Getting very discouraged with Audacity

[doughcutter]

Hi. I have a few more newbie questions. I'm just so frustrated and could really use some help.
I was recording using Audacity for a good part of a year by running live mics to separate instruments (guitar, electronic drums, etc.), then simply connecting each mic to a Mic Mate USB into the computer as I would record each instrument. Everything worked absolutely perfect. The sound was amazing. For a rookie, I was so so happy that I never had to change any settings. . I had a computer with windows xp and an old Audigy 2ZS soundblaster card. I use Logitech Z5500 speakers to playback the sound.

I then bought a new computer which has Windows 7, downloaded the new Beta version of Audacity and installed the old sound card into the new computer. since doing that, everything is an absolutely total fricking disaster. Most of my recordings now clip a majority of the time, I have changed so many line in and line out settings that I'm so confused now , I'm just totally lost. Sometimes Audacity will not even record properly. It is hard to explain but when you push the record button, the track will skip and hesitate as it moves along during recording??
Some of my computer savvy friends had told me a few things that may help but i'm not sure where to go from here. A few things they mentioned.
1) Windows 7 does not support the old Audigy soundcard and therefore it is not working as it should
So, that said, should I buy a new soundcard or use the onboard sound in the computer.
2) I need to disable the onboard sound and/or install a new sound card

If anyone has any suggestions, i'm all ears. I've tried everything and now have made so many setting changes, I can't figure out what will make it better.
thanks for your help
Chad

 

[TetraFish]

yeah, If you can't get Windows 7 drivers for your soundcard that would be a good place to start trouble shooting. Might be a deal killer for that sound card.

If the old computer worked for recording why not just wipe the old one clean reinstall XP and have a dedicated recording box?

 

[doughcutter]

ok, thanks. good ideas. so, I have to ask a stupid question. For recording music such as I am doing, is it best to use a soundcard or is on board sound "good enough". ?

 

[TetraFish]

On board sound is never very good, very cheap components and no dedicated ASIO driver.

The best way to go is an audio interface. You can get external units that are USB or Firewire that will produce fairly good results for around $200. So not much difference between that and a premium sound card.

-------------------------------------
Wait a minute

After re-reading your post I just realized you connect to your pc with a mic mate. Never heard of that before but after doing a bit of googling it looks like that's the piece of hardware you need to get working. It' kind of acts like the recording interfaces I was talking about. So I don't think that sound card was really doing anything for you as far as low latency recording goes.

You only recorded one instrument at a time, right?

 

[TetraFish]

Couple more questions.

In Audacity what did you set as the Input Device and the Playback Device?

Also, I think I'd try removing the Soundcard.

 

[doughcutter]

Hi Tetrafish
thanks so much for taking the time to reply to me. I appreciate it. the Mic Mate has always worked honestly. There really isn't much to it. there are not settings to change on it. It was just the easiest way for me to connect via USB and have a handy device that I could just plug and un-plug each instrument into. I will probably ditch the soundcard but i'm still trying to figure it out. the audio interface might be a good way to go. thanks again , Chad

 

[doughcutter]

Hi.
for Playback I've always used Speakers - Creative Audigy (soundcard).
as for Recording options , here is what I have available
1) Microphone (Creative Audigy )
2) Analog Mix
3) CD Digital
4) S/pdif (Creative audigy)
5) "What u hear" (Creative audigy)
6) Stereo Mix (Realtek audio - on board sound)
7) Microphone (USB Audio CODEC)

I've tried several options and have some of them disabled, unavailable, etc. It doesn't seem to matter what I choose, the sound is distorted and clips. *The USB audio would be the mic mate. Is it possible I need to use that as the recording device?

thanks again,
Chad

 

[legionserial]

TBH it would be a good idea to ditch the Audigy either way. They're great for games and movies etc, but really aren't good for recording.

 

[TetraFish]

Hi.
for Playback I've always used Speakers - Creative Audigy (soundcard).
as for Recording options , here is what I have available
1) Microphone (Creative Audigy )
2) Analog Mix
3) CD Digital
4) S/pdif (Creative audigy)
5) "What u hear" (Creative audigy)
6) Stereo Mix (Realtek audio - on board sound)
7) Microphone (USB Audio CODEC)

I've tried several options and have some of them disabled, unavailable, etc. It doesn't seem to matter what I choose, the sound is distorted and clips. *The USB audio would be the mic mate. Is it possible I need to use that as the recording device?

thanks again,
Chad

You should be using #7 as the input device.

And you should ditch the Audigy and just use the onboard sound for the output. Non Win7 drivers could really be throwing a wrench into things.

 

[doughcutter]

thanks again. i'm gonna take the audigy card out and remove it. ok, one more question. the logitech speakers i use have a green/yellow/black cord connection. the computer doesn't have those inputs. The logitech also has an optical connection but again, none on the computer. any ideas?? thanks

 

[TetraFish]

Hmmm, yeah those would be for 5.1 sound. You might have to figure out which one is for the fronts and then use the "Stereo X 2" option on your speakers. Not the best solution. If you use it for gaming with surround that's not a great option.

or wait.....
I should have asked this before but have you tried the latest drivers? it says here it should work with Win7.
http://support.creative.com/Product... 2 ZS&subCatName=Audigy&CatName=Sound+Blaster

If not install these drivers and disable your on board sound.

 

[legionserial]

thanks again. i'm gonna take the audigy card out and remove it. ok, one more question. the logitech speakers i use have a green/yellow/black cord connection. the computer doesn't have those inputs. The logitech also has an optical connection but again, none on the computer. any ideas?? thanks

If you're using your computer for other applications you could always keep the audigy in and just add a second sound card. Then just have either 2 seperate installs of windows or 2 seperate user accounts with different hardware profiles. You'll probably want to invest in some cheap studio monitors to be honest. Computer speakers won't be an awful lot of cop for mixing.

Currently, because I play a lot of games and watch a lot of movies, I have an audigy and an M-Audio Delta 44 in my computer, aswell as some 5.1 computer speakers and some studio monitors hooked up. With different installs of windows for different applications (as I say, different user accounts will do).

 

[TetraFish]

I was thinking about this and if you can get the win7 drivers set up you might want to try and skip the mic mate. Having one input device and a different output device could be causing problems. If you have an XLR to 1/4" cable just plug that into the mic input on the audigy and use the audigy for both in and out. I know that those sound cards arn't the best for recording but I can't really see how it would be any worse than the Mic Mate.

 

[doughcutter]

so, I installed the new Windows 7 drivers for the Audigy card, disabled on board sound, set the input to Microphone USB, made sure to disable all other input devices and...... no dice. still clips something terrible. I could probably tap a pencil on the desk and it would almost clip . the sound is absolutely horrible. I even moved the microphone about 12 inches back from the amp and still clips . It's as if the signal is "hot" going in, picking up every little sound and amplifying it. I could have ran a chainsaw next to the microphone on my old setup and had no problems. In fact, I have a little keyboard amp that I use for vocals and some drums and it would be so loud while I was recording, I contemplated wearing earplugs but the signal going into audacity would be smooth as silk. lol. so, i've been sitting here reading for hours and it seems to me that there is some added decibel boost with windows 7 using that mic mate. I think i'll try ditching the mic mate and go straight through the sound card. I watch you tube videos of these guys doing podcasts with the mic mate and audacity and it works so i'm still not sure what the magic bullet is here. if you think of anything else, let me know. Chad

 

[doughcutter]

or, I will just go buy a windows 7 compatible soundcard that also has an optical out to listen to logitech speakers .

 

[TetraFish]

Forsure try direct into the sound card and drop the mic mate before you make any new purchases.