more of a "live" question than recording

[UKPete]

Hiya,

At the moment we are a live band playing with click track from the laptop. I plug a stereo splitter into the headphone socket and then put the recorded side into the desk and then the click side into the drummers headphones, my question is, is there a safer way to come out of the laptop as the headphone socket is a but flimsy? USB or a com port??? Ant suggestions would be gratefully recieved and any connectors ai need.

Regards

Pete

 

[M10K]

You could probably invest in a cheap USB soundcard (M-audio perhaps.) Otherwise I would get a right-angle plug to come out of the laptop...less of a chance of breaking it off by accident.

 

[andydeedpoll]

I've always panned the click one way and the main audio track the other, and made sure I've got the correct one going to the correct device! That's using an additional headphone amp, obviously, and it means the feed going to the mains is mono, not stereo, but I've never had an issue with that.

Andrew.

 

[stopstartstall]

I do the same as Andrew above and it works for me. You end up with a few more pieces of equipment but I'd say it's worth it.

 

[beemaz]

I like the idea of an external Audio interface, such as a M-Audio FireWire 410 for example (Firewire is faster and better for audio than USB).
So you can use 2 outputs (or more) for your backing track, and one output you can send to the drummer; you will need to go into a separate headphone amp, unless you can assign the mono click track to the headphone socket of the Audio interface.