Two recommendations

[Exalted Wombat]

I'm playing keyboard and running sound for an amateur pantomime this week.

For a straightforward sound cue playback system, Multiplay2486 from www.audiovisualdevices.com.au is doing a great job.

For running my Asus laptop into the sound system, a £15 toy from Maplin, designed for car audio systems, has turned a horrendously noisy link into a perfectly quiet one. Here's the link.

Don't suppose it would do much for problems with an ungrounded psu, but for this one it worked wonders.

[Martin Walker]

That’s perfectly adequate for breaking the loop, although distortion and bass response are likely to be below par for real work (fine for a local pantomine though )

A decent DI box is the best candidate for quality music

Martin

[zenguitar]

(fine for a local pantomine though )Martin

Oh No It Isn't !!!!

Andy

[Martin Walker]

[Exalted Wombat]

That’s perfectly adequate for breaking the loop, although distortion and bass response are likely to be below par for real work (fine for a local pantomine though )

A decent DI box is the best candidate for quality music

Martin

Previously, I WAS using a pair of quite decent DI boxes. I expected the Maplins unit to sound inferior (not that ultimate fidelity was necessary, or even desirable, for FX cues) but it didn't. I was also surprised at the size. It's not pretty, but there's a pair of quite big transformers in there.

[zenguitar]

You were supposed to say...

Oh Yes It Is!!

I don't know.. you feed someone a line...



Andy

[Exalted Wombat]

You were supposed to say...

Oh Yes It Is!!

I don't know.. you feed someone a line...



Andy

Oh sorry! I didn't know. I'm just fitting this local amateur panto into the gaps of what must be my 35th or so professional one as MD! I must pay more attention

Funny how, when you share the information that something that OUGHT to be cheap-and-nasty actually performs pretty well, someone else who hasn't tried it always comes back to reassure you it must be crap after all!

[InactiveX]

I must pay more attention

He's behind you!

I use one of those ground loop isolators in my Commodore 64 to protect the SID chip at the output, as it is rather fragile electronically and easily fried.

[Martin Walker]

Funny how, when you share the information that something that OUGHT to be cheap-and-nasty actually performs pretty well, someone else who hasn't tried it always comes back to reassure you it must be crap after all!

Sorry EW - I'm not trying to tell a granny how to suck eggs, but attempting to offset the hordes who rush off to buy the cheapest ground loop isolators they can find instead of a decent DI box.

In other words - thanks for the recommendation!

Martin

[Exalted Wombat]

Funny how, when you share the information that something that OUGHT to be cheap-and-nasty actually performs pretty well, someone else who hasn't tried it always comes back to reassure you it must be crap after all!

Sorry EW - I'm not trying to tell a granny how to suck eggs, but attempting to offset the hordes who rush off to buy the cheapest ground loop isolators they can find instead of a decent DI box.
In other words - thanks for the recommendation!

Let me just remind - this isn't a DI box. It doesn't offer loop-through of the input signal, there's no ground-lift switch, it doesn't interface to a lo-Z balanced input. It's just a lumpy, ugly pair of 1:1 isolation transformers with phono connectors in and out.

It just happened to be exactly what I needed to go between a laptop computer and a mixer. And, having tried this quick-and-dirty solution, I was very happy not to need anything "better" - it sounded just fine!