<div dir="ltr">Thanks for all your responses, it's given me plenty of food for thought. I actually didn't know these USB-XLR/Jack converters existed. Amazing what you can do... now all I need is a way to connect it all to my toaster and I can wake up a-la Wallace & Gromit! I'm sure someone's already come up with a USB-toaster interface!<div>
<br></div><div>Old computers are okay if you have a back room, and I have one or two not being used, but I banished them all when I built new, (4 years ago now) silent PC's because I couldn't stand the sound of all those computer fans after so carefully building a lovely recording environment. And I didn't want to drill a hole through the wall to put leads through, since it isn't my wall. (and the wall is concrete about 60 years old, so might as well be solid diamond)</div>
<div><br></div><div>Might be a case of rigging up an ultra-simple quiet computer. I have an old soundcard hanging around, and I <u>really</u> like the look of those leads!</div><div><br></div><div>Onwards and upwards!</div>
<div><br></div><div>Peter<br><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 21 January 2014 16:41, Bruce Rodger <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bruce.rodger@gmail.com" target="_blank">bruce.rodger@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><div><div>I'd agree with Alex - those USB 2 in 2 out 3m leads are great. Cheap as chips, and don't need any special drivers, for windows or Linux.<br>
<br></div>HOWEVER, I'd recommend getting the version with balanced jack connections rather than the XLR one. Electronically they're identical, but you're less likely to destroy it in the way I destroyed mine....<br>
<br></div>Don't plug the XLR outputs into a mic input if phantom is enabled. As corporal Jones would say "they don't like it up 'em..."<br><br></div>I have a fried unit to prove this.<span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br>
<br></font></span></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">Bruce.</font></span><div><div class="h5"><br>
<br><div><div><div><div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 21 January 2014 13:30, Two Lochs Radio <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tlr@gairloch.co.uk" target="_blank">tlr@gairloch.co.uk</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><u></u>
<div bgcolor="#ffffff">
<div><font face="Tahoma">I believe Black Diamond FM (Edinburgh) is using
one to create its online stream feed.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">We have looked at a few uses, including acting as
the encoding front ends for a DAB service and streaming, but I ten to agree
with what Andy said - we use a couple of old (ancient) PCs in the back room
running a multitude of rote tasks such as generating our
streeam, off-air logging, automatic restarting of Sky satellite receives
and channel switching on the Sky boxes, running our online weather station feed,
and generating a couple of extra low bitrate streams for our private monitoring
of audio. Even an old Pentium running XP can handle that lot no
bother.</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">Another good solution (we use for a back up
short-term hi-fi logger in case of wanting to re-use something broadcast live)
is to use cheap laptops (eg Dell ex-business ones, around £100) - you can keep
one in use and one identically configure as a hot standby - or just get an
additional 2.5" disk ready to push in should the need arise (it never has yet
for us!).</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">For audio in and out I haven't found anything to
beat the convenience of the USB-to-XLR 2-in 2-out 3-metre leads - the leads
include a decent USB audio convertor in a small module on the lead. Around £40.
(There's also a mic version for half the price, but I haven't tried it - for
plugging a standard dynamic mic into USB.) Haven't tried them on Linux, but they
ought to work okay.</font></div>
<div><img alt="" src="cid:A2FCE569977A45F08EE41CA08ABC88D0@wwpc04" align="bottom" border="0" hspace="0"></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">For lower demands/unbalanced needs, such as
streaming and logging, or optical SP/DIF connection, the Behringer UCA202 is
also excellent value at about £25 - we have several of these for years and none
has ever given any bother or concern over sound quality for radio
purposes.</font> <font face="Tahoma">The newer UCA222 doesn't appear
to have any advantage except being red instead of silver, if you prefer that! It
claims lower latency, but I'm not convinced, certainly heard no significant
difference and a few millisecinds of latency is unimportant for streaming. They
work well with Linux (as per RasbPi).</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">Off-topic from RasbPi, theu USB-XLR or phone leads
are extremely handy items to keep in the cupboard for times when someone turns
up with a laptop that has poor quality 3.55mm jack audio.</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><font face="Tahoma">Alex</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#000000 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-RIGHT:0px" dir="ltr"><div><div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;BACKGROUND:#e4e4e4"><b>From:</b>
<a title="admin@londonhuayu.co.uk" href="mailto:admin@londonhuayu.co.uk" target="_blank">London
Chinese Radio</a> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>To:</b> <a title="cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk" href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk" target="_blank">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>
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<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>Sent:</b> Monday, January 20, 2014 11:13
PM</div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial"><b>Subject:</b> [cma-l] Raspberry Pi in the
studio</div>
<div><br></div>Hi all,
<div><br></div>
<div>Just wondering if anybody has experience of using a Raspberry Pi in
the studio for dedicated jobs. For example as an audio logger or programme
recorder, I thought it would be cheaper to get one of these to do what is a
simple job, instead of paying for a whole PC to do it...</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Best regards,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Peter VAUTIER</div>
<div>London Chinese Radio</div><br><br>-- <br><font color="#666666" size="4"><span style="LINE-HEIGHT:22px;FONT-SIZE:14px"><span style="line-height:28px;font-family:Verdana">
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