[Starman01]

Hey there,

just another small Starman problem I need to record something for a friend, but I can't figure out the problem. My voice is just crackled and cruel. And no, not in real life, just the recording

A few days back I made a better recording, but it was still that bad, so I tried a few bits and pieces, but it's only getting worse, and I can't go backwards too

Currently it sounds like this :

click and listen to me

This is recorded with audacity 1.3 beta, but it also sounds this way when I record it with the simple vanilla windows audio recorder, so I guess it's more a hardware setup problem. The file sounds so, before even saving, so it's not really a save decoding thing either.

The headset I'm using is just a cheap noname, but I was using it 6 months back for team speak and it seemed to work fine (had XP there though). Now I'm running W7 64 bit home premium, 8 GB Ram. my Soundcard (where the Mic is plugin) is a soundblaster audigy 2 zs. The driver should be the most uptodate one.

Does anyone have an idea, where I need to repair or proper setup the mic ? The recording I have to do is quite important.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks in advance

Cheers
Starman

[jr2]

You could try looking for other drivers here (PAX drivers) or here (kx Project drivers)

[Starman01]

Thanks JR2, it helped a bit. The voice recording is a bit cleaner after the driver install, but the crackling sound is still in the back, it's just not so much obvious anymore, but it still destroyes the recording quite a lot....
Using the windows audio recorder isn't working anymore, it's extremly silent (though recorded) but hard to tell if there is some disturbance.

I can't get it, why a new OS is so much incapable of making good recordings, it's not so that I'm entering a technology state for mankind with that.....

Any more ideas ? Maybe better software, sound setups, mic setups ? Please help....

(edit) just found something in audacities options. Under recording, there was something called "latenz correction", which seems to create some backwards draft, when set below zero, and the default was "-130". I set this to zero now, and the quality is improved. I think I can record with that.

Still, any good recommandation for good sound recording software would be appreciated.

[jr2]

Hmm...

http://www.google.com/search?q=audigy+2+zs+recording+windows+7+64-bit+crackling

2nd result purports to have an explanation of and a solution to your woes:

http://forums.techarena.in/hardware-peripherals/1403212.htm

(Apparently caused by W 7 64-bit & more than 4GB RAM, but there is a supposed solution @ the bottom of the thread.)

[Starman01]

Really big thanks for this, that was definitly the problem. When you have 8 GB in the machine, the microfone-in is completly borked. When I break it down to 4 Gb in msconfig and reboot, everything works fine. What a crap 

[jr2]

The fix mentioned at the end won't make it work w/ 8GB?  It claims to.  EDIT: By "changing the speaker setting"... sorry, but his English isn't native..

[Starman01]

I'm not sure, I have to try it. But I thought, that this speaker switching is also just a temporary measure...

[jr2]

I wish there was a way to limit the amount of memory pages that the only the driver sees so that the rest of the os and software can use the rest of the memory.

[pecenipicek]

my advice? if you have an integrated audio card on a mobo, use it. i havent had any luck with my audigy 2 zs and mic's in these 2 years i've been using it with x64 windaz...


not even with kx drivers. and i've sent those to hell cuz they dont work the way i'd like em to. settings not sticking over reboots, crackling all the time, even after i increased the buffers, nothing worked.

so out with the bad, in with the worse, creative's drivers. which at least work in a respectable fashion. even if the lack of arbitrary output port assignage is a bit jarring.

[Davros]

try setting recording device to "what you hear"
also microphone properties +20db boost

[pecenipicek]

try setting recording device to "what you hear"
also microphone properties +20db boost

as an fyi that wont do **** with crackling.

[Starman01]

Well, my 2 ZS works actually fine in W7 64 bit, expect for this tiny little problem. Fiddling around with the speaker doesn't help at, the only thing that helps is setting msconfig to let Windows only use 4 GB of Ram, then the recording sound is smooth as hell.

And just like mentioned in the forums, why should creative give a **** about that, they rather want people to buyer newer cards. But I don't see the reason yet, because the Audigy 2 ZS is actually very good. I plays very nice wind, water and other sounds, I'm pretty sure the differences to "better" cards are only noticable in lab conditions, but certainly not that much for normal ears. It's also a matter of having expert speakers then. Just a waste of money, if you ask me. I have two huge speakers, and therefore fine sound with my old card.

I can live with a few rebootings from time to time, it's currently only a "private" project where I need the mic anyway.

[pecenipicek]

i'm telling you, if you have an integrated audio card, use it for mic's. i'm pretty happy with my audigy as-is too. except for the mic. its the only ****ty thing.

[Starman01]

Well, I have an integrated card on the MB of course, but I have deactivated it over the bios. Doesn't it conflict in other programs, when I re-active that ? Sounds a bit too me, like I would rather create more problems when doing so. In that case, some reboots are less troubling...

Not sure how it will turn out, or if I can activate the mic line-in  alone 

[pecenipicek]

i have an realtek 881c on my mobo running side by side with the audigy, and being used only for the mic. you might have to change the default output device back to audigy after you reactivate it.

and set the default input device to be realtek's mic input.

i havent had a problem in that way in more than a year i've been running it that way. with or without realtek's drivers.

(i occasionaly also use the realtek for the headphones, since i cant be arsed to convert the front panel wiring to audigy's ass-over-backwards header. i might eventually, but for now, **** no.)

in any case, you wont lose anything if you try.

[Starman01]

you might have to change the default output device back to audigy after you reactivate it.

Ah, and that's how games and other programs know which one to use ? Thanks for the info, I will try that

[pecenipicek]

you might have to change the default output device back to audigy after you reactivate it.

Ah, and that's how games and other programs know which one to use ? Thanks for the info, I will try that

pretty much, yeah.