Audio Lag when recording through mic input please help!

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roswell47

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Ok Heres my system setup:
ASUS Desktop PC CM1630 Series
AMD Athalon II X2 220 Processor 2.80Ghz
4GB RAM
64-Bit Windows 7
ATI High Definition Audio Device

Im simply trying to run my amp through the mic input but im getting a really annoying audio lag. It happes an split second after i strum. I havent found much luck in the way of a fix so I figured I would try here. I would use the Line In, which doesn't lag, but only comes from my left speaker. A solution to either one would be amazing. Thank you!
 
If you're using a stock sound card, all bets are off. Otherwise, see if you can adjust the buffer settings.

The left-only thing is that you're running a mono source to a stereo input.
 
Ok so I went and got a new sound card, i picked up a Rocketfish Gaming 5.1 EAX sound card. I plugged into it and I can hear it but very very faintly, its a tad bit louder when ran through the line in but it sounds very fuzzy and faint. Why does this have to be so difficult? Any ideas? Also Its coming from both speakers and theres no delay but now I just cant hear it. Ive adjusted the levels and whatnot, but not much change.
 
Mic in would be better (pink/red). Line in expects a pretty hot signal.

Also make sure that you have things set level wise on the software side of things. It might default to off or 50% of the available volume. And if you're not using a microphone preamp, you wont get a very hot signal, or even a mic level one in a lot of cases.

Left will be dominant for a mono source feeding a stereo input. Like line in. Make sure that once you split it that you set the track to be treated as mono or it will only output to one speaker. Or set your recording software to treat it as mono from the get go.
 
roswell47 said:
Ok so I went and got a new sound card, i picked up a Rocketfish Gaming 5.1 EAX sound card. I plugged into it and I can hear it but very very faintly, its a tad bit louder when ran through the line in but it sounds very fuzzy and faint. Why does this have to be so difficult? Any ideas?
Click to expand...

It's difficult because it's a complex interaction of various things. You've replaced one soundcard not designed for recording with another one not designed for recording. You need one that is designed for recording and gives you hardware monitoring. It's a somewhat more complex setup but that's what it takes to get the job done.

roswell47 said:
Also Its coming from both speakers and theres no delay but now I just cant hear it. Ive adjusted the levels and whatnot, but not much change.
Click to expand...

You may need to select the new soundcard as the output from the recording software. But the problem of delayed monitoring may return since changing soundcards didn't address the cause.
 
I'll go out on a limb here and say that judging by the specs, while your Rocketfish sound card may not be perfect, it should work just fine for basic recording applications, although you may need one other piece of hardware depending on what else you have and what you want to do. You say you are plugging your amp into the sound card...

Question 1: What kind of amp are we talking about and what output are you using from it?

The mic in is expecting a signal from an electret condenser mic. Although it will take other kinds of signals, that's what it is designed around. There are high end versions of this kind of mic, but what the card designer had in mind is the dirt cheap little desktop mic that you usually get with a desktop computer. For what you are trying to do one would normally look to the line in, but as someone else has said, it wants a line level signal, so a lot depends on what the output from your amp looks like.

Question 2: Do you get other sounds from the sound card properly?

Go to you tube and play a video, if the sound card is installed properly and properly connected to your computer speakers or monitors, you should get normal sound level.

Question 3: Actually I haven't thought of question 3 yet. I can't get past questions 1 and 2 to think of anything else. :)

J
 
jjjtttggg said:
I'll go out on a limb here and say that judging by the specs, while your Rocketfish sound card may not be perfect, it should work just fine for basic recording applications, although you may need one other piece of hardware depending on what else you have and what you want to do.
Click to expand...

Except that he described his problem as latency (lag). If the card he's using (stock or gaming) has no hardware monitoring function he is stuck with software monitoring, which is the cause of the unacceptable latency. To solve the latency problem he needs to get a proper audio recording interface with hardware monitoring or get a mixer to serve that function externally.
 
Thread is WTF.

Are you using a mic, or are you sending a line out from your amp to the mic in on your soundcard?

Protip: get an actual audio interface and things will get a LOT easier.
 
The latency he described was with his stock card. The Rocketfish card was a different issue. That said, you guys are right, sound card is not the best way to go, so:

OP if you really want to get into this hobby you should get a proper interface.

Now with THAT said, I still say, depending on what you input signal is and what you want to do, the Rocketfish sound card should work just fine.

J
 
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