Is ASUS Xonar Essence STX Audacity compatible?

[tutr]

MME/ASUS Xonar Essence STX/ASUS Xonar Essence STX/2(stereo)Inp. When I click on the input device tool bar it shows five entries for ASUS Xonar Essence STX. Output device shows one. MS sound mapper shows on both also and no other devices than ASUS. The five entries seems odd (part of prob?). I wonder how I can clear all but one. They might be due to the ASUS driver install/uninstalls I did. Don't know.

[steve]

It seems strange that the drivers are not reporting what each of those inputs is.
What inputs are reported in the Windows Sound Control Panel?

[tutr]

For playback and record, it only shows ASUS STX. IN advanced the mixer panel with the level sliders shows Asus STX and they all work. Use default checked. The five STX entries in Audacity make sense, they may be normal.

[steve]

Try setting Audacity to record from the "Sound Mapper" (using the Device Toolbar), then use the Xonar Audio Center to set the input to "Line".

[tutr]

I did that. Now the Line input setting on the sound card stays where I set it when I open and close Audacity.
Good.
Bad-now I have no audio in Audacity or the sound card. I think I'll shut everything down and try again tomorrow.

[tutr]

Here is what I did today:

Uninstalled latest ASUS STX drivers and installed drivers from install disc (older version). Probably not necessary. Audacity defaults to input driver "stereo mix" which selects the mic input not Line.
I expanded the Audacity tool bar for input, and now I see the full description of the drivers. I clicked on ASUS line in. It selected the sound card line input. I now get audio from the sound card line in to Audacity. The level is about -18 with the level sliders at max. I found out that some sound cards expect a "pro" line level of +4, not the standard level from most devices. I recorded a test MP3 file and it plays back without distortion. Then, I applied the AMPLIFY effect to bring the level up to -3, exported and played back. Louder but still ok.
SO...to sum up--you must select the correct driver in Audacity manually,the line level from the sound card is lower than expected, but can be fixed with AMPLIFY. I could JUST SCREAM!
I am going to make some test recordings from LPs to verify all is ok.
Anyway Steve, thanks so much for sticking with me on these problems. I appreciate your help.

[steve]

I expanded the Audacity tool bar for input, and now I see the full description of the drivers.

Ah ha! I thought that it must say which was which somewhere - it was just a matter of finding it

I now get audio from the sound card line in to Audacity. The level is about -18 with the level sliders at max.

That's a bit low,but you can probably get away with it.
Check the settings in both the Windows Sound Control Panel and in the Xonar Audio Center - you may find that you can tweak it up a little.
An ideal recording level is for a maximum peak level of about -6 dB (half the audio track height).

[Shaky]

Just a few points:

The level is about -18 with the level sliders at max. . . .Then, I applied the AMPLIFY effect to bring the level up to -3, exported and played back.

As Steve alludes to, if you do that you are selling yourself short by failing to capture the resolution available on vinyl, which subsequent amplification can do nothing to recover. You really need to have the source at a minimum of -12dB and I am sure this is possible if you persist.

Secondly it is almost always the best policy to use the latest drivers. From my own experience I have the Asus D2 which as I understand it is very similar to the STX except there is no headphone amplifier, and recently put it into a newbuild PC without expecting any improvement. To my surprise I found a Windows 8 updated driver on the Asus site and there is no doubt that the card now performs significantly better in terms of stability; I am delighted. However, I should mention I have never had any problems getting line in levels right--have you tried fiddling with the monitor buttons in the Asus control panel?

Finally, there is a small chance that your problems may stem from an increasingly corrupted Windows XP installation if you have been running it for many years. The whole thing simply degrades due to the registry based architecture of Microsoft operating systems, and as such you might consider either a reinstall of XP or a move towards a more modern alternative, especially if this allows you to use the latest Asus driver. Windows 8 really isn't anywhere near as bad as the mythology suggests.

[tutr]

I am using the latest ASUS stx driver for XP just before the current beta version. Tried that one too.
In the ASUS Xonar control panel, if I select MIX (mixer), the Line slider deselects and I get plenty of audio in Audacity, but it is distorted when recorded. The Line port gets switched to Mic, although the Mic slider does not show it is selected. If I select Line, I get the same level with the Line slider Monitor on or off.
When using the Line input on the sound card, what settings do you use in the Record/slider panel? You mentioned you had good luck. The computer is an HP 3ghz cpu 2gb ram with XP bought in 2006 and runs ok. But, programs have been added and removed over time, to what effect I don't know.

[tutr]

In the ASUS STX mixer panel (Record) I just tried selecting the Mic slider and shutting Mic Boost off. The monitor audio is distorted with Boost on, ok off. Can I use a line input with the Mic selected this way? There probably is an impedance mismatch, but the level shown in Audacity is about -6 now. The Line and Mic share the same port.
I will try a test recording.