Can't record on PC

flogen

I'm trying to record through my computer at the moment and am having serious problems.
Basically I'm using WinXP, my sound card uses Realtek AC97 Audio, and I'm trying to record through Cool Edit Pro 2; I have 2 mics and have also tried to input audio through a 2.5-2.5 jack cable (from an mp3 player etc.)... for whatever reason when I hit record the audio levels seem to shoot up to the top, as if it's picking up nothing but static; I've messed around with the record volumes on the PC, and changed which device was selected (mic, line in, aux etc,) but to no avail... when I play back the track I don't hear anything at all.

Can any help me fix this? In a bit of a bind at the moment trying to get some stuff together... The mics and leads work fine, I figure it's an issue with the PC, be it software or hardware (I think I have the latest software... checking at the moment to see)

DonkeyStyle \o/

flogen wrote:

Realtek AC97 Audio

Well der's yer praaablem.
AC97 is a nasty piece of work IMO... my motherboards onboard sound uses it (booo, bring back nvidia soundstorm!)... needless to say I replaced it with an X-FI

tbh, I'd start by unmuting the mic in sndvol32 and see if you can get a PC-loudspeaker/megaphone situation going... ignore recording anything until you've got that working.

Try different AC97 drivers, either from the manufacturer of the hardware (mobo/soundcard/whatever) or head straight for the source of the chipset.

Of if you're pressed for time and can't be arsed with all this tinkering... get a loan of a decent soundcard off someone.

flogen

Thanks for the tips... ok...
My PC audio situation is slightly complicated by the fact that I use my stereo as speakers, which are connected via a USB cable (it's a Philips player with a built in link etc. etc.).
Anyway, that just has playback settings in sndvol32, not recording, and obviously that's what I'm looking for. When I switch the audio back to traditional speakers connected via the line out plug I get nothing.. that is until I play audio at which point I hear a low hum (at the highest volume), this isn't the actual audio coming through, it stays the same no matter what I'm playing and seems to just signal some attempt at audio coming through. I imagine this hum is the same thing that shows up on my levels when I try to record (using AC97).

Now the Mic is unmuted, and I'm going through the drivers at the moment to try and get things working.... any more advice appreciated !!!

DonkeyStyle \o/

Mmm, that does complicate things alright.
What I'd do first is unplug the USB device... remove it from the equation... simplify things.
You should have a look in the control panel under 'Sounds and Audio Devices' and manually set the default devices windows uses for recording and playback.
I'd forget about speakers/external amps/hi-fi systems for the time being aswell... just to make things as simple and fool-proof as possible, use a pair of headphones connected directly to the soundcard... ditto the mic.

Once you've checked the control panel app, and the correct devices are assigned... I'd have a look in whatever additional control/config program that came with the AC97 driver.
As my experience goes with AC97, there'll be some kind of driver mechanism that'll turn your mic/line-in etc ports into output ports for 5.1 (etc) systems... so that's definitely something to watch out for... set it to simple stereo output if you can... that way the input ports won't be re-assigned to output, if that's what the problem was.

_CreeD_

To get to the recording properties in the volume control hit Options/Properties and then Recording. Mute all sources except the input you're using.

If you do end up upgrading I wouldn't go with the Creative game cards, the Audigy/X-Fi's are great all rounders but they resample to either 48 or 98Khz, so if you're planning on using 44.1 (CD, the most common) it can cause issues (besides the inherent quality loss in resampling it has been known to cause syncronisation errors in a number of hosts), also the Audigy's do not record in 24 bit (24bit/44.1Khz is the most widely used home recording format, higher freq's seem like a good idea but take a lot more horsepower to work with when you're sequencing and there is a greater quality trade off in lowering bit depths than sampling rates). They do produce some excellent Pro/Semi-Pro cards under their EMU brand though, the 1212M in particular is a superb home studio card and pretty reasonably priced, it has some stellar ADC's and DAC's which also make it a great hifi source. M-Audio also do some excellent cards.

DonkeyStyle \o/

Yeah sorry, I should have pointed out I'm not really interested in audio production... the X-FI is just a personal preference for my own music listening/gaming/movies... not a specific reccomendation.
Listen to CreeD instead.

flogen

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Mmm, that does complicate things alright.
What I'd do first is unplug the USB device... remove it from the equation... simplify things.
You should have a look in the control panel under 'Sounds and Audio Devices' and manually set the default devices windows uses for recording and playback.
I'd forget about speakers/external amps/hi-fi systems for the time being aswell... just to make things as simple and fool-proof as possible, use a pair of headphones connected directly to the soundcard... ditto the mic.

Once you've checked the control panel app, and the correct devices are assigned... I'd have a look in whatever additional control/config program that came with the AC97 driver.
As my experience goes with AC97, there'll be some kind of driver mechanism that'll turn your mic/line-in etc ports into output ports for 5.1 (etc) systems... so that's definitely something to watch out for... set it to simple stereo output if you can... that way the input ports won't be re-assigned to output, if that's what the problem was.

OK, USB device is out of the mix and the recording/output devices are both the AC97 thingey, all the volume levels seem right and so on; the problem is I'm getting no sound at all, haven't even tried recording yet. The speakers are fine btw, so it has to be the PC... no doubt about that much.

Thanks for the card suggestions, will be getting a new/decent one as soon as I can, just need to get this sorted temporarily tbh

DonkeyStyle \o/

Right, then I'd definitely reinstall the drivers for the AC97... you should have a third party config program that comes with the realtek/ac97 driver... if you don't, and maybe just let windows detect it and use its own drivers, then all the more reason to install the specific driver package for this hardware.
If it's onboard sound, then your motherboard manufacturers website should have the drivers for it under the section for your motherboard model.

If it still doesn't work after installing the drivers, I'd remove/uninstall all the ac97 related audio devices from device manager and reboot... letting windows pick up the hardware again... hopefully assigning the newer, more correct drivers.
Or failing that, you can open the device in device manager and chose to update/reinstall drivers, and manually select the .inf from where ever you extracted the driver set.
As I said, it's a lot of tinkering around... but if I were you, I'd want to get working with that ac97 config program.

flogen

DonkeyStyle \o/ wrote:

Right, then I'd definitely reinstall the drivers for the AC97... you should have a third party config program that comes with the realtek/ac97 driver... if you don't, and maybe just let windows detect it and use its own drivers, then all the more reason to install the specific driver package for this hardware.
If it's onboard sound, then your motherboard manufacturers website should have the drivers for it under the section for your motherboard model.

If it still doesn't work after installing the drivers, I'd remove/uninstall all the ac97 related audio devices from device manager and reboot... letting windows pick up the hardware again... hopefully assigning the newer, more correct drivers.
Or failing that, you can open the device in device manager and chose to update/reinstall drivers, and manually select the .inf from where ever you extracted the driver set.
As I said, it's a lot of tinkering around... but if I were you, I'd want to get working with that ac97 config program.

Thanks for all your help Donkeystyle, but I seem to be going around in circles tbh.
I've uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled the defaults that came with the machine, nothing. Gotten the latest ones for the motherboard in question, nothing. I really get the impression that it's just, for whatever reason, fúcked...
Pain in the rectum tbh

DonkeyStyle \o/

Yeah it takes the patience of a saint sometimes to get these tricky bastards working
Probably better off to get a decent soundcard and save yourself the torment.

Although another thought occured to me, just incase you weren't already tired enough of this problem... is the machine custom built, or a factory build like DELL (etc)... sometimes the audio connections are in bracket form, in that the jacks aren't fixed to the motherboard... these brackets need to be manually hooked to the right pins on the motherboard... I wonder is it just that the connectors are on backwards or not at all.
Did the AC97 audio ever work?

I'm like the doctor that's still using the defib shock paddles 15 minutes after the patient is flatlined. "NO!!! YOU WILL LIVEEE!!!"

flogen

Yeah, the audio has worked in the past, and I had this problem before and then it fixed itself (God knows how?!!!)
I did need it urgently but I might be able to patch together a replacement, then I'll look into a new card... anything but AC97 tbh