Midi hifi

Questions and Answers

What do I need to connect turntable with stereo outputs to a single line-in input on mini hifi?

Q) Turntable is Numark USBTT, and connects to my old Aiwa midi hi-fi easily as that has stereo inputs (but the CD has stopped working and we need to get a smaller hi-fi!), however all the modern mini hi-fis in our price range (upto £250) only seem to have a single line-in input! (looking at the Sony CMT CPZ1 DAB model specifically) Can they be connected? I'm hoping there's a cable/connector? Have looked on maplins but its hard when you're not that techy!

A) Well what the first said, but its called a Y cable. Just make sure you get one that has the end (mini or regular jack) you need.

What's the best midi hifi system in terms of looks and sound quality for under £200?

Q) I don't want some unsightly plastic thing

A) If you're trying to get a midi control surface (like a keyboard or drum pads) plus software I'd say you're out of luck if plastic is no good for you. I'm not sure what you mean by hifi system, though. Midi is just numbers that describe musical notes, durations, etc. You then use software (cheaper) or hardware (more expensive) to turn this information into music. If you're doing this on your computer all you have to do is route the audio out of your soundcard to your stereo. In terms of high fidelity, software like Native Instruments piano modules cost more than your 200 pound limit alone. But your computer has a built in midi synth that's free, and kvraudio.com has plenty of free software synths that produce amazing sounds. They are in the VST format, which is a plugin, so you'll need software to host them, but audacity is also free. www.audacity.com I would suggest spending all your cash on the best weighted MIDI keyboard you can find. Try used, on craigslist. Buy a MIDI to USB cable for 15 pounds, plug the keyboard into your computer and route the MIDI data to audacity, which will be hosting your freeware sampler/drum machine/synth/whatever.