Sound Card for Dell Dimension E521 Media Centre Edition

Hi Bohma,

For recording purposes, the on-board audio is definitely insufficient.

Your system have both PCI and PCI Express x1 slots, so you need to check inside the case to be sure you have an open PCI slot. Otherwise, that card should work. You may want to contact Creative or check their support site to make sure they have XP MCE drivers.

Thanks for the reply Osprey.  

I doubt if any of the PCI slots are being used.  As far as I can ascertain, I have integrated audio and video.  There are two blanked-off  aperatures on the back of my PC where cards should go.  I havn't opened the case yet.

I have downloaded a file from the Creative website which claims to include a driver for XP MCE.  Its an  .exe file.  

Should I run this program before I install the sound card or wait until my PC asks for a driver to run the 'new hardware' and then link to this file?  

I've never done anything like this before so please excuse me if my questions seem stupid.

One "gotcha".  ANY sound card you install, even if you bought one from Dell, will NOT interface with the front panel headphone and mic jack, due to the Dell proprietary connections.,

XP, MCE does not have any special or more issues with sound cards than any other Operating System.  I originally installed a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum EX sound card installed in my Dimension E510 with XP, MCE.  The card failed and I replaced it with a SoundBlaster Audigy SE and it worked flawlessly in XP, MCE.  I now have Vista installed on the E510 and it works flawlessly with Vista.  The only issue is no front panel headphone or mic jack but that is not a problem for me.  

Well I installed the sound card and the software today.  The difference in sound quality is amazing so I am very pleased with the playback quality boost I have achieved.

I also tried out some home recording but I just can't get the microphone level up so that it can be used  in laying down audio tracks.  I have ensured that it is connected to the correct port in the sound card and tried all the suggestions I came across through Googling to get it to work but to no avail.  

I did notice that there has been a problem with microphones and the the Dimension E521 in the past but I would have thought that by this late date it would have been sorted out.

Can anybody help out here?

If you are using a separate sound card, the microphone volume level is controlled by the sound card, not the PC. So, if you are having problems, the sound card and/or the software for it is where you need to start.  It's not a "PC" or "Dell" problem.

As you want it for "vocals and guitar" you are facing several issues with a PC sound card.  I am a musician and have a recording studio (I use Sonar recording software).  A standard PA type mic (e.g. a Shure SM58) does not produce enough volume level for a PC sound card, thus if you are using a standard PA type mic that is the reason.  You must run it through some type of preamp or a mixing board to bring it up to "line level" for the PC sound systems.  The same thing with a guitar signal which is considered "instrument level".  It needs to be brought up to "line level" to have a proper input level for a computer sound device (whether the Integrated audio or a separate sound card).   Actually the BEST option is to use a USB connected record interface device such as devices from MAudio, Focusrite, lexicon and several other companies.  Check out a two channel recording interface on sites such as www.musiciansfriend.com   www.sweetwater.com   etc.  an example of a recording interface, HERE is a Lexicon Alpha USB unit, about as inexpensive as you will find, $59.95 plus free shipping and free extended warranty.  It is two channels, one is for high impedence instrument (e.g. guitar) and the other is an XLR/microphone input, plus it has a headphone output.  Get that and the free Audacity recording program  Click Me and you are in business.

I installed a Creative Soundblaster X fi 0460.  It has made a huge improvement in the quality of audio playback.  Unfortunately, as another poster suggested, the 3.5m microphone and headphone sockets on the front of the PC no longer work.  I have a set of USB headphones and they also have stopped working through the USB sockets on the front panel although my camera is still recognised.

At the moment I am just using a cheap PC microphone which came from Dell.  I know that this works properly as I have used it in the past on this PC using Andrea Voice controller which came with the integrated audio from Dell.   I have also tried a Plantronics PC mic which is working and seems to be a lot better that the mic supplied with the PC. 

The problem is that the recordings are very muffled.  I have spent some time Googling the problem.  All the control panels that I can find for sound, including the microphone are maxed out including the 20db mic boost. 

I disabled the old integrated audio on the motherboard by pressing F2 just after installing the SoundBlaster Card.  I had already downloaded all the software and drivers from Creative but when I tried to install them after fitting the card, the installer went on the Internet and downloaded from Creative again.  The whole installation process must have taken about an hour.  I am therefore assuming that I have the latest software and drivers installed.  I have checked device manager and found no conflicts.

The strange thing about the situation is that the microphone seems to work normally when it is connected to the PC but I am not recording.  However, the gain seems to be far too high because the noise from just handling the mic comes through my speakers very loudly and it is very easy to get a screeching feedback noise if the mic is anywhere near the speakers.  I can speak and hear my voice through the computer speakers with the added reverb from the sound card. 

I even managed to make a recording with Creative software this afternoon just using my voice and the PC mic.  This worked and I was able to play it back through Media Player and the Creative Audio panel.   Two hours later, I tried to do the same thing and, again, the sound is muffled!  With other attempts, if I blow or tap on the mic, it records but when I speak, it does not record!  At the moment, all the sound controls on my PC are set so high that when I move my cursor around the screen or click on icons, I can hear various sounds through the speakers – this has never happened before!  Yet, again, if I try to record anything, the sound is muffled!   

I think there might be some kind of conflict in software settings.  The only other programs I can think of that I am using that might have an effect here are Audacity and WMP.

I’m sorry for the length of this post but I’m tearing my hair out here!

Thanks for the replies! Since my post I thought I might update my drivers so I went to the Creative site and clicked on automatic update. I did not think there was any point in this as I had downloaded the software for the sound card from Creative on Saturday but I was desperate. Lo and behold! it found seven new updates for my PC which I downloaded and installed - the mic now works! I am very annoyed that Creative did not download these updates on Saturday. After all, the install process led me to their website, so I would expect that any relevant software would have been installed then!                       Anyway it is now working :)

I was thinking about your past suggestion about using a preamp to bring up the signal from my guitar to line level. As I am only starting out on home recording I do not want to spend a lot of money on equipment and then find it is not for me. However, I did find this gadget by doing some Googling. www.behringer.com/.../UCG102.aspx

It seems that it might do the job for a beginner and it does not cost a lot. Do you think this would be a good idea?

My only reservation is that I am worried that it may not link into the sound card. Since installing the sound card the 3.5m microphone and headphone sockets on the front of the PC no longer work. I have a Plantronics USB headphone/mic set and this also seem to have stopped working through the USB sockets on the front panel although my camera is still recognised. So, it seems that the front USB ports still work for other devices but not sound?

Therefore, I am concerned that the Behringer device will not work through the front USB input.

The link for the Behringer unit im my last post does not work,,,,,,,,,,,,hopefully, this one will

 www.gear4music.com/.../8CT

That looks like it will work for the guitar, but it is only one port so it won't also work with a mic.  You need a two input device for that.  It also appears, from the description, that it may only work with the included software and not with any recording program.  More research is needed.  What I linked you to would be much better and probably not cost much more, and give you a "real" interface unit.  I don't know if they are available in the UK, though or if the site I linked you to would export.

DELL Dimension E521

• AMD X2 3800 (2.00GHz, 2x512K) 1 491.17 491.17

• 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 533MHz [2x512MB] Memory

• 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive  

• 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7300 Turbocache (1xDVI, 1xVGA, 1xS-Video)

• Audio Software Integrated Sound Blaster Audigy Advanced HD (disabled in the BIOS)

• Creative SB0460 sound card - recently installed

• Windows XP Media Centre SP3

I bought a Behringer Guitar Link – UGC102 – and installed the driver today.  This device has two ¼ inch sockets one for the guitar input and one for headphone output.  I managed to get it to work with Audacity but there are a few problems.

Firstly, the headphone output on the Behringer device is not working.  I can hear the signal from my guitar through my PC speakers via Audacity but there is no sound from the headphone socket on the device?  I have tested the headphones and they do work.

Secondly, I can hear the input from the guitar using Audacity but there is a huge amount of latency.  For example, I set up a click track in Audacity the other day to get rid of latency with my microphone and eventually established that there was a 129 ms delay.  (I set up a click track and then recorded it with my microphone). I was able to set Audacity to take account of this.

With this device there is 291 ms of latency.  Behringer claim that there is very little latency with their Guitar Link.  I was able to set Audacity to take this 291 ms delay into account and it worked. However, I still hear a huge delay through my PC speakers when recording in real time and this makes the device impossible to use.

I am not sure if this is relevant or not but I have a Creative soundcard SB0460 and the software includes ‘Audio Creation Mode’.  This does not recognise the Behringer Guitar Link Device.

There are so many sound control settings on my PC, what with all the different programs and sound settings in Win XP, that I am becoming very confused.

Please help!?

After some research on the net today, I found out the Audacity does not support ASIO drivers so I disabled the Behringer device in device manager and plugged it into a different USB port.  Windows managed to find software to run it.  The headphones are now working but there is still about a half second delay between when I play a note on the guitar and I hear it through the headphones.  I'm sure this can't be right?