Audacity Forum

Recording from a turntable through a home stereo amp, with the record volume slider all the way to the right, the volume meter only regs a max of about -8.

I have XP home edition and I use Sound Blaster 24 live. I am using Audacity 1,2,3. The computer has 1gb of ram and 1.75ghz cpu.

It was even lower on the first attempts. After that I removed XP Vinyl Deck and another wave editor and the volume level did improve some but not nearly enough.

I just had XP installed a few days ago. Prior to XP the SB software record volume controls could put the level into the clipping range. The SB software now is also at the same level as Audacity, even at max record setting

So you are recording from your turntable, through your home stereo, into the Sound Blaster Line input?

Have you checked the Sound Blaster Mixer Recording level settings? (look for the icon near the system clock). Note that Record settings and Playback settings in the mixer are completely different - it is the Record settings that alter the record level.

Hello Steve:

I am recording from my turntable, through the home stereo, into the Sound Blaster Line input.

I checked the cable on the SB card and it is inserted into the line-in (blue colored port)

The Sound Blaster Mixer Recording level settings is selected and at 100%.

The Sound and Audion Devices property has only SB selected as the recording.

In the Device Manager, the Multi Media Audio controller is not work (has a yellow question next to it) but that is because it was disabled so SB would control the Audio. The co

I think that you may need to remove and re-install the sound card drivers.

Before you proceed, make sure that you have your Windows installation disk, and the Sound Blaster disk handy.

cfmoore wrote:In the Device Manager, the Multi Media Audio controller is not work (has a yellow question next to it) but that is because it was disabled so SB would control the Audio. The co

I'm not sure what you have disabled, is it an on-board audio device? If so, it is better to disable it in BIOS. This should be done before the following steps. If you do not use on board audio device, it is advisable to disable it in BIOS but is not essential. Setting the Sound and Audion Devices property to the SoundBlaster card and selecting to "only use this device" should be sufficient. In any case there should not be a yellow question mark - it should either be enabled or disabled (a red cross through it).

To uninstall the drivers completely, First uninstall all Sound Blaster software using "Add Remove Software" in the Control Pane, then reboot into Safe Mode.

At this point Windows may try and re-install the sound drivers, (I think probably it won't, but if it does...) If you are prompted to install drivers for a new found device, try and say "NO". If Windows insists on installing drivers, then no problem, we are about to remove them in the next step.

From the Device Manager, remove all the drivers from the audio devices section. (Windows sometimes hides some drivers when you are not in Safe mode).

Now reboot normally.

Windows will detect the uninstalled hardware and prompt you to install the drivers.

If you install the drivers from the SoundBlaster disk, the CD will probably try to auto-run when you insert it. If you allow it to auto run, it will install all kinds of stuff that you probably do not need, so at this stage, exit from the CD auto run (you can install additional software from the CD later if you want it by running the CD again).

Continue and install the sound card drivers, then reboot.

You should now have a fully functioning sound system, and hopefully will have fixed the problem.

"Multimedia Media Devices" no longer has the yellow "?". I reinstalled the drivers which removed the yellow "?"

I just disabled the on-board audio device AC97 in the BIOS

I have not begun any removal (SB or the other drivers) yet for I am uncertain as to the Device Manager sections under "Sound, video and game" to delete the other drivers from. In "Sound, video and games are
Audio Codecs
Legacy Audio Drivers (but non are shown)
Legacy Video Capture
Media Control Device
SB Live! 24bit
Video Codecs
Which of the above sections do I delete from?

The stereo amp is working properly for prior to disabling AC97 I recorded a test with it and the input volume controls gave the needed volume level.

cfmoore wrote:The stereo amp is working properly for prior to disabling AC97 I recorded a test with it and the input volume controls gave the needed volume level.

Do you mean that it is working now?

Good morning:

Still have the same problem when SB is the recording device only low a recorded volume is achieved.

I do have the most current driver for SB, June 2007. SB was installed in June 2005

Prior to posting my last update, it did not occur to me to try the onboard system for I have only used SB since I had the computer. Tunnel vision.

Sorry for the confussion

It sounds like you have a suitable work-around, but if you still want to try reinstalling the SB drivers....

cfmoore wrote:I have not begun any removal (SB or the other drivers) yet for I am uncertain as to the Device Manager sections under "Sound, video and game" to delete

This is in addition to my previous post - not a replacement.

First make sure that you have your Windows installation disk, and you sound card installation disk handy. If you have not disabled on-board sound you may also need a driver disk for the motherboard, although the Windows Installation disk will usually suffice. If you use any games controllers (game-pads etc.) you may need the installation disk that came with that.

Right Click on "My Computer" and select "Properties".
Click on the "Hardware" Tab
Click on "Device Manager"
Go down to "Sound Audio and Video controllers"
Remove all the drivers from this section.