Typical Input Channels and Controls
Each of the following signal sources has its own gain and mute control in a typical mixer scheme:
| Control | channels | Controlled source |
|---|---|---|
| Wave / PCM | stereo | Audio signal generated by the CPU via the sound card's digital-to-analog converter. (This includes audio produced by games, MP3 or WAV players, but also some software playing a CD-DA through the CPU, such as, Windows Media Player or Media Player Classic, as well as TV tuner cards that use the CPU for decoding audio.) |
| MIDI/SW Synth | stereo | Audio signal generated by a synthesizer chip (often described as “MIDI device”) or digital signal processor on the soundcard. |
| CD playback | stereo | Audio signal received from the analog CD input of the mixer, which is usually connected to the analog audio output of a CD drive. |
| Microphone | mono | Audio signal received through one of the (typically two: MIC1 and MIC2, switchable) analog microphone inputs. MIC1 is typically connected to the external microphone jack (colored pink under PC99). An optional 20 decibel (10× voltage) amplifier can be activated for this input in most mixers. |
| Line in | stereo | Audio signal received through the LINE input of the mixer, usually connected to an external jack (colored light blue in PC99), which can be used to connect a HiFi amplifier, tuner, iPod, television, etc. |
| Aux in | stereo | Audio signal received through the AUX input of the mixer. This mixer input is not used by all PCs. |
| PC speaker | mono | Some soundcards provide an input for the (very crude) audio signal that the Programmable Interval Timer of an IBM PC generates for the PC speaker. |
| SPDIF | stereo | Digital interface, uncommon in the PC world |
Read more about this topic: Sound Card Mixer
Famous quotes containing the words typical, input, channels and/or controls:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face. As soon as one is aware of being “somebody,” to be watched and listened to with extra interest, input ceases, and the performer goes blind and deaf in his overanimation. One can either see or be seen.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“Television is becoming a collage—there are so many channels that you move through them making a collage yourself. In that sense, everyone sees something a bit different.”
—David Hockney (b. 1937)
“Ask anyone committed to Marxist analysis how many angels on the head of a pin, and you will be asked in return to never mind the angels, tell me who controls the production of pins.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)