A very pleasant start to the day, which rapidly went down hill!!
The The HM-1 from Kel Microphone arrived this morning as did the Alesis MultiMix8USB which was very exciting!
Unfortunately I hadn’t realised that the Microphone didn’t come with the necessary XLR Cable so I can’t connect the Microphone. At the same time I realised that I hadn’t got a 1/4 converter for my headphones so they weren’t going to work either. Now you have to remember that where I live in Spain just running out to a Audio store isn’t an option. They exist but about 300 miles away!
All of this would have been a real problem if the mixer worked. I had assumed that although it had a US plug it would work with an adapter, but nope, nada, nothing! I now need to get a Spanish Alesis P4 Powersupply, but I can’t find one anywhere on the web (yet) and neither Alesis of their distributor in Barcelona have responded to my emails yet.
My other option is to try and hack an existing Spanish power supply and connect the 3 pin Alesis plug?
On the plus side the Manta TR1 USB IR Transceiver from Twisted Melon has arrived and is working just fine – although as I suspected it wont pick up the signal through the wall, so I have lost FrontRow on my Mac mini, but have gained it when it is connected to the TV which is more important – I think!
I got this via email from Ben:
By definition, infrared signals cannot go through walls. Infrared operates using and infrared light, and light cannot travel through walls. If you want something that can, try the AirClick USB from GriffinTechnologies. It plugs into your USB port and has an RF remote. Griffin advertises that it works up to 60 feet away. Check it out at:
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/airclickusb/
There is software for both windows and mac for it, which includes preset controls for many apps, including Front Row,Mail,iChat,QuickTime,VLC, and more. Custom options are also available using Griffin’s free “Proxi” software. I recommend it if you need to control your computer from the next room. It goes for $39 USD, and is a Griffin product, so you know it’s quality hardware. Hope this helps.
Things are looking up! Wayne came to the rescue with the XLR cable and headphone adapter, so they should be here later in the week
Alesis’s distributor in Spain seem to have shut down but Alesis (UK) are sending a UK power supply (via my mother-in-law) that will work here with an adapter, so that may just get here by the end of the week.
And I got this from Mac:
Here is the remote I use: http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/errf1/homepage.spml