Karaoke Forums

I hope I'm not rehashing a burned out subject.  I'm a home user, and just loaded my library onto a hard drive.  I plug my laptop into my Gig-master, which has more than enough juice for the home.  The gigmaster is now my amp as the CDG player has gone tempermental on me.  The laptop plays CDGs.  Problem is, the laptop (Compaq F700series) doesn't have the umphh to drive the gig-master to full power.  When I used the laptop on a friend's professional system, with powered speakers, it sounded beautiful!
Do I need a good external sound card to pump up the signal from the laptop?

Thanks,
Tom

You shouldn't. How is the volume set on your laptop? Remember, most laptops also have  physical volume wheel as well as the software volume setting from the sound card.

I drive PA systems with my laptop all the time, with no problem.

And always suspect the cable when you have problems as well, it is the most likely culprit. Make sure the same cable drives your home stereo system just fine.

The Gigmaster has a dedicated input for both guitar and keyboard. I am not sure if the impedance for those inputs match that for a laptop. Have you tried using the RCA inputs?

How are you connecting from the laptop into the gigmaster?

When I go from my laptop into my mixer I use a 1/8" cable into the headphone out which splits into two RCA male plugs(L and R), these get plugged into the CD or tape  input of the mixer OR you can use 2 mono RCA to 1/4" adapters and then plug into 2 line/mic channels on the mixer. That way you have two independent channels that you can adjust. This is the same cable you would use to connect an MP3 player and that sounds great-very convenint too. If the gigmaster has a built in amp then this is the way to go and you should have plenty of sound. Make sure the 1/4" adapters are mono.

If you want better sound quality after that you can get either a PCMCIA sound card or a USB sound card and then do all of the above except you go from the headphone out of the sound card. I have the Creative Labs X-Fi and the sound quality is noticeably better-it's also pretty inexpensive if you shop around. Look on ebay. I would recommend the USB model so it can be used on multiple computers, but that's a matter of your personal preference.

Thanks All!

The Gigmaster has 3 sets of A/V inputs besides the guiitar and keyboard.  I am using the 1/8" headphone jack with the split RCA R&L jacks.  The laptop only has the internal and 'tray' volume controls...both at full throttle.  I plugged in my desktop the same way, and BAM!  Full sound from the Gigmaster!   I'm going to assume that the sound card in the laptop is not a high quality one.  I called Compaq, other than telling me it's a "Conexant Hight Def Audio card", they were of no help.   So, off I go to get the external Sound Blaster!   Stay tuned for the next adventure!

Tom

Just a thought, did you check both the MASTER and WAVE volume sliders on the pc's volume control?

Yes, they are both up.  I picked up the external card and will play with it tomorrow.  The plot thickens.  I mean the volume is fine for the house, but not for when it's outside or in a small hall (we do free shows for the seniors).  More power, Scottie!

And you found the physical -- in other words, plastic -- volume knob on the laptop and maxed that, right?

My laptop was doing the same kind of thing..I got an m-audio fast track & run sound thru it. Sounds good to me. No more messing with the laptops tempurmental volume knob either. Every time I turned it up or down I heard static in the speakers. We havent had any more probs with sound since then.

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Kelley
Star Sounds Karaoke & Mobile Recording Studio


[shadow=black][scroll]You have to respect your audience. Without them, you're essentially standing alone, singing to yourself....KD Lang[/scroll][/shadow]

How old is the laptop? Before HP took them over, the computer techs all called them Comcrap.

So it could be the sound card.

There is no physical volume knob.  The 'Fn' buttons do that.   The laptop is brand new.
It has to be the card, as my desktop and my neighbors Mac laptop both performed very well.   I'll let ya's know how the Sound blaster External works out.  Thanks again for all your input!  Next time I'll buy a high-end laptop!

Tom

Your sound card is fine; there is nothing wrong with it. Remember, it can drive your friend pro system; so how can it be bad? AllStar already answer your question; the impedance out put of the card does not match that of the Gigmaster. Try as he recomended; RCA input first. If that does not work an external sound card should solve the problem.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Have you tryed a pair of headphones on the laptop to see if they play? Ive got a hard time believing that a brand new computer has a problem. If it does they should repair or replace. the external sound card is probably a good thing but Im curious about what the deal is. im guessing that if you get headphones to play it will work fine.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Thanks Jian,  My friend's pro unit has 75lb. 1000 watt powered speakers, but his laptop put out more on the same volume as mine.  RCA is the inputs I am using, with big gold jacks.  So, here I am, praying, holding my new external card (hmmm..looks more like a box to me!) and wires, ready for the big test....  LOL

Tom

So please let us know how the external sound card worked and anything else that might be interesting about what you learned/found out so we can all benefit from your experiences.

Will do!  I got tied up Friday and Sat. Today is the party at my house, so I'll test the output with all the other noise in the room.   If It can blow out a few windows, then I know it's working!  

Sorry for the tardy come-back on the low-output saga!  Yes, the external Sound Blaster did the trick!   Although I didn't need all that power in my house, the sound was a lot crisper at  a lower volume.  Now I can trust it to blast in a bigger room/small reception hall.  Learned a lesson, though...you really do get what you pay for.  Next time it's a high-end, custom built for karaoke laptop!  Hmm....maybe I'll get into KJ-ing professionally!    LOL    Thanks for all the tips and help!!