Ableton Forum

We havent attempted it yet. We are triggering samples and sequences from the laptop.

Our current set up is headphone laptop jack to 2 stereo 1/4 inches into PA/board.

We want to create a click track that only the drummer hears.

we dont have a soundcard for our band.

You need a soundcard really with more inputs. Other than that there isnt really any way of doing it.

thats what i suspected

no usb headphones out there?

not that i know of. I meant more outputs in the last reply by the way but i figure you worked that out.

yes I understood that.

there are I just found out, usb headphones. Would just need some with a looooong cable.

This is separate. How do people connect the onstage laptop to the PA/mixer wheere the engineer is across the room with the mixer?

long cable. or if the venue have a stage snake set up even better.

thanks. So I guess, the question to ask the venue engineer beforehand is "do you have a stagesnake?"

Buy a simple soundcard with at least 4 outputs:

1/2 to the speakers
3/4 to your headphones

what would be the cheapest option that would do the job?

We are not launching multiple scenes nor big audio filled projects off the laptop nothing crazy.

Just 1 track or 2 with sequenced MIDI or 1 track with 1 looped audio sample.

The direct headphone output from my Mac laptop sounds pretty decent. So we are not seeking like THE BEST soundcard quality

Everytime i go to the store they wanna sell me something for $150. Way too much.

Ya $150 is what you're gonna end up paying.. I got an NI Audio Kontrol 1 for $80 off craigslist, definitely look at craigslist, eBay and such..

unless you run a mono signal to the speakers and then a mono signal to your drummer.. you'd need an adapter that splits the laptops headphone jack into Left and Right signals.. but then of course your working with a mono signal now instead of stereo but if you're not doing anything too crazy then it sholdn't be THAT bad.

Yeah, I was about to suggest what outershpongolia said. Just use your stereo output as two mono outs. (make sure that you configure your master output appropriately on ableton to "1" instead of "1/2") Chances are, you are already using a Y cable??

I'm also assuming that the PA mixer has return channels or monitor channels or whatever. (it had better). Most PA mixers allow you to plug in individual jacks since most guitars have that (but you are using a different kind of signal than instrument).. to be honest, I'm not that knowledgable on the signals. I just know that one is a lot weaker than the other.