Microphone feeding through to speakers

[TheJTrain]

Weirdness here - using a SBLive on an ECS mobo, my speech into the microphone never fed through to come out of my speakers. Using the same SBLive card on a new Chaintech mobo, it always feeds through and comes out my speakers!

As far as I understand, you can control this using the "Play" volume controls and the "Record" volume controls - check the "Select" checkbox under microphone on the "Record" controlpane to enable the microphone, and check the "Mute" checkbox under microphone on the "Play" controlpane to prevent the "in" mic signal from coming out of the speakers. Problem is, with the settings like this the system doesn't recognize any input into the microphone! If I uncheck "Mute" then I can record speech, etc., but it all comes through the speakers as well!

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Jason

 

[corkyg]

When recording, mute the speakers.

 

[TheJTrain]

Trouble is, the thing I use the microphone for the most is during gaming - Game Commander, TeamSpeak, etc. So I need to be able to have the speakers on while using the microphone, but prevent the microphone data from coming through the speakers! It's really frustrating 'cause I'm sure I had it working correctly before, but now I can't seem to make it work.

Jason

 

[DaSaint]

Try Updating ure Drivers for the SBLive, also does this Mobo have Onboard Sound? if so make sure its all disabled within the bios. i have heard of some problems comming from 2 sound cards being active in the system. also make sure ure not plugged into the Line In on the SBLive. that could do it too...

 

[Slikkster]

Yes, look in your Control Panel Sound applet and see which device is controlling "Recording".

Also, if you have a game-specific audio control panel, make sure the mic is not set for your previous soundcard/chip.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

You need to mute the microphone input in the PLAYBACK Windows audio mixer, otherwise the audio feeds through.

 

[TheJTrain]

DaSaint: I went back to Creative.com and verified that I already had the most recent drivers downloaded and installed (LiveDrvUni-Pack(ENG).exe 23,879kb dated 2/28/2003). Good idea about the onboard sound - I disabled it in the BIOS but it didn't change anything. I also verified that the mic was plugged into the right port.

Slikkster: Yes, there's only one audio device listed, the SBLive. I don't have any game-specific audio control panels.

FlyingPenguin: But when I mute the microphone in the Playback control mixer, it doesn't even recognize the input from the mic at all, even if I have the microphone selected in the Recording control mixer. That's what's frustrating - the settings are correct, it's not working like the settings are telling it to.

I searched the Creative message boards and knowledge base and even found this thread that describes exactly my problem. A user suggested what you and I already know (mute the Playback of the microphone), the Creative Admin agreed that that was how to fix it - but it's not working for me. I even tried uninstalling the Creative drivers, rebooted, let Windows install the drivers it had, and guess what? It worked correctly. I re-installed the Creative drivers (the only set available on Creative's website, dated 2/28/2003), and it's back to not working correctly.

Very frustrating.

Thanks for the noble attempts,
Jason

 

[Slikkster]

You unearthed an old Creative thread, so don't know how much help you'll get there. Plus, unfortunately people mucked up the thread with other unrelated problems.

A couple of things to try:

Have you ever used a program called "Driver Cleaner"? It's helpful in that it identifies old registry entries for software that's been uninstalled and removes those strays. It would be worthwhile to give it a go. You would first uninstall your current SBLive drivers. Then run Driver Cleaner Pro. See if it finds any old Creative stuff, and remove it. Then, do the reinstall process (after a reboot).

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745

Also, the Creative cards always come with other applets that can modify sound, like the AudioHQ, etc. Doublecheck to make sure you have absolutely no other processing going on that might affect the mic downstream from your mixer settings. You know what I mean, like sound effects, EAX, etc., from the Creative applets. Turn all of that off.

Are you using the Windows mixer applet or the Creative mixer applet to adjust the mic?

Try the one you haven't used.

Try turning off mic boost.

Try doing counter-intuitive stuff, like muting the CD instead of the mic in playback, or selecting a different device instead of the mic in the record section.

Lower the fader gain on the mic.

How about your speaker output wiring? Is this a 5.1 SBlive, or just a stereo out, Aux in, Mic in? You might have the speaker cable going to an output that works, but cross-connects to other sources.

There's always something else to try, as they say.

 

[TheJTrain]

I have indeed used Driver Cleaner but for some reason I thought it was only made for video card drivers - had no idea it cleaned audio drivers as well. I'll give that a try when I get home from work tonight, as well as some of the things you suggest. To answer your questions: the Windows mixer applet mirrors the Creative mixer applet, so making a change to one changes the other; I've tried it both ways. It's a 5.1 SBLive, and I'm using the digital minijack output to drive my Creative FPS2000 sub and speakers.

 

[daines1]

With my SB Audigy2 I was having similar problems. When using TS to talk with friends, they could hear my game noises and not my voice sometimes. Something was wrong.

In the control panel there is an option that can say "What U Hear" or something like that. I had to change that to "Mic" and the sound problems went away.

This may not even be what you needed help with, but I thought I would throw it out there too you.

daines1

 

[Snatz]

Anyone know how this worked out? I'm having the identical problem with a X-fi Platinum edition.

 

[TheJTrain]

Never did get it figured out - ended up trying the onboard audio on my Chaintech NF4 Ultra - works like a charm, so my old (not-so-)faithful SBLive is gathering dust.