I have - and use - several computers, both at home and at work. When telecommuting, the confusion gets even bigger.
Some have two separate 3.5mm TRS jacks for the microphone and the headphones (like my personal laptop and tower).
Others have a single 3.5mm TRRS jack for both (like the MacBook Pro and the work laptop).
I have a separate microphone and headphones, so with separate TRS cables.
I also have an adapter that came with the microphone, with two 3.5mm TRS female plugs and one 3.5mm TRRS male.
In other words, I can connect the microphone and headphones separately to my personal laptop, or I can connect them to the adapter, and connect the adapter to the Mac. When I want to switch computers, I have to go around taking the adapter off and on.
There has to be some simple way to connect all this together. It's a brutal mess every day, because I use these computers at the same time, and sometimes I even want to listen to their audio at the same time (for example, to be on call on one of the computers but be able to hear notifications from the other without being on speaker)
Ideally, what I'm looking for is a "box" where on one side I connect the microphone and headphones, and on the other side I connect each input of each computer. Then, on the box itself, I choose the volume of each channel.
I think this is a simple mixing desk. However, when I look for them, I always find things that are very different, much more complex, very expensive, or have different inputs (like XLR).
I've thought about doing this by hand, but I know I'm going to mess up on an electrical level (for example, I don't think it's a good idea to directly interconnect the outputs of two different computers, I imagine the feedback could fry things). At the same time, it seems like a relatively simple thing to do.
Does what I am looking for exist? Can you suggest keywords to search better than "3.5mm headphone microphone mixer"? Or is there some reason I'm not seeing for something like this not to exist?
Some have two separate 3.5mm TRS jacks for the microphone and the headphones (like my personal laptop and tower).
Others have a single 3.5mm TRRS jack for both (like the MacBook Pro and the work laptop).
I have a separate microphone and headphones, so with separate TRS cables.
I also have an adapter that came with the microphone, with two 3.5mm TRS female plugs and one 3.5mm TRRS male.
In other words, I can connect the microphone and headphones separately to my personal laptop, or I can connect them to the adapter, and connect the adapter to the Mac. When I want to switch computers, I have to go around taking the adapter off and on.
There has to be some simple way to connect all this together. It's a brutal mess every day, because I use these computers at the same time, and sometimes I even want to listen to their audio at the same time (for example, to be on call on one of the computers but be able to hear notifications from the other without being on speaker)
Ideally, what I'm looking for is a "box" where on one side I connect the microphone and headphones, and on the other side I connect each input of each computer. Then, on the box itself, I choose the volume of each channel.
I think this is a simple mixing desk. However, when I look for them, I always find things that are very different, much more complex, very expensive, or have different inputs (like XLR).
I've thought about doing this by hand, but I know I'm going to mess up on an electrical level (for example, I don't think it's a good idea to directly interconnect the outputs of two different computers, I imagine the feedback could fry things). At the same time, it seems like a relatively simple thing to do.
Does what I am looking for exist? Can you suggest keywords to search better than "3.5mm headphone microphone mixer"? Or is there some reason I'm not seeing for something like this not to exist?