I'm sorry if it sounds like that, but wouldn't you be slightly annoyed/bitter if you spent X amount on a new laptop then discovered it was missing a feature which is really standard, and necessary for your job?
I appologise if any offence was caused to yourself.
I did download it from the Dell site and installed it normally... I had that problem caused by the modem at first, but I resolved it. Now, even with the driver installed correctly, I cannot choose Stereo Mix as my MIDI output. (That's what it does... right? I hope I'm not looking for the wrong thing here.)
Back to the topic in hand... the driver for XP. I uninstalled the driver and tried reinstalling it... everything seems to install fine, but Windows pops up with a balloon in the lower right hand corner saying that there was an error... is there a way to see a log of this error? In my device manager, there's nothing wrong with the audio driver... sooooo... yea. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would really appreciate it.
***EDIT*** Okay, so I figured out why there was an error during installation. I remember when I was trying to resolve a problem with the speakers crackling, the Dell tech told me to remove the modem... so I replaced the modem and voila... it installed correctly. BUT!!! When I reinstalled the driver, modified the registry value for DigitalStereoMix and reboot, my audio doesn't work... device manager tells me that audio cannot be started. Anyone know what's going on?
Not sure what your doing, if your running XP theres no need for any regediting etc, just install the latest driver that includes stereomix off the Dell website, that should get it working for you along with sound.
Once again my appologies to usualobject0
If only they'd release the Vista driver now, can't take too long to make...oh its dell *sigh*
Thanks for participating in the discussion on the Notebooks Audio board. We don't always have the answer but usually have a good spirit of cooperation with each other so I hope you will continue to use the board.
As jehooverjr more or less said, the problem is not the Sigmatel audio chip on your motherboard, but that Dell has blocked some features of the chip through the inf files of the Vista version of the chip's driver. If you want more information about possibly altering the driver to unlock its features please start a new thread because the answer is too long and off topic for this thread.
You wrote, "... it has to do with my sound card-sigmatel. is it that i may need to update it?" You cannot upgrade the motherboard chip but you can get wave out if you use an external usb Soundblaster sound card.
HAHA! Wow. All this time, I was doing nothing. Thanks for the help, jehooverjr. What I was actually looking for was a way to make my MIDI output work in SONAR... I don't have any other option in the dropdown menu under MIDI playback in Audio. Any idea on how I can remedy that one?
I think you may be, from my understanding MIDI has nothing to do with stereomix,
Stereomix enables you to set the computer to record whatever (ie everything) that is played out of your speakers, In XP with the latest drivers it can be set by doing
To enable Stereo Mix:
1. Run Sounds and Audio Devices Properties from Control Panel
2. Click Audio tab, Volume (Sound Recording)
3. Click Options, Properties, Recording
4. Enable Stereo Mix slider, click OK
5. Select Stereo Mix as input device
I'm also glad that I have Stereomix now. Currently I'm using XP (I'll switch to Vista as soon as SP1 is released). I needed Stereomix, and was missing it.
But what I also need is Input Monitoring. Now, with the old driver I had Input Monitoring (after applying the registry-settings described in the FAQ).
With the new driver I have StereoMix, but the Registry"Hack" for InputMonitoring doesn't work anymore. When I change the settings as described, nothing happens.
No InputMonitor appears ater reboot.
I tried playing a bit with other settings, but it's no use. Nothing works (and sometimes the device can't be started).
How can I get both - Stereomix and InputMonitoring?
Your computer can use either a usb external sound card or an Express slot card that goes into the slot on the side of the computer, but the only express sound card I know about, the Creative X-Fi, does not have wave out according to reports from several forum members, and that is why I recommended a usb sound card.
There are different brands of usb sound cards but the Creative Soundblaster line has always supported wave out, which they used to call 'whatuhear', but I don't if the other brands do or not. You can find Soundblaster products locally at stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Office Depot etc., or online at stores like amazon.com and newegg.com:
This is a low cost but full featured usb powered card for 49.95:
Live usb
You would need to download the Vista driver from Creative:
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
I cannot know how each card will interact with your specific system so you should do more research at Creative's site and elsewhere if possible. Also, although this card had wave out (which Creative is currently calling it "wave/midi/cd") in XP, I don't know what changes if any they made in the Vista version of the driver. I would buy only from a store that has a return policy just in case.
I tried the external Creative Soundblaster soundcard on my Dell Inspiron 1520 Vista equipped without any success and ended up taking it back. Good advise to shop it locally!
I too ran out tonight and bought the Soundblaster Live 24 bit usb card hoping it did indeed have the full feature mixer. Sad to report, it does not have "whatuhear" or "midi/wave/cd" (stereo mix feature) enabled/available with Vista OS.
I ran across a thread in Creatives web site that said the updated Vista driver doesn't include the feature but if you use the driver on the included CD without updating to the newest driver the feature should be available. (Creative packages both an XP and Vista installation CD with Soundblaster Live). Long short of it is, neither the updated Creative web site driver or the drivers on the included installation CD give the "whatuhear" option. Thankfully, I bought it locally so will be able to return the product.
Way off thread topic but wanted to give you feedback Jim regarding your above question of this product.
Thank you as always for you help and information in these forums.
Thanks to both for that information and I'm sorry for giving out a bum steer. I'll stop recommending the Live! for Vista users but now I'm stumped. If you come across any card that supports wave out or whatever in Vista please keep us informed. Thanks,
jehooverjr
25 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 00:00
DinoCow
6 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 01:00
DinoCow
6 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 01:00
***EDIT*** Okay, so I figured out why there was an error during installation. I remember when I was trying to resolve a problem with the speakers crackling, the Dell tech told me to remove the modem... so I replaced the modem and voila... it installed correctly. BUT!!! When I reinstalled the driver, modified the registry value for DigitalStereoMix and reboot, my audio doesn't work... device manager tells me that audio cannot be started. Anyone know what's going on?
Message Edited by DinoCow on 01-03-2008 09:23 PM
jehooverjr
25 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 01:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 01:00
Thanks for participating in the discussion on the Notebooks Audio board. We don't always have the answer but usually have a good spirit of cooperation with each other so I hope you will continue to use the board.
As jehooverjr more or less said, the problem is not the Sigmatel audio chip on your motherboard, but that Dell has blocked some features of the chip through the inf files of the Vista version of the chip's driver. If you want more information about possibly altering the driver to unlock its features please start a new thread because the answer is too long and off topic for this thread.
You wrote, "... it has to do with my sound card-sigmatel. is it that i may need to update it?" You cannot upgrade the motherboard chip but you can get wave out if you use an external usb Soundblaster sound card.
Jim
DinoCow
6 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 02:00
jehooverjr
25 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 02:00
jehooverjr
25 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 02:00
1. Run Sounds and Audio Devices Properties from Control Panel
2. Click Audio tab, Volume (Sound Recording)
3. Click Options, Properties, Recording
4. Enable Stereo Mix slider, click OK
5. Select Stereo Mix as input device
DigiTalk
4 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 10:00
I'm also glad that I have Stereomix now. Currently I'm using XP (I'll switch to Vista as soon as SP1 is released). I needed Stereomix, and was missing it.
But what I also need is Input Monitoring. Now, with the old driver I had Input Monitoring (after applying the registry-settings described in the FAQ).
With the new driver I have StereoMix, but the Registry"Hack" for InputMonitoring doesn't work anymore. When I change the settings as described, nothing happens.
No InputMonitor appears ater reboot.
I tried playing a bit with other settings, but it's no use. Nothing works (and sometimes the device can't be started).
How can I get both - Stereomix and InputMonitoring?
Any Ideas?
Thanks a lot in advance!
DigiTalk
Message Edited by DigiTalk on 01-04-2008 01:02 PM
usualobject0
6 Posts
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January 4th, 2008 13:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
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13.6K Posts
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January 4th, 2008 17:00
There are different brands of usb sound cards but the Creative Soundblaster line has always supported wave out, which they used to call 'whatuhear', but I don't if the other brands do or not. You can find Soundblaster products locally at stores such as Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Office Depot etc., or online at stores like amazon.com and newegg.com:
Amazon's external sound cards page
Newegg usb sound cards page
This one might possibly work for you:
Live! usb 1.1 external soundcard:
This is a low cost but full featured usb powered card for 49.95:
Live usb
You would need to download the Vista driver from Creative:
http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/
I cannot know how each card will interact with your specific system so you should do more research at Creative's site and elsewhere if possible. Also, although this card had wave out (which Creative is currently calling it "wave/midi/cd") in XP, I don't know what changes if any they made in the Vista version of the driver. I would buy only from a store that has a return policy just in case.
Jim
gordo_la
3 Posts
0
January 4th, 2008 20:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
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13.6K Posts
0
January 5th, 2008 01:00
Jim
doveink
17 Posts
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January 5th, 2008 06:00
Jim Coates
4 Operator
•
13.6K Posts
0
January 5th, 2008 11:00
Thanks to both for that information and I'm sorry for giving out a bum steer. I'll stop recommending the Live! for Vista users but now I'm stumped. If you come across any card that supports wave out or whatever in Vista please keep us informed. Thanks,
Jim