Windows 7 recording volume problem

[neverfoundthetime]

Hi Dermot
I'm stuck between the Devil and the deep blue sea on this.
If I use the W7 drivers, I have the input volume problem.
If I use the older drivers Sigma Tel, I can use my inbuilt mic with crap sound quality or my mic jack which gives better quality but only records one channel not 2 (stereo).
But I can't get to good quality input sound in stereo on my mic array and input jack for decent recordings.

This Dell Inspiron 1525 has been a real work horse and was recording perfectly... until the crash caused by a VISTA automatic update. To save the day (only possible solution) I had to recover the data and strip the whole thing down and install Windows7. That has saved the day and given me a virtually new laptop... but little things do crop up. Cant' get my DropBox to sync on the desktop, for example and... this recording/sound problem. I can't revert back to what I had before, just the drivers, which I have done with the Sigma Tel sound driver.

I really appreciate all the thinking and ideas folks have suggested here... and I hope it may help someone else using W7.
At least I know that I've been doing all the right things and that my logical thinking still functions and that there is no obvious or easy answer I'm missing... and I'm not having to do it all alone in a dark room.

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks

[thereshopeyet]

Thanks

[tombo1230]

I realize this doesn't fix your underlying computer fault but, have you considered a digital in/out box for your recordings? In comparison computer or laptop sound boards are not that good for recordings, they introduce all kinds of noise and hiss. A USB digital box would normally input to your daw digitally, which makes it very good sound quality and as you play or sing it appears on your daw timeline. This may not be for you, but it is the best way for quality and it uses its own low latency drivers. Monitoring can be from headphones. Just a thought.

Tom N.

[neverfoundthetime]

Thanks to all the hitech detectives who have offered solutions... all our joint efforts lead to the realisation that its a driver compatibility problem which WIndows7 just isn't interested in. So it seems to be my bad luck (and that of the other 60'000 I found with the same problem). Obviously no biggie in the scheme of things for MS.

Looks like Tom is right here, the solution will be to have an external device for recording in future so the Tascam and Boss devices we've heard about from Buddy, Al, Dennis and others will probably provide the solution.

Thanks again for all the help and time and effort... and this may help someone else who comes across a similar problem.

Chris

[tombo1230]

neverfoundthetime wrote:

Looks like Tom is right here, the solution will be to have an external device for recording in future so the Tascam and Boss devices we've heard about from Buddy, Al, Dennis and others will probably provide the solution.

Chris

I was suggesting an analogue to digital interface between your mic and your DAW. I don't use the tascam or Boss, but are they not external digital recorders? In the interface scenario your computer is still the recorder, you are just using the interface as a very clean way of recording straight into your DAW without using your pc's sound card. You wouldn't need to import your sound to work with it afterwards, as it records straight in. Hope this explains.

[Hydroman52]

Hello Chris,

If I’m not mistaken, it’s the computer manufacturers’ responsibility to assure hardware compatibility with Windows software. A quick search of Dell support shows that the Dell Inspiron 1525 is listed on the “Dell Notebooks Tested for Basic Windows 7 Functionality”. Check it out here about half-way down the page:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/ ... egacy=true

The key word here is Basic, and notice that your computer isn’t in the list of “Dell Notebooks Compatible with Windows 7” listed at the top of the page. In a past life, I managed IT systems, and the Basic word means trouble. It’s the computer manufacturers’ way of saying not everything is going to work on your computer, and it’s old enough that new drivers aren’t being written to support the new software.

There might be more clues here that may help you with the problem. Dell has a “Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor” that is supposed to scan your computer prior to upgrading and provides recommendations on what to do before installing Windows 7. I don’t know if this will work after Windows 7 is installed. Scroll down the page listed above and you will find it. Use at your own risk if you decide to go that route. I would guess that it is going to tell you that your sound device isn’t compatible, and you need to buy a new computer (with a convenient link that takes you to the latest Dell computers for sale).

Honestly, I would start looking at the iPhone mic solution or a Digital Audio Recorder (I really like mine). Sounds like your old workhorse computer is still running good . . . . except this glitch.

Don’t mean to rain on your parade, but you may be walking in “old technology” land. My apologies if you’ve already run down this rabbit hole.

Hydroman52

[neverfoundthetime]

Tom:

I was suggesting an analogue to digital interface between your mic and your DAW.

What would be an example of such an interface, Tom?

Hydro: Yes, I think you have it exactly right... and I should slant my ironical remarks towards Dell. The Inspiron was built to run on XP and Vista. At least Windows 7 has saved me from buying a new computer but I have come to terms with the fact that its recording days are over and I'm looking at an external solution. Fact is Laptops are built to last you 3 years max and then even if its running fine, some sort of "up-date" or new OS (with compatibility problems) will force you buy a new one.

Another war story:
I got caught with my pants down with my old Mac. 12 years ago, I produced 3 large sized posters on the rules of squash and understanding the game and made some money on that as they are still, to this day, the only coloured graphically illustrated rules of the game available. I did the whole shabang alone including concept, graphics, text. No problem, I had the knowledge and just had to learn to use Illustrator and Photoshop. You should have seen me making the drawings of players with just a mouse in my hand, no fancy graphics pen! Anyway, 3 years ago I tried to access these old illustrator files to update them and re-release... and there was no way of getting the data off the Mac as I hadn't constantly updated my OS and hardware. Theoretically, it should still be possible, but everyone I've talked to so far hasn't come up with a solution. I'm guessing that if money were no objective, it is still possible... but very expensive!

[dennisg]

neverfoundthetime wrote:

... and there was no way of getting the data off the Mac as I hadn't constantly updated my OS and hardware.

I'm not understanding this. Why should you need to update your Mac OS or hardware in order to pull the data off the computer? Are you saying that the PC versions of Illustrator and Photoshop won't read the old files or that you can't even get the old files together with the PC apps?