Need help re-vamping my set-up

[Soccer Shout]

Here's what I want to be able to do:

1) Talk with my co-host using some kind of voip.

2) Play pre-recorded voicemails (i.e. sound effects) so both he and I can here them. Ideally I would like to be able to pause them and lower the volume to talk over them.

3) Record. I'm open to the recording being a double-ender, or capturing the whole thing in one place.

Anyone got any suggestions? I've been doing research. Pamela looks interesting, but I'm not sure it can do the voicemail bit.

Ideally I would like to use a combo of castblaster and Skype, but I'm not seeing a way to combine the two.

I'm open to adding hardware if it would help.

[ElNacho]

do you have any hardware already?

to be able to do this without any special software (youd need a lot of virtual soundcards and such) you'll need:

at least 2 soundcards
a mixer
headphones for both peeps

and a bunch of wires and such to connect it all together. for a hardware setup you'd need a non-usb mic. what mics are you using?

[Soccer Shout]

My mic? The USB one you mean?

Apart from that I just have my low-grade on-board soundcard that came with my laptop. It doesn't even have a line-in :cry:

It's a shame this is so much trouble. If they could integrate some VOIP with castblaster, or some simple sound effects with Skype, I'd be away.

[ElNacho]

It doesn't even have a line-in

what does it do? just a headphone port or something? im sure it's got a line in....

anyhoo, if you use gizmo, you'll be able to record in the program, and i know you can play soundfx that both people can hear (and are recorded)...the problem is they're preset, although if you're not able to change it just replace the file it's using for the soundeffect with the file ye wanna play

[Soccer Shout]

The 'soundcard' (I use the word hesitantly) has a mic and a headphone.

I already use Gizmo as it happens. The record feature would be awesome if it didn't record everything at 8K - even the mic of the caller. I can hear crystal clear audio when I'm doing pc-to-pc, but the recorder is stuck at 8K. Massively frustrating.

You can point the sound fx at other files to play voicemails, which is good enough. I *do* like castblaster though - stopping and starting the vm's. With this, once you push a button it doesn't stop...which can be a problem if you press the wrong 2 min voicemail.

Thanks for you help mate. I'll just have to keep looking.

Does Pamela not do sound fx?

[ElNacho]

dont use it personally, but i'll bet it does

[Thaed]

Here's what I want to be able to do:

1) Talk with my co-host using some kind of voip.

2) Play pre-recorded voicemails (i.e. sound effects) so both he and I can here them. Ideally I would like to be able to pause them and lower the volume to talk over them.

3) Record. I'm open to the recording being a double-ender, or capturing the whole thing in one place.

Anyone got any suggestions? I've been doing research. Pamela looks interesting, but I'm not sure it can do the voicemail bit.

Ideally I would like to use a combo of castblaster and Skype, but I'm not seeing a way to combine the two.

I'm open to adding hardware if it would help.


In my last show, I played some internet memes off websites and my guests commented on them. I have one computer handling Skype which goes into my mixer and loops through my compressor. The mixer then dumps into Audacity running on another computer. I use a third computer to bring in other sounds so my guests can hear them over Skype.

I blogged about my sound equipment here:
http://thaed.wordpress.com/2006/04/30/new-audio-equipment/

In short, if you used this set up, you'd be able to do what you want easily.