Many Audigy’s, including the Audigy2 ZS, do not have a selectable Line-in, all they offer is analogue mix which, surprisingly enough, is a mix of all the analogue sources. Why do they do it like that? Bugger knows, but I suspect it’s to make you buy the Platinum Pro.
That’s on reason I was holding out till I get to work tomorrow. I need to see what’s on the work machine. I know it’s not the same as the C-Media, and I know it’s got some really odd stuff about it. In any case I’m also got one of those Audigy 2 USB models in a drawer. I can check that, too.
Control Panel Sounds and Audio Device Volume (tab) Advanced... (button - pops open the Volume Control)
Options / Properties (menu)
Adjust volume for (click the Recording radio button - it will default to Playback) Under Show the following volume controls make sure Line In is checked Click OK - The Properties will close and the Recording Control will open showing whatever devices were selected (somtimes there will be inouts listed there as well this lets you pass audio directly from the input to the output for monitoring - not all cards do that)
The devices will change from Playback (output) to Recording (input)
Click the Line In Select check mark
Selecting Line In with deselect any other device that is checked
On my machine if I were to choose C-Media for the input device in n-Tracks I will now get the audio from the Line In instead of the Wave output, which is the same as What You Hear on a Creative card.
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say... ITS NOT THERE. lol
I've been going there and checking every time as if it'll magically appear.. but no.
BTW howd you put those pics there? Every time I try it prompts for a URL.
Ok, I said it in my last post, but I'll say it again.
Many Audigy's, including the Audigy2 ZS, do not have a selectable Line-in, all they offer is analogue mix which, surprisingly enough, is a mix of all the analogue sources. Why do they do it like that? Bugger knows, but I suspect it's to make you buy the Platinum Pro.
But, that can be frigged by shorting pins 25 to 35 on the aux connector which fools the card into thinking it is a platinum pro, or use KX drivers or summat. The hardware is there, it's just Creative being assholes.
But, if you don't have a platinum, and you do have a later Audigy, then you can hunt till the cows come home, but you won't find a Line-in fader, not with Creative drivers anyway.
Visit the Audigy forum on DriverHeaven.com for more info.
Anyway Mod, what is your hardware setup? Are you just trying to plug the geetar straight into your soundcard? Or are you going through a very necessary impedance/level matching thingy?
Also, the line-in is stereo, unlike the mic-in which is mono, so hence different pin connections. So, your mini-jack is wired correctly one assumes?
'Cos if you're using a mono jack, with signal on tip, then you'll only get one channel, and if that's not the channel that the VST is using, you're buggered!
And that's an annoyance I have on Guitar Rig, it always defaults to the left channel as input, but my signal is wired on the right channel!
Ali
I'll check driver heaven..
My setup is this:
Pentium IV 3.2 GHZ CPU 1 GB ram N-Track 4 SB Audigy
Guitar (Bass actually) goes direct into Mic. It's a $3600 Modulus bass with NTMB active pickups where each Bartolini pickup has it's own preamp. it's an 18volt system. Honestly for this, I need no prepam or pluging for.. it sounds SWEET direct in. The crap sounds come from plugging a passive guitar direct in... UGH.
I just wish I could get the line-in working so I can hear the difference.
Okay, yeah… It’s “analog mix” that I need to plug up to. I’m not sure I notice a hunge sound quality difference though, but at least its working… Now to figure out why It all clips so badly… Hre’s the thing:
If I cut the levels for recording down, then I get a quiet recording of my instrument. Not a bad thing, but to get it to a normal listening volume, I just wind up cranking the track volume up. Then it clips. So I set it back to “normal” then compared to a normal retail CD (not talking about quality) the volume is less than 1/4.
Compression dosen’t seem to help, and limiting either, both just seem to completely screw up the tone and dynamics of the track. All my songs are eather set so you have to crank the stereo to full volume to hear them, or they clip like MAD on the more aggressive parts…
I’m pretty sure Ali has it right and it’s not here because Creative is being creative.
What’s the exact model of your Audigy? I have access to a few different ones. If as Ali said some models do expose the line-in separately and some don’t then what I have in my work machine might be just as different as the C-Media is.
For example, I have a full retail version and a Dell OEM version of the “exact same card Audigy 2” yet the OEM version has no MIDI input at all - the pins aren’t even soldered onto the circuit board so nothing can see them – the software doesn’t see it so the MIDI in devices are grayed out. Both cards have the same chip, so if the pins were connected MIDI in should work, unless Creative also zapped it intentionally during manufacturing. There might be other differences, but that one hit me in the face.
I don’t have any suggestions about the level and clipping problems, but my first thought is that it’s related to using something other than the line input…that’s not a very useful thought at the moment.
About the latency: with a good soundcard running ASIO or WDM drivers and a reasonably fast processor and hard drive you can get the latency down below 10 ms which is roughly when it becomes useable. Ideally you'd want it below 5 ms.
The latency of 10 ms is actually very good value when playing electric guitar. Even if you'd triple that it would be still very much usable.
Sound happens to travel thru air at the speed of around 300 meters per second. In 10 milliseconds (=one hundreth of the second) the sound travels around 3 metres (10 ft). That means if you'd like to get 5 millisecond latency in real life you should stand with your ears 5 ft away of your guitar cab.
It's strange that latency is considered as a problem only in computer world. I haven't heard anyone complaining that playing guitar would be essentially harder with a 20 or 30 ft guitar lead...
Okay, yeah… It’s “analog mix” that I need to plug up to. I’m not sure I notice a hunge sound quality difference though, but at least its working… Now to figure out why It all clips so badly… Hre’s the thing:
I’m glad you got it sorted. Without trying to be rude, this was suggested to you on the first page of this post by Ali. Folks here can only help if you try what is suggested - two more pages of wasted effort. Anyway, not trying to have a dig - just a suggestion really.
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If I cut the levels for recording down, then I get a quiet recording of my instrument. Not a bad thing, but to get it to a normal listening volume, I just wind up cranking the track volume up. Then it clips. So I set it back to “normal” then compared to a normal retail CD (not talking about quality) the volume is less than 1/4.
Compression dosen’t seem to help, and limiting either, both just seem to completely screw up the tone and dynamics of the track. All my songs are eather set so you have to crank the stereo to full volume to hear them, or they clip like MAD on the more aggressive parts…
Aha! It ain’t easy is it. What I suggest is that you record your tracks as hot as you can without clipping. If you need more volume to hear yourself play, or to raise the playback volume, turn your speakers up. Don’t try to get more volume out of n-Track.
As you add more tracks you may need to drop the levels of the recorded tracks to stop clipping.
Do your mix at whatever volume it comes out as. Try to get it loud without clipping - but if you need more volume… turn your speakers up, not n-Track. THEN…
Then… once your mix is done, you need to MASTER your tracks to get them loud compared to commercial CDs. This can be really difficult and takes a lifetime of learning. Which is why mastering engineers are held in such high esteem. Then again, a little bit of work with a compressor or two, and a limiter may get you acceptable results.
Unfortunately, I can’t post the image from work. The firewall won’t let me through via FTP right now.
What I see is that on an Audigy 2 ZS, Audio Mix (Line/CD/Aux/TAD/PC) is what you want. Sounds like you found it.
Of Line, CD, Aux, TAD and PC only Line is available externally. The rest are connectors on the internal circuit board lined across the top, at least on mine.
There is also another mixer Recording device, marked Line 2/Mic 2 They map to breakout box in the drive bay - in the front of the machine. They can cause a lot of confusion if you looking for “Line In” and see that.
is a mix of all the analogue sources. Why do they do it like that? Bugger knows, but I suspect it's to make you buy the Platinum Pro.
