In article ,
David Looser wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

I'm not so sure about using a laptop for this sort of thing.

A laptop running WMP is far more flexible and easy to use than any CD
player. A quicker response too.

I have a 360
Systems Instant Replay which is so much nicer - having a dedicated
keyboard etc makes it a joy to use.

A laptop has a dedicated keyboard!

Dedicated to ASCI, yes.

--
*Black holes are where God divided by zero *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

Dedicated to ASCI, yes.

Eh?

David.

In article , Arny
Krueger
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article , Arny
Krueger wrote:
"p.mc" wrote in message


***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***.

I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in
freeware "work alike" versions.

I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be a sledgehammer
to crack a nut. :-)

PPT is a pretty big sledgehammer even in its freeware versions. PPT is
also endemic in the USA. Virtually every school kid in the USA is
taught how to make PPT presentations, XLS spread sheets and Word
documents. An amazing percentage of them can actually do it! Again,
there are freeware versions of all of these programs. So, its a free,
easy-to-use sledgehammer.

One consequence of which has become the use of PPT files on the web.
(Sometimes converted crudely into PDF.) Generally meaning an excessively
large file with very little info as content presented as a series of
bloated bitmaps. Alas you often can't tell what the contents/bloat ratio
will be until after you have fetched the file and looked at it!

However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a
simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue.
I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also
assume someone has already done this. Have they not?

Why would I care?

Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a presentation?

???????????????

Your confusion may be because you assumed I meant writing a simple app for
a *presentation*. But my point was an app just to do what the OP was
interested in. To be able to play SFXs from a set of audio files in a
simple and convenient manner.

You also may assume the OP will choose Windows. However for a box to use
just for playing/arranging/editing sfx files it might make more sense for
him to use something cheaper/older and run a lighter OS that will work with
lower resources, etc.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote:

In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and
liturgical churches

meaningless distinction.

are generally technically challenged.


Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham certainly got caught
out by a bit of covert recording ;-)

But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a
lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way
of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual
CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop.

David.


If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC...
--
Tony Sayer

Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds.


Highly recommended Kewl edit much easier to use than Audacity IMHO of
course..


--
Tony Sayer

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from
a
lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory
way
of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his
dual
CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop.

David.


If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC...
--

We are talking about SFX for stage plays here, not listening to music in a
quiet room. The on-board audio of a laptop will be perfectly good enough for
the purpose.

David.

In article , tony sayer

wrote:

Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds.


Highly recommended Kewl edit much easier to use than Audacity IMHO of
course..

Can't comment on what sound editor the OP may prefer. However I'd be
inclined to suspect that the simplest course then would be to load the sfx
as a series of mp3 files onto a conveniently small solid-state 'player'
that has an output that can drive an audio system and a screen and controls
that are easy to use. That way the playback system can be of minimal
complexity, size, and avoid noises from mechanical hard discs, fans, etc.
Simple way to carry the sfx to the venue and leave the editing system at
home. Should also be easy enough to use to keep anyone who is 'computer
bewildered' happy. And cheaper than a computer if stolen or damaged.

Bottom line, though, is that there are a variety of ways to do this, so the
'best' will be whatever suits the OPs taste, requirements, and experience.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

"Rob" wrote in message
om
On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote:

In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional
and liturgical churches

meaningless distinction.

are generally technically challenged.


Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham
certainly got caught out by a bit of covert recording ;-)

Billy Graham?

?????????????

I know of others that got outed by media, but not him. His son was a bit of
a wild thing when he was younger...

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article
, Arny
Krueger
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message

In article
, Arny
Krueger wrote:
"p.mc" wrote in message


***Some info on auto cue software would be
appreciated also***.

I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even
exists in freeware "work alike" versions.

I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be
a sledgehammer to crack a nut. :-)

PPT is a pretty big sledgehammer even in its freeware
versions. PPT is also endemic in the USA. Virtually
every school kid in the USA is taught how to make PPT
presentations, XLS spread sheets and Word documents. An
amazing percentage of them can actually do it! Again,
there are freeware versions of all of these programs.
So, its a free, easy-to-use sledgehammer.

One consequence of which has become the use of PPT files
on the web. (Sometimes converted crudely into PDF.)
Generally meaning an excessively large file with very
little info as content presented as a series of bloated
bitmaps. Alas you often can't tell what the
contents/bloat ratio will be until after you have fetched
the file and looked at it!

That's one reason why we have high speed internet these days.

However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux
machine to write a simple app (program) that plays
files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the
same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd
also assume someone has already done this. Have they
not?

Why would I care?

Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a
presentation?

???????????????

Your confusion may be because you assumed I meant writing
a simple app for a *presentation*. But my point was an
app just to do what the OP was interested in. To be able
to play SFXs from a set of audio files in a simple and
convenient manner.

From a user standpoint, PPT does that job, and well.

You also may assume the OP will choose Windows.

Or Mac. There is PPT on the Mac, ya know.

However
for a box to use just for playing/arranging/editing sfx
files it might make more sense for him to use something
cheaper/older and run a lighter OS that will work with
lower resources, etc.

Yeah sure. We're supposed to take our $399 PCs with 100's of MIPs of
processing power, gigabytes of RAM and Terabytes of disk and worry ourselves
to death about "lower resources"?

Wake up man, lightweight OSs are even being expunged from cellphones.