Now I managed to turn on the input monitoring but it has quite a terrible latency (perhaps over 100ms.). The hiss is awful and only way to get something audible recorded is to tap the cover of the laptop. It seems that it still uses the internal mic even if the external signal source is connected to the mic input jack. Any idea of how the internal mic can be muted and can something to be done about the latency of input monitoring? Or should I just forget using SigmaTel and go for an external audio interface (such as EMagic EMI 6/2) of better qualty? It would be quite dissapointing if I have to do so, because the old Latitude C840 worked very well on audio recording with almost zero latency input monitoring (now I remeber, it had ESS maestro). I updated to D800 in order to have 2GB RAM (C840 was limited to 1 GB), but I just couldn't have imagined that the audio features would be downgraded!
I would like to know if anyone having SigmaTel C-Major and Latitude has succeeded to record line level audio connected to external input?
I got the same problem with my D500 which uses Sigmatel c-major..............I cannot hear nething when I plug my TV tuner card speaker cable to my mic. jack!!!
which aint cool, coz I cant record nething or inother words I can, but I cant record VIDEO + AUDIO!!!
Video only!:(
My previous Latitude C-800 never had such problems!!
did you try turning off the "microphone boost"
(volume controls / recording option / mic / advanced)
btw - do you know where the internal mic is?
unless its in the speaker assembly in the front
my only guess is the single hole next to the lcd peg near the base of the lcd
i just tested the sndrec32 (winxp) and w/ mic boost its got full sound (w/ int mic or ext) and when boost is disabled there was very little mic noise (int or ext) - d800 here
well, I jst turned the mic. boost off.........and yea I can hardly hear wuts coming out of my t.v card !!! and about the mic. I doubt this laptop even got a mic :p
seriously man......I tried once to talk throught the inbuilt mic. which i dnt even know where it is located and I ended up with a no voice conv.!!! I had to use an external mic.
D500 is good laptop but when it comes to sound system........things can not get any worse!!! I jst miss my old C-800 sound card and speaker!!!.
I agree with your comments about the Latitude D800. I currently am using one of these laptops and find it absolutely absurd that a system of this spec can not record a line level signal. I've searched for a solution to your problem, as I was trying to do a similar thing, and am yet to come up with anything to fix it. No I can't turn the internal mic off(via software) when recording either. The software and doc'o for the sound card is non existent, well anything of much value. I can't even find out if the mic in is a mono or stereo without pulling it apart or sticking a multimeter onto a plug.
The discussions of turning the boost off and recording at a lower input gain with a higher input signal does help but it still has enough background noise for me to call it unacceptable, not to mention the touchiness of trying to get the signal right at this level.
It all comes down to Dell having not included a higher voltage line level in to serve this purpose. Mic in's were never made to serve this purpose. I had a quick look at some other current Dell Laptops and they all seem to suffer from this fate. Maybe someone in Dell will wake up one day and realise people may use their Laptop for more than a Word and Powerpoint show and odd game and re-include the line in as I’m sure the SigmaTel chipset can support a line-in. Must have came down to cost, but I would have preferred to pay $10 more for them to have had this feature.
So I guess I’m off to buy a USB card, and a different Laptop next time.
I bought MOTU 828 MK II and it works fine with my D800 connected with Firewire. Anyway, Motu is a separate one unit rack device and it is not very handy to carry it around with my laptop. I only use Motu at my studio where it is permanenlty mounted to a rack. So, it still very much annoys me that I cannot record line-in signal with just D800 alone. Seems that only audio input is just a mono mic input. Another thing that annoys me is the un-professional quality of Dell support. I called to my local support (in Finland) and asked help for the stereo line-in recording problem and they just told me that they haven't had any previous complains about the problem. What they should have told me at first place is that D800 is not even capable of recording stereo line-in because it only has a single mono input jack. Quite odd that they didn't know that at Dell support. Well, I have been otherwise happy with my D800, but I think the lack of a stereo line-in port is really dissapointing because most of the laptops have had them as long as I remeber. D800 is the first laptop I've had that lacks it.
I saw your message from last May re problems with a SigmaTel Audio C-Major sound card. I'm also having similar problems listening to the audio input while recording.
In your second posting on the forum you seem to have solved this monitoring problem, but you don't say how. Could you let me know how you did it please - I've tried loads of things, with no luck so far.
ville2
7 Posts
0
March 5th, 2004 10:00
Now I managed to turn on the input monitoring but it has quite a terrible latency (perhaps over 100ms.). The hiss is awful and only way to get something audible recorded is to tap the cover of the laptop. It seems that it still uses the internal mic even if the external signal source is connected to the mic input jack. Any idea of how the internal mic can be muted and can something to be done about the latency of input monitoring? Or should I just forget using SigmaTel and go for an external audio interface (such as EMagic EMI 6/2) of better qualty? It would be quite dissapointing if I have to do so, because the old Latitude C840 worked very well on audio recording with almost zero latency input monitoring (now I remeber, it had ESS maestro). I updated to D800 in order to have 2GB RAM (C840 was limited to 1 GB), but I just couldn't have imagined that the audio features would be downgraded!
I would like to know if anyone having SigmaTel C-Major and Latitude has succeeded to record line level audio connected to external input?
Message Edited by ville2 on 03-08-2004 09:58 AM
Digitalchaos
5 Posts
0
March 9th, 2004 07:00
Cheer up...........ur not the only one!!
I got the same problem with my D500 which uses Sigmatel c-major..............I cannot hear nething when I plug my TV tuner card speaker cable to my mic. jack!!!
which aint cool, coz I cant record nething or inother words I can, but I cant record VIDEO + AUDIO!!!
Video only!:(
My previous Latitude C-800 never had such problems!!
freonchill
228 Posts
0
April 1st, 2004 02:00
(volume controls / recording option / mic / advanced)
btw - do you know where the internal mic is?
unless its in the speaker assembly in the front
my only guess is the single hole next to the lcd peg near the base of the lcd
i just tested the sndrec32 (winxp) and w/ mic boost its got full sound (w/ int mic or ext) and when boost is disabled there was very little mic noise (int or ext) - d800 here
Digitalchaos
5 Posts
0
April 1st, 2004 16:00
well, I jst turned the mic. boost off.........and yea I can hardly hear wuts coming out of my t.v card !!! and about the mic. I doubt this laptop even got a mic :p
seriously man......I tried once to talk throught the inbuilt mic. which i dnt even know where it is located and I ended up with a no voice conv.!!! I had to use an external mic.
D500 is good laptop but when it comes to sound system........things can not get any worse!!! I jst miss my old C-800 sound card and speaker!!!.
GlenCollins
1 Message
0
August 31st, 2004 05:00
I agree with your comments about the Latitude D800. I currently am using one of these laptops and find it absolutely absurd that a system of this spec can not record a line level signal. I've searched for a solution to your problem, as I was trying to do a similar thing, and am yet to come up with anything to fix it. No I can't turn the internal mic off(via software) when recording either. The software and doc'o for the sound card is non existent, well anything of much value. I can't even find out if the mic in is a mono or stereo without pulling it apart or sticking a multimeter onto a plug.
The discussions of turning the boost off and recording at a lower input gain with a higher input signal does help but it still has enough background noise for me to call it unacceptable, not to mention the touchiness of trying to get the signal right at this level.
It all comes down to Dell having not included a higher voltage line level in to serve this purpose. Mic in's were never made to serve this purpose. I had a quick look at some other current Dell Laptops and they all seem to suffer from this fate. Maybe someone in Dell will wake up one day and realise people may use their Laptop for more than a Word and Powerpoint show and odd game and re-include the line in as I’m sure the SigmaTel chipset can support a line-in. Must have came down to cost, but I would have preferred to pay $10 more for them to have had this feature.
So I guess I’m off to buy a USB card, and a different Laptop next time.
Digitalchaos
5 Posts
0
September 1st, 2004 00:00
ville2
7 Posts
0
September 1st, 2004 07:00
Message Edited by ville2 on 09-01-2004 12:00 PM
Will G
1 Message
0
November 17th, 2004 08:00
Hi Ville2
I saw your message from last May re problems with a SigmaTel Audio C-Major sound card.
I'm also having similar problems listening to the audio input while recording.
In your second posting on the forum you seem to have solved this monitoring problem, but you don't say how. Could you let me know how you did it please - I've tried loads of things, with no luck so far.
Thanks
Will G