Hi,
I'm a Windows XP user, using on board sound with the latest R1.96 Realtek drivers.
Currently I'm facing a problem with my audio input settings. My recording settings was somehow changed to "wave" I think, instead of the usual "mic". So now whenever I use any communication programs like Skype or Msn Chat, the input will be sounds playing from my computer for eg. my mp3 (even if speakers are off). I want to change it back to "mic" settings, but I can't seem to find the option to do so for Realtek.
I ever changed these settings in my old computer before, so I know where to locate this option.
This is where it is supposed to be (this is not my volume controls) - http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w26/ ... n/asd1.jpg
But this is what my controls show - http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w26/ ... n/asd2.jpg
They only have options to "mute" instead of "select"
more pics
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w26/ ... ayback.jpg
http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w26/ ... ording.jpg
pls help
thx
Audio Input Selection not available for Realtek?
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waxcylinder
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- Operating System: Windows 10
Re: Audio Input Selection not available for Realtek?
I think you will find that un-muting a particular input has the same effect as selecting it.
WC
WC
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Re: Audio Input Selection not available for Realtek?
i have tried unmuting everything, but my mic still doesn't workwaxcylinder wrote:I think you will find that un-muting a particular input has the same effect as selecting it.
WC
Re: Audio Input Selection not available for Realtek?
(Click on pictures to expand them to full size)
This is quite interesting as we have a Realtek audio device using the standard Windows Mixer (rather than their own custom mixer). This should not effect the operation, it is just a different, and hopefully easier interface (GUI). This has however produced one unusual feature, which is that the Recording Control check boxes are labeled "mute" rather than the more usual "select".
One would assume that "mute" is the exact opposite of "select", and this is the assumption that we shall initially accept. However there is a possibility that due to the unusual way that the Realtek driver works, and the fact that this is using the standard Windows Mixer rather than the Realtek interface, that there could be an error in the interface - we shall look at that option later (Option 2 below).
Another thing that we should note is:
This probably accounts for why we have the Windows Mixer rather than the Realtek mixer. If Option 1 and Option 2 fail, then we will have to go with Option 3 (below).
So, Option 1. ("mute" is the opposite of "select")
In this picture, we can see a second unusual feature - there are two different "Mic" controls, one marked "Front Mic" and the other marked "Mic Volume".
The two mic settings may indicate that the sound card has two independent microphone inputs, or perhaps these two controls work together on the same input.
As we noted earlier, this driver is a generic sound chip driver, so some features may not be implemented on this actual board.
In order to record from a microphone that is plugged into the Mic input, we shall "un-mute" one of these Mic settings (Front Mic - as in the picture) and try to record. If this does not work we will try the other one (mute "Front Mic" and unmute "Mic Volume"), and if that does not work we will un-mute both the "Front Mic" and the "Mic Volume".
We also need to have the "Volume" slider raised and un-checked (as in the above picture) as this is the master record level.
If we want to record sounds from the computer, such as streaming audio from our web browser, we would use the "Stereo Mix" input instead of the Mic input. - To do this we would select "Mute" for all the inputs except for "Volume" and "Stereo Mix".
How to check our recording levels.
Open Audacity and look in "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O" and make sure that Realtek is selected for both Recording and Playback. There may be several options here but hopefully it will be obvious. If there are several options and it is not obvious which one to use, then you may need to try each one in turn. Note that after changing these options it is usually necessary to close Audacity and re-start it for the change to take effect.
Back to the main Audacity window and you should see two "level meters". This next picture shows the meters when they are active. The green meter on the left is the Playback meter, and the one on the right is the Record meter.
To test the record input, click on the right hand (Record) meter to activate it. If Audacity is receiving a signal, then we should see the red bars flicker up and down.
To quickly recap on what we have done so far - we have checked the Audacity "Audio I/O" settings, and we have tried selecting "Front Mic", "Mic Volume" and both "Front Mic and Mic Volume" together.
If this has not worked, we need to go onto Option 2.
Option 2
Here we assume that there is incorrect labelling in the mixer interface, and that in the Recording Mixer, the word "mute" is incorrect and it should say "Select".
In this case we select (tick the check box) for the input we wish to use. Note that we still do not know if we should be selecting front mic, mic volume, or both, so again it may be necessary to try all three option.
With this option we will also need to have the "Volume" check box ticked (marked "Mute All"). Ticking this check box will show us straight away if we are wrong to assume that the labelling is incorrect. If these are indeed "mute" switches (as labelled) then selecting "Mute all" will tick all the other check boxes, and if we remove the tick from one of the other check boxes, then the tick from "mute all" will automatically be removed as well.
Option 3
This is the option for if the previous 2 methods fail, and if you have never been able to record with your current drivers. If your current drivers have worked correctly in the past, then this option should not be necessary.
As said before, it looks like you have a generic audio chip driver installed rather than the correct one for your mother board.
If you bought the computer as a complete PC, you may have a driver disk for the computer.
If you have built the computer yourself, or if the mother board has been upgraded at any time, you will need to find the drivers for your mother board.
Most computer manufacturers, and motherboard manufacturers provide drivers for download from their website.
First you will need to either (a) find your driver disk, or (b) download the audio driver from the manufacturers website.
When you have the correct drivers, un-install the old ones first, then install the new ones.
Selecting Playback Sources
Since we have all these lovely pictures, just a quick word about playback options:
In this picture we can see that the master volume is enabled (not muted), wave output is enabled (allowing us to hear wave sources such as media players), and the Software Synth is enabled (enabling us to here midi files).
If we were monitoring through headphones and we wanted to hear one of the other audio channels, we would simply unmute it.
My best guess
As I understand it, you want to record from a conventional microphone that is plugged into the microphone input, but it is not recording. If this is correct, then my guess is that you need to un-mute "Mic Volume" in the "Record Control" window.
This is quite interesting as we have a Realtek audio device using the standard Windows Mixer (rather than their own custom mixer). This should not effect the operation, it is just a different, and hopefully easier interface (GUI). This has however produced one unusual feature, which is that the Recording Control check boxes are labeled "mute" rather than the more usual "select".
One would assume that "mute" is the exact opposite of "select", and this is the assumption that we shall initially accept. However there is a possibility that due to the unusual way that the Realtek driver works, and the fact that this is using the standard Windows Mixer rather than the Realtek interface, that there could be an error in the interface - we shall look at that option later (Option 2 below).
Another thing that we should note is:
The "R1.96 Realtek drivers" are "Generic Drivers" for the Realtec HD audio IC's (a general driver for the sound chip), rather than a driver that has been specifically designed for the mother-board. As Realtek say on their web-site: these drivers "may not offer the customizations made by your system/motherboard manufacturer. To be sure you obtain the full features/customizations provided in your original audio product, please download the latest drivers from your system/motherboard manufacturer's website."muzica wrote:using on board sound with the latest R1.96 Realtek drivers.
This probably accounts for why we have the Windows Mixer rather than the Realtek mixer. If Option 1 and Option 2 fail, then we will have to go with Option 3 (below).
So, Option 1. ("mute" is the opposite of "select")
In this picture, we can see a second unusual feature - there are two different "Mic" controls, one marked "Front Mic" and the other marked "Mic Volume".
- recording full.jpg (140.45 KiB) Viewed 2979 times
As we noted earlier, this driver is a generic sound chip driver, so some features may not be implemented on this actual board.
In order to record from a microphone that is plugged into the Mic input, we shall "un-mute" one of these Mic settings (Front Mic - as in the picture) and try to record. If this does not work we will try the other one (mute "Front Mic" and unmute "Mic Volume"), and if that does not work we will un-mute both the "Front Mic" and the "Mic Volume".
We also need to have the "Volume" slider raised and un-checked (as in the above picture) as this is the master record level.
If we want to record sounds from the computer, such as streaming audio from our web browser, we would use the "Stereo Mix" input instead of the Mic input. - To do this we would select "Mute" for all the inputs except for "Volume" and "Stereo Mix".
How to check our recording levels.
Open Audacity and look in "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O" and make sure that Realtek is selected for both Recording and Playback. There may be several options here but hopefully it will be obvious. If there are several options and it is not obvious which one to use, then you may need to try each one in turn. Note that after changing these options it is usually necessary to close Audacity and re-start it for the change to take effect.
Back to the main Audacity window and you should see two "level meters". This next picture shows the meters when they are active. The green meter on the left is the Playback meter, and the one on the right is the Record meter.
To test the record input, click on the right hand (Record) meter to activate it. If Audacity is receiving a signal, then we should see the red bars flicker up and down.
To quickly recap on what we have done so far - we have checked the Audacity "Audio I/O" settings, and we have tried selecting "Front Mic", "Mic Volume" and both "Front Mic and Mic Volume" together.
If this has not worked, we need to go onto Option 2.
Option 2
Here we assume that there is incorrect labelling in the mixer interface, and that in the Recording Mixer, the word "mute" is incorrect and it should say "Select".
In this case we select (tick the check box) for the input we wish to use. Note that we still do not know if we should be selecting front mic, mic volume, or both, so again it may be necessary to try all three option.
With this option we will also need to have the "Volume" check box ticked (marked "Mute All"). Ticking this check box will show us straight away if we are wrong to assume that the labelling is incorrect. If these are indeed "mute" switches (as labelled) then selecting "Mute all" will tick all the other check boxes, and if we remove the tick from one of the other check boxes, then the tick from "mute all" will automatically be removed as well.
Option 3
This is the option for if the previous 2 methods fail, and if you have never been able to record with your current drivers. If your current drivers have worked correctly in the past, then this option should not be necessary.
As said before, it looks like you have a generic audio chip driver installed rather than the correct one for your mother board.
If you bought the computer as a complete PC, you may have a driver disk for the computer.
If you have built the computer yourself, or if the mother board has been upgraded at any time, you will need to find the drivers for your mother board.
Most computer manufacturers, and motherboard manufacturers provide drivers for download from their website.
First you will need to either (a) find your driver disk, or (b) download the audio driver from the manufacturers website.
When you have the correct drivers, un-install the old ones first, then install the new ones.
Selecting Playback Sources
Since we have all these lovely pictures, just a quick word about playback options:
- playback screen.jpg (162.03 KiB) Viewed 2979 times
If we were monitoring through headphones and we wanted to hear one of the other audio channels, we would simply unmute it.
My best guess
As I understand it, you want to record from a conventional microphone that is plugged into the microphone input, but it is not recording. If this is correct, then my guess is that you need to un-mute "Mic Volume" in the "Record Control" window.
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