Audio Cables and/or Soundcard

[SirEsquire]

I have Ableton running on the most recent (basic) Mac laptop. I did a live performance with it last night with a couple other musicians, and the sound output wasn't good.

I connected an 1/8" male (on both ends) RadioShack audio cable from the Mac's audio input/output jack to a mixer which was in turn connected to 2 powered speakers. I used a 1/4" adapter on the end of the RadioShack cable which was plugged-in to the mixer.

The overall sound was muddy, it was very hard to hear the kicks in the beats I had made, etc.

At home, if I'm not using headphones, I'll connect the laptop to my home surround sound system via a Y audio cable: 1/8" on one end (connected to the laptop) to 2 stereo males (red and white). While the surround system isn't the best, I've always had great sound quality.

Do you have any suggestions about types of cables I could use in the future for connecting the laptop to a PA mixer? I don't have an external sound card, but would be interested in purchasing one if it would help with live performance sound quality.

[JBlongz]

If budget us your issue, get the TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6 for about $150. It will solve your sound problems. Also get TRS 1/4" cables from SameDayMusic or Sweetwater. It requires FIREWIRE, if you don't have that, consider an EMU 2020 USB or other compatible interface.

[SirEsquire]

If budget us your issue, get the TC Electronic Desktop Konnekt 6 for about $150. It will solve your sound problems. Also get TRS 1/4" cables from SameDayMusic or Sweetwater. It requires FIREWIRE, if you don't have that, consider an EMU 2020 USB or other compatible interface.

So, the Konnekt 6 requires Firewire? Or, is Firewire included? I'm a bit of a noob regarding Firewire...

It seems that the Macbooks do not have Firewire.

[SirEsquire]

So, basically what I'm looking for is a good sound quality, audio interface that will be connected to a PA.

[JBlongz]

Requires FireWire. If your MacBook doesn't have the port, them consider a USB interface. The emu 2020 is good quality and there and lots of other interfaces on the market as well.

[Tarekith]

The NI soudcards have a nice hot output, decent sound, and aren't too expensive. IF you're just looking for something for live use, I'd recommend one of those. Since they just came out with new cards recently, you can probably find used ones cheap on ebay too.