problems Recording in Sonar 4 Producer

[gtrplyrguy]

I am having a problem recording in sonar 4 producer edition. It will record midi fine, but any time I try and record audio, I get a strange almost echoish popping almost like its clipping. Heres what ive tried. I put my instrum volume as low as possible with input volume high, and visa-versa...i make sure my level meter is way under clip range, I have tried line in as well as mic in...ive checked all my driver settings, and adjusted every concievable volume setting in the pc as well as the instrum...the louder the sound, the more pronounced the popping....

Heres my setup...

intel 2.53 gh
780mb
SB X-fi platinum soundcard
running Sonar 4 Producer edition

I am running into pc on a 1/4" cord into the mic 2 thru the front panel box (cd-rom bay)of the sound card (which is where the line in is also)...the only thing i havent tried is the 1/8" mic 1 on the sound card itself, which is hopefully not what ill have to do...I do notice that my mic 1 has a 20db boost which is enabled but i dont have an option to enable or disable the 20db boost on mic 2

Is there a setting I have screwed up? I am brand new to Sonar so any help would be much appreciated. I hope i gave you plenty of info.

 

[c7sus]

Are you micing an amp or plugging a keyboard direct into the soundcard???

We need a few more details. What kind of mic/preamp are you using???Describe your monitor setup. Are you monitoring while micing an amp in the same room??? That will cause weird phase-shifting and overs when you peak the incoming signal going to disc. It's a feedback loop.

In any case, you want to be using the LINE INPUT on your soundcard. The mic input is for those crappy little $5 computer mics.

 

[gtrplyrguy]

I am going directly from my line out on my keyboard or my effects pedal (digitech) from my guitar to my line in on the front panel (drive bay) of the soundcard. The recording sounds fine other than the snapping/popping i get as the sound increases. But I am not micing an amp. I am running line out-line in.

And to clarify, this is going into a 1/4" line-in on a front panel (drive bay) of the soundcard. I am not plugging into a 1/8" line-in on the soundcard itself.