I have recently started using Audacity software and a turntable to record 'OLD' LP's. When I run everything from my laptop, it works great. I bought a Compaq Presario and set everything up the same as the laptop, but when I click on the monitor output, I get nothing but noise. Not only that but the noise gets louder until the meters are max'ed out. While tryiong to play an LP I get nothing, no sound recorded. All the properties are set but I only have 2 settings for Input and Output. I am set at Line In and Line Out.
My question is, Do I need a sound card to run this application, and could this be my problem? The place I bought the PC from states that there is no sound card, only a sound chip.
Please help.
Monitor Input distortion
Forum rules
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
Audacity 1.2.x is now obsolete. Please use the current Audacity 2.1.x version.
The final version of Audacity for Windows 98/ME is the legacy 2.0.0 version.
Re: Monitor Input distortion
You've almost certainly got a motherboard sound chip. Most people would call that a Sound Card, but it isn't technically correct since the audio circuitry doesn't reside on it's own circuit board. As far as your operating system is concerned, you have a Sound Card (the two most popular models are the Realtek AC97 and the SoundMax Digital Audio chips).
By the nature of their design, motherboard sound chips are usually inferior to a PCI or USB/FireWire Sound Card, but they work adequately for the vast majority of computer users. The problem is that a motherboard is simply not a good place to put sensitive analog circuitry. So you won't get great results, but you should at least be getting something.
This is all assuming that there's nothing wrong with your motherboard, which might not be the case.
Your problem probably lies elsewhere. How is your turntable setup? Is it a USB model, or do you have an analog turntable plugged into a phono pre-amp/receiver? You will not be able to get good results plugging an analog turntable directly into your computer, so I'm guessing you've got one of the two setups I just described (since your laptop works fine).
Describe how you've got everything plugged together (also please let us know how the laptop setup works too). We can help you fix this but we need more info to go on.
By the nature of their design, motherboard sound chips are usually inferior to a PCI or USB/FireWire Sound Card, but they work adequately for the vast majority of computer users. The problem is that a motherboard is simply not a good place to put sensitive analog circuitry. So you won't get great results, but you should at least be getting something.
This is all assuming that there's nothing wrong with your motherboard, which might not be the case.
Your problem probably lies elsewhere. How is your turntable setup? Is it a USB model, or do you have an analog turntable plugged into a phono pre-amp/receiver? You will not be able to get good results plugging an analog turntable directly into your computer, so I'm guessing you've got one of the two setups I just described (since your laptop works fine).
Describe how you've got everything plugged together (also please let us know how the laptop setup works too). We can help you fix this but we need more info to go on.