So got a new production laptop, keep in mind I have a studio in my house with a high power desktop & soundcard etc and when I on the road I’ll use my audio knotrol 1 from my studio with my laptop.
However there are times I want to produce on the laptop without the hassel of hooking up the audio kontrol one, like on a plan or even just in another room!
Now the issue is all to often (as I’m sure everyone does) is that when producing you need to turn the vol down in your daw and use something external to get the vol back. In my studio I have my audio knotrol 1 routed via my DJM which is idea for this.
SO what can I use to do this on my laptop with out an external soundcard? Is there some kinda small thing I can link into my headphone socket to and then plug my headphones into with a vol control or something really small usb wise? and cheap too???
Any product advice please, its needed!
Cheers!
I take there is nothing that can do this then?
the only thing i can think of is turning the volume up on the windows mixer but thats only going to control the output volume of your internal soundcard.
don’t know of any USB headphone amps or anything that small.
Doesnt the Mackie Big Knob sort this?
I am gonna guess that a Mackie big Knob might not be portable enough.
You can just get an inline headphone amp no?
I think if you’re going to go to all this trouble to amplify the sound out of your laptop as it’s not good enough, you might as well get an external soundcard that has outs and headphone control. Then you can just plug in anywhere, whenever, however you want. Buy nice or buy twice. The amp will only be good to you for a bit, and then you’ll decide you just want more power overall coming out of your lappy. Just my 2 
[quote]raymondsar (21/10/2010)[hr]I think if you’re going to go to all this trouble to amplify the sound out of your laptop as it’s not good enough, you might as well get an external soundcard that has outs and headphone control. Then you can just plug in anywhere, whenever, however you want. Buy nice or buy twice. The amp will only be good to you for a bit, and then you’ll decide you just want more power overall coming out of your lappy. Just my 2 [/quote]
already got an audio knotrol 1 - guys read what I wrote again… ur missin the point
We’re not missing the point. What your asking is how to add another redundant piece of equipment to your setup. Get a better soundcard. Period. Also, shouldn’t a “production” laptop be good to go on this? I haven’t had this problem with Ableton or my MBP that’s three years old… And on the road I use NO external interface. At home, its just an Ozonic FW that has its own volume control, outs, ins, and everything in between. You could also just need better headphones…
Also, the confusing part is that you shouldn’t have to route your kit even in your studio to another mixer just to boost your audio unless your monitors are passive? You should still be able to get it plenty loud even if your bringing everything way down to keep it out of the red… Keep in mind to, that you’re also EQ’ing the sound even if you have it flat, coming through your DJM. So, you’re getting a colored spectrum instead of a true. Which IMHO is bad for producing. If you really need to boost your sound in the studio I suggest getting a little mackie 4ch for $100 Not a soundcard, and you can take it with you to plug your laptop in to to boost your headphones. Also, just trying to be funny at this point, but have you had your hearing checked? 
stuido set up is fine mate… dont u worry about that 
routed via the djm for easy of use + it allow me to control 2 channels for my own reasons + I use traktor so not gonna keep rerouting all the time… sound isnt coloured this way at all unless I decide to change something on the mixer to make it that way!.. anyway this about my laptop not studio and the mackie isnt what I want due to size but cheers.
something like what jon mentioned is what i need
I feel ya fella, that’s what makes an artist is doing your own thing. As far as a little headphone amp though. I don’t think those exist. Maybe you could try looking for a “hack” to your current soundcard in the laptop to boost the levels. Or, just run your master in the red as long as it’s sounding good, and just know that you have to pull it down for the post.
Not sure if this is still too big or what you want, but what about an Audio2 DJ. I know it’s another audio interface, but at about the size of a deck of cards much more laptop friendly.
[quote]bangthedj (21/10/2010)[hr]Not sure if this is still too big or what you want, but what about an Audio2 DJ. I know it’s another audio interface, but at about the size of a deck of cards much more laptop friendly.[/quote]
thats not a bad idea, serves more then one purpuse too and only £80 bucks… hummmmm