Gigabyte/Sandy Bridge integrated sound help needed

[ignatzatsonic]

I am contemplating a Gigabtye motherboard for an upcoming Sandy Bridge build. I’m not certain which board I will use, but it will have Realtek ALC892 integrated sound.

I need to know specifically if these boards and that chip fully support “what you hear” aka “stereo mix” recording with Windows 7 64-bit.

For instance, can you go to Youtube and easily record whatever happens to play through your PC speakers or headphones?

This functionality was easily found on Windows XP but is noticeably less common with recent chips and Windows 7.

Please let me know which specific board you are using if you are able to record. And which specific Windows version.

Info on earlier Realtek chips such as ALC887 doesn't really help. I need to know about the ALC892 that is on the H67 and P67 motherboards.

I contacted Gigabyte support and got a less than clear response.

If integrated sound doesn't work, I'll have to look at discrete cards. The problem is, many of them don't support "stereo mix" either.

Thanks for any help.

 

[T101]

I have not found any such function with any sound chip/card in windows 7. For me to playback and then record it at the same time, I need two sound chips/cards. One for playback and one for recording. When microsoft made the sound into software (only hardware acceleration is OpenAL), they really broke some very useful features regarding audio.

 

[hclarkjr]

check these links out
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/784514-enabling-stereo-mix-in-windows-7/
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/39532/how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio/
http://computerszine.com/how-to-enable-stereo-mixmono-mix-in-windows-7
http://wannabegeek.org/how-to-news/330684-how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio
is that what you needed?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Thanks for the help, but I'm still looking for specific input on the current Gigabyte boards.

I know how to get this functionality going IF IT CAN BE DONE AT ALL with a particular sound card. You generally follow the methods described in hclarkjr's links above--show disconnected/disabled devices and make appropriate changes in Windows sound control panel.

If that fails, try as many different old drivers as you can find, try compatibility mode, etc. With some sound cards you will succeed in 10 minutes. With other sound cards, you will fail even if you spend 10 days trying.

The fact is for some sound cards none of that will work on Windows 7. It was much easier on XP and Vista.

If the above standard methods fail, you have two choices:

1: Buy a discrete sound card KNOWN to supply this functionality--possibly an external USB card. There aren't many of these out there--and I don't think that is an accident.


2: use a standard RCA cable to connect speaker outputs to microphone inputs.

I will use one of those workarounds if necessary.

But I'd like to know if I need a workaround and so I need to know of anyone who has had success with Gigabyte ALC 992 sound.

Any more input appreciated.

 

[Ross Ridge]

I am contemplating a Gigabtye motherboard for an upcoming Sandy Bridge build. I’m not certain which board I will use, but it will have Realtek ALC892 integrated sound.

I need to know specifically if these boards and that chip fully support “what you hear” aka “stereo mix” recording with Windows 7 64-bit.

According to the manual for the GA-P67A-UD4 (page 104) the drivers include support for "Stereo Mix".

 

[ignatzatsonic]

According to the manual for the GA-P67A-UD4 (page 104) the drivers include support for "Stereo Mix".

Ross:

Thanks for that. That notation also appears in the GA-H67MA-UD2H manual.

However, when I contacted Gigabyte support regarding stereo mix, the response was "it should work".

"Should" does not inspire my confidence.

I want to know if it "does" work, particularly under Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Does anyone have personal experience on this with any socket 1155 Gigabyte motherboard?

 

[Diogenes2]

I can check it out within the next couple of days on an Asus P8P67 Pro..
The chip should be implemented the same.
Perhaps someone else will beat me to it..

 

[beyoku]

Ross:

Thanks for that. That notation also appears in the GA-H67MA-UD2H manual.

However, when I contacted Gigabyte support regarding stereo mix, the response was "it should work".

"Should" does not inspire my confidence.

I want to know if it "does" work, particularly under Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

Does anyone have personal experience on this with any socket 1155 Gigabyte motherboard?

I have this board (GA-P67A-UD4) and i am using the inboard sound. I just put the computer together a little over a week ago.

If you can give ***step by step instructions*** of exactly what you want me to test, including what programs need to be installed to test it i can try it out as long as it is within reason and doesn't take hours of fiddling. I am running Windows 7 64bit. I also have regular crappy stereo speakers with nothing else plugged into the output.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Can I just use the built in windows recorder to test this? My P8P67 has the realtek ALC892 audio codec as well. If it works should I just be able to start up an mp3 or youtube video and hit record or is there usually more setup?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Beyoku and Slitherydee:

You should not need any other software. If it works, it's simply a matter of configuration and drivers. You can use Windows Sound Recorder to test it.

The general instructions are in the motherboard manual, toward the end. In the GA-P67A-UD4 manual, it is on page 104. Look at your manual, but the general instructions are:

Go to sound control panel, recording tab

Right click on any of the white space in that tab

Select "show disabled devices" or "show disconnected devices" if available

"Stereo Mix" should be shown as a choice if it wasn't already

Right click stereo mix and choose enable

Set it as default device

Use Realtek HD Audio Manager to set a recording level

You then should be able to go to Youtube and listen to something and record it through Windows Sound Recorder, save it, and immediately play it back. I think Windows Sound Recorder only lets you record for 30 seconds or something, but that is good enough for a test.

Above instructions are the best I can do without having a board myself and using only the manual. It may work and it may fail???

Any results appreciated.

 

[beyoku]

Beyoku and Slitherydee:

You should not need any other software. If it works, it's simply a matter of configuration and drivers. You can use Windows Sound Recorder to test it.

The general instructions are in the motherboard manual, toward the end. In the GA-P67A-UD4 manual, it is on page 104. Look at your manual, but the general instructions are:

Go to sound control panel, recording tab

Right click on any of the white space in that tab

Select "show disabled devices" or "show disconnected devices" if available

"Stereo Mix" should be shown as a choice if it wasn't already

Right click stereo mix and choose enable

Set it as default device

Use Realtek HD Audio Manager to set a recording level

You then should be able to go to Youtube and listen to something and record it through Windows Sound Recorder, save it, and immediately play it back. I think Windows Sound Recorder only lets you record for 30 seconds or something, but that is good enough for a test.

Above instructions are the best I can do without having a board myself and using only the manual. It may work and it may fail???

Any results appreciated.

Sorry for the delay.
Followed the instructions and it worked fine for me. One caveat being the recording level as far as the volume is depending on what volume level you are playing the content at.

In other words I had to turn the youtube volume all the way up to record in full volume while turning the sound to a whisper changed the recording to a whisper......all on the fly.
TY for the info because i will be using this in the future,.
Good luck with your purchase. Discaimer : Get someone else to verify though. It worked perfect for the though, with your instructions. The function [Stereo Mix] as you noted was pre-disabled.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Sorry for the delay.
Followed the instructions and it worked fine for me. One caveat being the recording level as far as the volume is depending on what volume level you are playing the content at.

In other words I had to turn the youtube volume all the way up to record in full volume while turning the sound to a whisper changed the recording to a whisper......all on the fly.
TY for the info because i will be using this in the future,.
Good luck with your purchase. Discaimer : Get someone else to verify though. It worked perfect for the though, with your instructions. The function [Stereo Mix] as you noted was pre-disabled.

Good job!!! I appreciate it.

You probably just pushed me over the edge to the point where I will order a GA-H67MA-UD2H. Even if I can't duplicate your success, I have a USB external sound card to fall back on (Behringer UFO-202).


Yeah--if you move the youtube volume up and down, it will affect the volume level of the recording. Generally, you don't want the level to ever hit the zero mark, unlike analog tape recording.

I think Microsoft deliberately hides that Stereo Mix functionality behind "disabled devices" for a reason. Sorry to say, on many PCs it will not show up even if you "show disabled devices". The net has a lot of posts on this and the resulting aggravation that was not there on previous operating systems.

Use Audacity for your future recording--great app and free.

Any other confirmation and comments appreciated.