Hardware play-through?

[Tim]

On Mon, 2010-10-04 at 13:18 +0800, Samuel Kidman wrote:
> My current audio set up is like this:
> Turntable --> Phono Input | Amp |Tape/Ext Output ---> Front Mic Input | Computer.

Just a heads-up:

As a general rule, you shouldn't connect line outputs (your amplifier's
tape output) into microphone inputs (your computer), as the audio
voltage is about 100 times too much.  You're likely to overdrive the
input stage, well before the volume control part of the circuit, causing
noise and distortion.  Line outputs should connect to line inputs.

Also, the microphone inputs typically have about 5 volts of DC on them
to power electret microphones.  This can upset whatever's connected to
them, causing problems or damage (destroy output stages, make connectors
and volume controls go noisy).

Having said that, you *may* get away with it, as *some* sound cards do
have quite a large handling range.  Though none of mine do.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686

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