Party

[Ultima]

Ryan,

I will be using MilkDrop on a projector with a live DJ at a party. I know a number of people do this already, but this Saturday will be my first time.

I've been using MilkDrop as my desktop background since I discovered it only about a month ago. Very impressive piece of software! Thank you, and keep up the good work!

Dave

P.S.: Anyone in the San Diego area can check out my new site pbPARTY.net (http://pbparty.net) for information about the party.

[Ultima]

The party was amazing!

We did have one problem, though, and I'm wondering if anyone has a suggestion for this:

The output level from the DJ's mixer was about half what is on most audio tracks. Even turning the sound card's line-in input level to the max, MilkDrop still did not respond as well as it does normally. What can I do to boost the sensitivity?

Dave

[faddat]

This is what I would do-- just take any old amp or something like that, and run it between the two things, to boost the volume. It's a quick and dirty solution, but it should work perfectly.

[mgraphic]

As an audio engineer, linking an amp between the mixer and computer's audio inline is like pumping dynamite in your soundcard!

You want a line level (non powered) analog source to your computer. Either use one of the aux/tape sends, monitor output, or split the main output of the mixer's unbalanced (non-amplified) output. Just send the signal boosted enough to get a good gain on the receiving end with clipping (distortion).

You can even use a secondary outboard mixer if you want, but you can avoid the additional equipment.

-- Keith

[Ultima]

Someone on the troubleshooting forum suggested connecting the mixer output to the microphone input of the sound card. I still haven't had a chance to try it out though.

The problem is that the line-level output from the mixer was too low, and had no adjustment. I would guess that the amp could have been turned down, and the mixer level raised, but the DJ didn't like that idea, probably because he wouldn't be able to increase it much from there.

I do like the secondary mixer idea though. In other words, put a cheap mixer between the two just to give it a slight boost? Similar to the amplifier idea, but I suppose it would still be line level?

[mgraphic]

As far as the 2nd mixer acting like the suggested amp, thats exactly right. You get the signal boost without pumping dangerous watts into the computer.

As far as the soundcard, they usually come with two inputs. An aux (stereo) input and a microphone (usually mono) input. The driver for the audio settings may allow you to bump up the gain by 10dB on the mic input. Since you're using this source to trigger the MilkDrop plugin, the mono signal may be just fine.

Remember the mono source is always tied to the Left channel.

-- Keith

[Ultima]

Isn't the mic stereo?

[mgraphic]

Pending on the soundcard.