Summing Mixer and Stereo Headphones (w/ mic)

[tukusejssirs]

Hey there … I am new here and have no real experience with a summing mixer and/or patchbay (or whatever device I am looking for).

First of all, let me explain what I what to do.

Imagine you have two devices (e.g., a laptop and a smartphone) each with a combo female jack (4-pole 3.5mm). You are watching a film with headphones in your ears and suddenly someone calls you – you have to either unplug the headphones from laptop and plug them into your phone or take them out of your ears.

What I want is to sum up the stereo output from laptop and phone plus somehow split (using a two point patchbay or whatever?) the mic input (I want the input to go only to one device, not both ).

I found on the Internet this device. It is splitter and mixer in one box. I have no (or just very small) idea what is written in the description on that website, so this is the main reason I am posting this thread/question here.

Is this device capable of what I want all alone? Or should I get some other summing-only device (2× 2-channel stereo) to sum up the output and patchbay the mic and then joy them with some adapters?

Or if you have an easy, DIY guide, how to solder a simple device like that, you can post it, too.

PS – I am not familiar with the terminology, so please forgive me if I named something differently than what is usual. Plus English is not my native tongue .

 

[mjbphotos]

4-conductor 3.5 minis? I'm used to 3 conductor. You'd need adapters from the 4-conductor sources to the stereo 1/4" inputs on the ART, then back out of the 1/4" stereo ART to your 4-conductor headphones.

 

[tukusejssirs]

4-conductor 3.5 minis? I'm used to 3 conductor. You'd need adapters from the 4-conductor sources to the stereo 1/4" inputs on the ART, then back out of the 1/4" stereo ART to your 4-conductor headphones.

By adapters you means 1/4" male to 3.5mm female and 3.5mm male to 1/4" female?

However, this I have already known. The question was rather if the device (SplitMix) would be sutisfactory to do (1) the summing of the stereo ouput AND (2) patching (or whatever it should be called) the mic input between laptop and phone.

 

[RFR]

Why not take the headphones off and just answer the phone like normal people do.?

Put the damn movie on pause and take the call OR reject the call, and call them back after the movie is done.

 

[tukusejssirs]

@RFR

You know, some people do it (anything, really) the easiest way. Others (like me) are seeking the solution for the normal tasks that would be easier to do. I like to call myself a programmer (althought I study the programming at university, I am still just a beginner) for these like to solve things, rather than just do it without any or little thinking.

Call me a lazy if you want—I will take it.

 

[RFR]

Ok, I'll call you lazy. And foolish
Spending money to solve a non existing problem.

 

[tukusejssirs]

Ok, I'll call you lazy. And foolish
Spending money to solve a non existing problem.

You are not the first person to have this reaction to this current ‘problem’. Still, it I do want to solve it.

So, I would like to ask anybody with a concrete solution and/or the answer to my question, which is:

Is this device capable of what I want all alone?

 

[RFR]

Im sure someone has the answers you seek.

 

[Farview]

The first thing you will have to do is get an adapter that splits off the mic signal from your headphones. So you will need a 4 conductor mini jack to three 1/4 trs adapter. I've never seen one, but it could exist. You might find something that breaks out into rca connections, and then have to get the adapters to change the RCA into what ever you need to get into the mixer.

The only thing that ART device you linked will do is allow you to connect the laptop and phone audio to the same set of headphones. It will not help you with the mic at all.

For the mic, you basically need the opposite. 1 input and two outputs.

What you would need is something like this Behringer: XENYX 802

The outputs of the phone and computer would go the the inputs of the first 4 channels and get routed to the main output. The mic will be plugged into the 5th channel and be routed to the aux output. The aux out will go to a Y cable to be sent to the mic inputs on the laptop and phone.

Mind you, I'm assuming the phone has the mic and audio on the same jack. If that's the case, you will need to find the opposite adapter to get the three signals (two audio outs and one mic input) back to a 4 conductor mini plug.

If you want full control of where the mic signal goes, you will have to upgrade the mixer to one that has two aux outputs, one for the laptop and one for the phone. But that quickly moves you up from a $60 mixer into the $150 and up range.

So, taking into account the cost of the adapters, if you can find them, and the cabling and the mixer, it will end up running you about $100. You sill most likely have to plug multiple adapters into each other, since you are trying to interface things that were never meant to interface, which generally gets you intermittent connection problems.

It would almost be easier to get an earbud for your phone and some over the ear headphones for the laptop and wear both all the time. When the phone rings, hit pause on the movie and answer the phone with the ear bud that is already convieniently placed in your ear.

 

[tukusejssirs]

@Farview

Thank you for your exhausting replay.

I was looking on the the for 5-channel, 2-aux mixer online. As I am from Slovakia, I found this one (sorry, the site is entirely in Slovak language and I have not found the mixer specifications in English). According to the description, it is Power m515 and has 5 channels [4 mono inputs (mic), 1 stereo input], 1 aux output and 1 return aux.

Do you think it would do it?

PS—I found these adapters between 1/4" and 3.5mm jacks: one way and the other.

 

[Farview]

That will work, but you will need to split the aux output with a Y cable to get it to both the phone and laptop mic inputs.

Those adapters won't work by them selves. With those, you would need this Live Wire TRS(M) Dual 1/4" Patch Cable, 1 Meter.

The inputs on the mixer are mono, so you need to split the left and right channel into two separate connectors, so you can plug them into two separate channels. (or plug them both into the stereo channel)

To get in and out of the phone, you will need this. 3 5mm Stereo TRRS 4 Pole Plug to Earphone Headset Mic Audio Adapter PC iPhone | eBay

You would connect the aux output to the mic input on that. You will still need the other adapter to split the audio into two separate connectors.

The return aux on the mixer is an input, not an output. This is for when you use the aux send for a reverb or something, the output of the reverb comes back into the mixer into the aux return. If you really want two auxes, you need a bigger mixer.

 

[ashcat_lt]

Aren't those little mics usually phantom powered? I know the mic input on the computer is going to have some kind of phantom voltage on it, and I find myself wondering if the phone will also. If they both have phantom power, and you try to connect them via straight wire, you could end up with some sparks or smoke or something that probably won't be a lot of fun.

 

[Farview]

Aren't those little mics usually phantom powered? I know the mic input on the computer is going to have some kind of phantom voltage on it, and I find myself wondering if the phone will also. If they both have phantom power, and you try to connect them via straight wire, you could end up with some sparks or smoke or something that probably won't be a lot of fun.

That's an interesting thought. If that is the case, it's simply impossible to get the mic to work at all.

 

[Farview]

Is it the same for the phone?

If not, then a phone mic and a laptop mic are not compatible with each other.

If so, he would need to find a way to isolate the two mics inputs from each other and a way to feed the mic the power it needs to work.

Thinking about it, there has to be some sort of bluetooth solution that would be more elegant than a chappy mixer, 8 adapters, cables, etc...

 

[ashcat_lt]

Yup. It reall only takes a capacitor to block the DC from one or the other, but it really ain't worth the trouble. Is there an application out there that would do all of this via USB? Like, can you just turn the phone into a second audio interface and patch it around via software?

Edit - Or forward your calls to a GoogleVoice or Skype account.