Windows Vista Vista Sound Audio Problem

I do a lot of karaoke from my computer, so I use audacity and wavepad sound editor for everything. Okay, I had an acer laptop from the travelmate series, and I used that to record just fine. I would play the mp3 of the instrumental, and sing using my microphone on my headset or a computer plugin mic. It recorded both the internal sounds coming from my speakers/headset; which would be the mp3 instrumental, and it would record my voice coming through the microphone at the same time. This laptop had windows xp home edition.

I am now using an Acer Extensa 5620Z, and the operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium, and it won't allow me to record through audacity, wavepad sound editor, or any other device that way. It only lets me record through the mic if I place it on microphone, and the playback sounds like I'm singing and gargling. If I put it on stereo; which is what I usually use to record both at the same time, then it only records the internal sounds from my speakers; which is my mp3 instrumental.

My brother has tried everything to get it working, even down to updating sound drivers; which it said we had the most update realtek had to offer right now, and then we've tried downloading AC'97 sound drivers and installing them. Now when I put it on stereo when I start the instrumental it repeats the same beginning tune as if the record got stuck.

Is there any way possible to fix this at all? I heard recently that Vista doesn't really have good sound drivers so it's hard to record like you could with XP so if there is no fix for it, is there any software or electronics I can buy to do recording like that of which I have mentioned above? If so, could you please tell me how or what I can buy so I can get this fixed, and get back to my recordings, please? It would be nice to get back to it, as soon as possible though.

Thank you so much for future help.

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,

Are you using the original Acer installation of Windows (for example, your brother hasn't installed a different version)?

You should find two audio icons in the Notification Tray. Have you checked the settings and tests in those? Check the information in the laptop's manual about audio, I am not completely sure about laptops, but on desktop computers you can configure the output/input connectors differently depending on what is being connected. However, if you have modified the original system by installing a different set of drivers (not actually drivers, but the software...audio manager...that goes with them), you might have the wrong software. I would only use drivers/software from Acer, if they were installed from another source, they could be the wrong ones for your computer. Something has changed and it doesn't seem to be for the better.

Can you play ordinary MP3's using the audio for playback only? Are you connecting the microphone at the same time as the problems occur?

You/your bother have looked for more and more updated drivers. Have you run the uninstaller before installing the new ones? The uninstaller should be in Control Panel -> Programs and Features. At least run that uninstaller, then try the drivers/software offered at the Acer website. That might put you back in the original situation, but start again from there.

Matt

 

Hi Matt,


Thanks for the warm welcome. Yes, I am using the original Acer installation of windows. I have Service Pack 1 installed. I haven't installed any other versions of Vista. We got it from the pawn shop in february, but it's never been able to record, and play at the same time. We've tried redownloading the sound drivers for vista at the Acer site, and even tried the xp sound drivers at Acer. Neither worked though, so we uninstalled the xp ones. But I can listen to all MP3s, and watch videos just fine.

What happens is when I had my previous Acer with XP I was able to hook up my microphone, and use wavepad sound editor, and audacity to record. I would open media player, and start up an instrumental of Mariah Carey, and press play, but at the same time I'd hit the record button in Audacity with the drop down menu set to stereo, and it would record the instrumental as it played from my computer, and my voice while I sang into the microphone. Then if I didn't want to use the music, I would set audacity to microphone in the drop down menu, and it would just record my voice.

But with this Acer that has Vista it won't let me do that. Whenever I start the instrumental, and hit record it's nothing but loud static, and it won't even record the instrumental. I read that Vista has a problem with that sort of thing, that the sound/audio drivers aren't as good as XP. I was hoping to find a way around this so that I can be able to record my songs again.

But to answer all of your questions, I'll try to answer them properly. ^__^


Yes, I am using the original installation, neither of us installed a different one.

My brother has repeatedly checked both settings in the two audio notification tray even by going through the control panel.

Yes I can play ordinary mMP3's just fine. Yes, the problem occurs whenever I try to record my voice through the microphone while recording the instrumental using stereo settings at the same time.

Yes, we both looked, and we checked Acer, and he even went through dxdiag, and the control panel to update the sound drivers manually, but it said we already had the up-to-date sound/audio drivers for my laptop, and that there weren't any current upgrades for it available.

We don't know what to do anymore, so now it's just me working on this problem, and I'm stumped. I really hope I will be able to get some help. ^^

 

If you can't find any signs of improvement, I suggest you go back to basics and start again.

Uninstall Audacity and Wavepad, they might be stopping the correct drivers from being installed or one of them might be causing it.

Uninstall the audio drivers/software. Before you install new ones, see if updated chipset drivers are available and install those.

After you install a good set of audio drivers, test the microphone for basic function before installing the editors (each step of the way).

I don't have much experience with microphones, so do some searches of the BBS for something you may have missed.

If all else fails, you might want to consider getting a PCMCIA (Express) audio card or USB audio device.

Matt

 

Hi, I found out it's maybe not the drivers. Someone said that there isn't any software that supports vista's sound drivers yet so that's why it doesn't play right with the other things. But they told me to create a new track and record my vocals onto it. When I arm the second track and press "record ", the mp3 should play back while I record. Which it did, but while it was recording I couldn't actually hear it, I could only hear my vocals.

But then when I pressed play to hear what it recorded I could hear the instrumental just find blending in with my vocals. But of course you know I can't record that way because I can't hear the music while I'm recording which means the timing, and everything will be off. Is there a way to fix that instead so that I will be able to hear the track as I record? Thank you very much for your help so far.

 

As I said, I don't have any experience with microphone, but as my profile will tell you, I ask myself how I would start trying to solve the problem

Have you read all you can in Help and Support about audio and recording?

Something I forgot to mention before. Find the executable program for the third party programs (right-click and select Properties in their Start -> All Programs listing). Right-click on the .exe and select "Run as administrator ". (Help and Support has instructions.)

Something to check. Has User Account Control (UAC) been turned off? Vista (more likely the programs) is made to work with it enabled, so try turning it back on.

Look at what player (eg Windows Media Player) is doing the playback of the instrumentals. It is a little complicated for me with so many programs involved. Can you try "recording" the instrumental without including the vocals, then try to see why they are not mixed?

Matt

 

The playback is being done in wavepad sound editor and audacity. I record my vocals in there while the instrumental plays in winamp.

I use both winamp and wavepad sound editor (Or winamp and audacity). I use winamp to play the instrumental, and audacity (or wavepad) to record my vocals. So usually I hit the play button on winamp and then the record button on audacity so that the instrumental gets recorded with my vocals. But when I do that now I can't hear the instrumental while it's playing. Once I hit stop on both and playback my recording the instrumental is recorded on it just fine.

I tried doing exactly what you said, and still the exact same thing happens only I can hear my vocals with the instrumental during playback. But of course you know this won't work because I can't record the song properly if I can't hear the instrumental as I sing.

I really do appreciate you trying to help me with this even though you probably are having a really hard time understanding me, lol.