Blue Snowball USB mic problem

G

Griefo

New member
I just bought one of these and it seems to have installed fine, but I can't hear anything out of it in my headphones. In the sound mixer when I select it, the playback option is greyed out and the only selectable option is Recording. It records fine, but I can't hear it while I am playing. Is anyone familiar with this problem? I can't find anything about it. This is my first time trying a USB mic.

I'm using XP, with a pretty cheap PCI sound card.. A StarTech 4 Channel PCI Sound Card with AC97 3D Audio Effects ..I had to replace the onboard audio after my headphone jack broke off in it.
 
I guess I'm a little confused then. How are you supposed to check line levels and positioning, etc. if you can't hear it? Are you just supposed to press record and hope for the best?

Is there another piece of equipment I need? I'm so frustrated.. I've been trying to get this thing to work for a week.
 
Not that familiar with the snowball but if it doesn't have a headphone out on the microphone like the Yeti microphone does your not going to be able to hear as you record.
 
I would think you could select your sound card as the output device.

The problem is that the data has to go through the a bunch of stuff in the computer to make that round trip, and that takes time. So what you hear back from the mic will be a bit behind your actual playing. How much depends on a number of factors, some of which can be adjusted. It could be anything from barely noticeable to way too much to deal with.

This is why a proper audio interface is the usual recommendation around here. There are some USB mics out now with headphone outputs and low latency direct monitoring, but consider what you might want to be able to do in the future. Besides minimizing latency a decent audio interface will work with almost any mic you buy or borrow or rent, and most will let you use two or more at once.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. I think I'm just gonna send it back. I can't get any output through the sound card. I was hoping to just have a simple mic I can hear the output when I plug it in and just record. I'm not that tech-savvy. I'm fairly new to computer recording. I'm used to simpler machines like 4-tracks and digital 8-tracks. I thought I had researched this mic enough before I bought it. There were so many good reviews, but then to not be able to monitor the sound before recording?.. it just seems insane. Why would anybody want a mic like this? Back to the drawing board I guess.
 
Griefo said:
Thanks for the input everyone. I think I'm just gonna send it back. I can't get any output through the sound card. I was hoping to just have a simple mic I can hear the output when I plug it in and just record. I'm not that tech-savvy. I'm fairly new to computer recording. I'm used to simpler machines like 4-tracks and digital 8-tracks. I thought I had researched this mic enough before I bought it. There were so many good reviews, but then to not be able to monitor the sound before recording?.. it just seems insane. Why would anybody want a mic like this? Back to the drawing board I guess.
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I guess if your going to stay with a USB microphone be sure that there is a headphone out RIGHT ON THE MICROPHONE.
 
Sure. Monitoring depends on the host software unfortunately, some of them are better at it than others. Good on you & more for recommending USB mics with headphone outs, got to steer people towards those.
 
mshilarious said:
Sure. Monitoring depends on the host software unfortunately, some of them are better at it than others. Good on you & more for recommending USB mics with headphone outs, got to steer people towards those.
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Will there ever be away in the future to get around this? ~ Go Patriots! It's Superbowl weekend. :D
 
moresound said:
Will there ever be away in the future to get around this? ~ Go Patriots! It's Superbowl weekend. :D
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Well, the obvious answer is yes, because too many people want to do this. I am not too familiar with the present situation of PC DAWs because I don't keep up with them, but I'd be surprised if Reaper couldn't do it.

Anybody doing a tablet-specific DAW should be thinking pretty hard about this issue . . .
 
mshilarious said:
Well, the obvious answer is yes, because too many people want to do this. I am not too familiar with the present situation of PC DAWs because I don't keep up with them, but I'd be surprised if Reaper couldn't do it.

Anybody doing a tablet-specific DAW should be thinking pretty hard about this issue . . .
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Yes the technology is progressing in leaps and bounds. The future will be here before we know it!
 
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