Topic: Newbie Help

[plally1]

Hey all, love the forum here.  Lots of really useful information.

I was just given a set of mics for free and I'm looking to set up a rig.  I'll be using it mostly for home recording to my laptop.  I want to start a mini home-setup to produce songs myself.  I'll be using my two mics as well as a keyboard I'd like to feed the sound to my laptop through the usb. 

I'm not looking for studio-like quality sound, but I'd like some good equipment so get a good quality connection from my laptop to my home theater speakers other than the headphone out jack which I currently use.  I also have a good pair of Grado sr325's that I'd like to be able to use to their potential when listening to cds from my onkyo cd player and downloaded music from my laptop.

Any recommendations are appreciated.

[Brian Skalinder]

Just to make sure I (we) understand - you're looking for a way to:

<1>  feed your mics and/or keyboard through USB to your laptop, and
<2>  output from your laptop via USB to your home theater speakers
<3>  output from your Onkyo CD player (assuming external from laptop) and playback on your Grado SR325s

Any desire to playback from the Onkyo CD player to the home theater speakers? (or perhaps you already do)
What home theater speakers and other playback gear do you have right now?
What's your budget?

[plally1]

Just to make sure I (we) understand - you're looking for a way to:

<1>  feed your mics and/or keyboard through USB to your laptop, and
<2>  output from your laptop via USB to your home theater speakers
<3>  output from your Onkyo CD player (assuming external from laptop) and playback on your Grado SR325s

Any desire to playback from the Onkyo CD player to the home theater speakers? (or perhaps you already do)
What home theater speakers and other playback gear do you have right now?
What's your budget?

I already play the onkyo cd player through my speakers which are big bulky jbl speakers.  Not top of the line stuff but I'm a college kid and they were a big purchase 2 years ago at $500.  My reciever that I'm running with the cd player and JBLs is an old Onkyo that was a hand-me-down from my dad.  I'll be upgrading that shortly to something that is 5.1 in the next couple months. Just have to find the right one (a whole 'nother bag of worms). 

I'd say my budget stands right now maxed out at about $500. 

Also, now that my wheels are turning, I realize I'm going to need a monitor system for the keyboard.  Is this something that could be run throuugh my JBLs or am I going to need a seperate speaker set for this?

[guysonic]

Without thinking a lot about this suggest you look into an external soundcard like the low cost (<$200) AudiophileUSB made by M-audio and sold by them and many outfits at discount.  Only thing lacking on this is MIC preamp facility as it's LINE level input only, but there's other choices of external soundcards at M-audio with different features including MIC input, so browse their site a bit to find what fits your budget and basic needs.

[rowjimmytour]

Welcome aboard and +t for coming to the ts forum. Sound card is one way or a UA5 w/o dig mod off fleabay or a ts member could be found for cheaper.
Peace