Lexicon Alpha audio USB interface - Trouble

Vestel

New member
Hi,
I'm new here and I need some help with my equipment. Perhaps you know how to deal with it. I've tried diffrent ways to solve this, but with no result. So.. necessity brought me here.
Lexicon interface is not working properly, when using its input and output at the same time. In Audacity, I can't even play a song from my media player during record process, or hear backtrack that I've put into program. Every soundtrack played simultaneously, becomes a terrible noise. It happens to other system sounds too(Win7).
What else - using Alpha with Skype or ooVoo has similar result. When IN's and OUT's are set on Lexicon, my microphone works very silently. While conversation, every sound becomes a noise again.
When I set my notebook microphone on input, things come back to normal.
Also, setting output on notebook headphones/speaker helps mi with Audacity to avoid noises when I record guitar from my mic connected to interface.

I would be happy if someone helps me, it's really annoying problem.
Is it Alpha USB's fault? (I've got newest drivers from Lexicon's website) Or it's only settings issue?
Many Thanks,

Vestel.

EDIT:
I've managed to solve the noise problem. It was caused by the marked exclusivity button in audio settings. Inputs/outputs were allowed to one program only. They seemed to argue with each other for signal. Now it's working fine but I have one issue left.
In Skype, my mic is still too quiet to use in calls. In Audacity though, it works fine and volume level is good. Settings in Skype are maxed out of course and I don't know how to improve sound to normal loudness as in Auda.
Any ideas?
 
Sorry very hard to understand the problem. What is the problem? Just say it in one sentence please?

"In Audacity, I can't even play a song from my media player during record process, or hear backtrack that I've put into program."

This makes no sense at all? When you are recording you should not play a song from your media player anyway. Please the song from audacity with one track armed for recording. You monitor the sound of the recording input channel with the sound cards input monitoring? This is usually configured within the sound cards own application. Hardware monitoring. This means you will hear the source of the recording before it even enters the computer, whilst listening to the play back from the computer.
Does this help?
 
Uhm, sorry for bad english.
Lexicon was producing the noise while recodring some stuff to backing track. Backtrack was put into Audacity to jam with it. I've hit the 'record button' and the ear torturing began. Other system sounds were full of noise too.
I've solved that, but now I have to figure out how to increase microphone's volume while talking through skype/ooVoo. In audacity volume is ok, but in skype it's muted or extremely quiet.
 
Turn up the gain on the mic input???
Check out the settings in Skype? This is not really a home recording question. Go on the Skype forum.
 
I've found out what's the reason of volume level differences. In Audacity, I have microphone input set to Stereo and it works like this:
Right channel: correct volume
Left channel: very quiet
Only right channel is loud enough to record. I separate both tracks and set right channel to mono. Left is useless to me.

When I set input to mono, recorded track looks like one on left channel in stereo.

According to this, input sound in apps like skype is probably pushed through mono channel and that's the reason of low volume.
There must be a way to adjust this properly and make both channels sound at the same level... but how?

I took some screenshots that show, how my microphone is recorded:
In mono

In stereo
 
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