Sound Card Hardware
Sound Card Sockets
Most sound cards (or built-in sound facilities) have four or more 3.5mm sockets in the back
of the computer. A 3.5mm stereo plug is required for these sockets.
The four basic sound card sockets are:
- Speaker or headphone output. This socket is where you plug in your speakers or headphones
- Line Output. This socket allows you to connect your computer to a home entertainment system or other
sound system, so you can hear computer generated sounds on other sound systems
- Line Input. This socket allows sounds generated by other systems to be captured by your computer. These
other systems are things like record players, CD players, televisions, radios etc
- Microphone Input. This socket is where you plug in a microphone for live sounds
The sockets are labelled SPK OUT, LINE OUT, LINE IN, MIC IN or
,
,
,
or are colour coded requiring reference to the
sound card or computer manual.
Audio Equipment Sockets
Home Entertainment systems and other audio systems, such as some record players, CD players, televisions and
radios also have Line Out and Line In sockets. However, these systems usually have RCA sockets and require an
RCA plug, similar to the one shown, to connect to them.
So, to capture sounds from a audio system onto your computer, you require a cable similar to the one shown.
The 3.5mm plug goes into the Line In socket on your computer. The two RCA plugs go into the two Line Out
sockets on your audio system. Cables like this are available (in Australia) from places like Dick Smith
Electronics and Jaycar Electronics for around $10.00.
Microphones
If you want your computer to capture live sounds then you will need a microphone. This is a simple case
of purchasing a computer microphone from a computer shop for around $15.00. A computer microphone will
have a 3.5mm plug on it.