » Tue Oct 23, 2012 3:55 am

No disrespect meant to anyone, but if I found anyone in a venue I was working in/had hired bypassing the earth/ground in equipment designed to be earthed/grounded, they'd be leaving, without finishing their set/performance and quite possibly without being paid.

Earths are there for a reason.

Donca
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#148 Post by Donca » Wed Oct 31, 2012 2:27 pm

Chilli Poppin wrote:No disrespect meant to anyone, but if I found anyone in a venue I was working in/had hired bypassing the earth/ground in equipment designed to be earthed/grounded, they'd be leaving, without finishing their set/performance and quite possibly without being paid.

Earths are there for a reason.
Aha!.

I'm used to making a sound check before my session. In many halls, if I plug my Laptop and don't bypass the earth/ground, the sound is usually worse than awfull. So I do: I bypass it (if there's a sound technich at the hall, I ask for permission) and the sound is perfect.

Do you have a better solution?. I would love to know it.

Surreal
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#149 Post by Surreal » Wed Oct 31, 2012 4:53 pm

I use ground loop isolators all the time. They can usually be found for <$20 at a local electronics shop.

lipi
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#150 Post by lipi » Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:10 am

Donca wrote:
Chilli Poppin wrote:No disrespect meant to anyone, but if I found anyone in a venue I was working in/had hired bypassing the earth/ground in equipment designed to be earthed/grounded, they'd be leaving, without finishing their set/performance and quite possibly without being paid.

Earths are there for a reason.
Aha!.

I'm used to making a sound check before my session. In many halls, if I plug my Laptop and don't bypass the earth/ground, the sound is usually worse than awfull. So I do: I bypass it (if there's a sound technich at the hall, I ask for permission) and the sound is perfect.

Do you have a better solution?. I would love to know it.
Ignore the hard-ass security police. For any modern laptop you can safely bypass ground. The power brick is fully (doubly) insulated in plastic--no metal exposed, so no danger of shock from a short.

Incidentally, the same laptop, with the same power adapter, is sold with different default plugs (grounded or not grounded) in different parts of the world. Actually, there was a time that Mac laptops came with both grounded and ungrounded plugs in the U.S. (I don't know if that's still the case today.)

It's not generally safe (though it may be) on other devices, so definitely do check with someone who knows the equipment before you unground an amp or something.

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