Useful information for anyone with a Dell computer with Sigmatel HD Audio:
Dell decided to disable the Stereo Mix (record what you hear) options on the Sigmatel HD Audio 92xx drivers, however they have now changed their mind and the stereo mix option is now available in the latest drivers.
This also applies to (some?) Gateway laptops with SigmaTel integrated sound cards.
Thank you steve. When I went on to the dell site, the only 92xx driver available for done load was released in 2005. Is that the latest driver?
MBECK
Dell recommend that you choose the drivers according to the “Service Tag” on your machine. If this is not available (the tag has fallen off) then select the appropriate model. Either method should give you the latest available drivers for your machine. The Dell driver download page is here: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?
I have a Dell XPS 420 - can’t get What U Hear - where did you get drivers that permit this? Dell reps tell me it will never work…what a disappointment…
In that case you will need to use a different sound card. If you have a desktop computer it is easy to fit a PCI sound card. If it is a laptop then you will probably be best with an external USB sound card. Behringer make the UCA-202 which is a very basic USB audio device, but it is very inexpensive and if you just want a basic audio interface it works well.
Hi - no it’s not a laptop - one of their higher-end PCs. I checked in to ask you because I don’t believe half of what the Dell reps say - probably not their fault - they simply don’t know. When I saw your note saying some drivers were working [What U Hear] - thought I’d just ask…looking frantically for a sound card I can put in it to get rid of this awful Sigmatel — I used to always use Creative boards but now I read so many bad things about them screeching that I’m leery of bothering with one.
violinrosie,
yes there are many rumours on this board that Dell is disabling WhatUhear/ Stereo mix on their soundcard drivers.
Curiously I just recently bought a new laptop from Dell - and I expected this to be the case - but not so it records straming from the internet ablsolutely fine for me right out-of-the box (I was expecting to hace to use my external USB soundcard with outputs loped back to inputs - which is what I need to do on my older Dell desktop).
The Soundcard in my laptop is a Realtek HD - and I use the standard drivers as pre-loaded by Dell. I may be lucky in that I isnsisted that they ship the machine “downgraded” to XP-Pro rather than shiny new Vista - so I may have got older drivers this way I guess.
WC
I recently bought a Dell XPS 420 with the onboard Sigmatel HD audio. Downloading the latest driver (6.10.0.5511, A04) posted 6/19/2007 still does not provide the ability to hear what you record. I had to hack the driver registry entries to even get the line-In mute / unmute control to be visible in the Playback Devices / Levels panel but I still cannot get the Line-in to play through the speakers. I can record from line in and play back the recording but I can’t find a way to hear what I am recording. Does anyone know of a later driver than the above?
It may be worth trying an earlier driver.