# Connecting PC to a soundboard



## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

I need to add voice effects to add to an actor. How do I connect a laptop to the soundboard and what cheap program should I get to achieve this.


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## Goose (Aug 21, 2011)

We have done this in my HS many times. Depending on the setup the quality of the audio clips can range. We run a mono system so it might be different then yours. We have a L and R female RCA input in the back of the board for your standard RCA cable and then we connect a RCA cable male with a 3.5 mm male conversion from the board to the pc. Our board would convert the stereo to mono.
Here is a reference picture.


I have not tried this but if you wanted to use an XLR jack on your board you can try this cable. Which is a XLR female to 3.5mm male conversion.

I hope this helped.


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## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

I'm trying to add sound effects to actors voices individually. If I do it that way wouldn't it add the same sound effect to all of them.


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## Goose (Aug 21, 2011)

Oh now I see what you are trying to do. I thought you wanted to play prerecorded clips of their voice.


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## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

If I plug in a channel to the XLR to the laptop and output it to the EQ and to the house only one effect can be made to an actors voice. I guess I would have to plug the XLR cable to a different channel each time the effect is needed


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## Goose (Aug 21, 2011)

EustaceM said:


> If I plug in a channel to the XLR to the laptop and output it to the EQ and to the house only one effect can be made to an actors voice. I guess I would have to plug the XLR cable to a different channel each time the effect is needed


 
Or if you had multiple inputs on the computer you can send each channel to a different input and then depending on your software you can specify which input it receives. If you open multiple instances of the software each instance can possibly specify a different input. Tell me if this make sense. There may be a few problems outputting the sound from the computer though.


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## EustaceM (Aug 21, 2011)

That makes sense but I guess it all comes to how the software works and I won't know till later. The laptop I'm working with doesn't offer many inputs so I may need many adaptors and such and a second laptop is also a safe bet. 

I've tried tweaking the EQ for a specific channel before but the effect doesn't sound that nice at a community theatre i worked at because we didn't have a budget for special software. So glad to be working on a show with some budget.


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## derekleffew (Aug 21, 2011)

EustaceM said:


> I need to add voice effects to add to an actor. ...


What kind of "voice effects"? Call me old skool, but I would suggest skipping the computer altogether, and trolling eBay, pawn shops, used music stores, etc. for a Yamaha SPX90, Rev5, Lexicon LXP-15, or similar effects processor.


EustaceM said:


> If I plug in a channel to the XLR to the laptop and output it to the EQ and to the house only one effect can be made to an actors voice. I guess I would have to plug the XLR cable to a different channel each time the effect is needed


No need to replug if you send the output of an Aux Send to the unit, and return it to a channel.


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## 65535 (Aug 21, 2011)

You would need an audio interface either FireWire or USB to accomplish that on a laptop, but it's a terrible idea.

I whole heartedly agree with Derek, analog Sig Proc. is the way to go.


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## museav (Aug 21, 2011)

EustaceM said:


> I need to add voice effects to add to an actor. How do I connect a laptop to the soundboard and what cheap program should I get to achieve this.


When asking such questions it always helps to identify what "soundboard", what you have for the laptop audio and what you consider "cheap". The responses could vary greatly depending upon some of that information.


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## cpf (Aug 21, 2011)

And let's not forget that getting audio in, processed, and out of your average PC (clarification: and average capture hardware and software) with a low enough latency is darn-near impossible. A dedicated FX unit is the only way to go, unless you can manage a minimum of a 1/4-second (in my experience, YMMV, etc) delay.


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## bishopthomas (Aug 22, 2011)

You're going about this backwards. Stop looking for the gear and first identify what you're trying to accomplish and how much you have to spend on it. Maybe a cheap hardware EFX processor will work for you, or maybe you need a software solution such as Antares or even ProTools. If the latter then the software could determine what hardware you need. Also, if you go the computer route you'll want a fairly stable computer, something you can rely on for show critical work.


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## Chris15 (Aug 22, 2011)

bishopthomas said:


> or maybe you need a software solution such as Antares or even ProTools. If the latter then the software could determine what hardware you need. Also, if you go the computer route you'll want a fairly stable computer, something you can rely on for show critical work.


 
Hehehe. The OP mentioned cheap software and well PT is not exactly cheap...
It is probably one of the few software packages up to doing this in real time (as happens in say broadcast regularly)


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