Need Sound Card with "What U Hear"

[Texun]

Can someone recommend a basic sound card that will give me the "What U Hear" or "Stereo Mix" option for recording? I have a spare Audigy SE but the drivers for Vista 64 do not support WUH. I've Googled and found that other cards refer to the option as "Stereo Mix." Whatever it's called I don't have it.

I've tried the "show all disabled" option under the card settings and the feature is not there. I also read on Google that Creative stopped offering the option with the SE so I guess they were right.

I don't need anything high end but I would like something to do 2.1 that's better than on board audio.

Running Vista 64 with an open PCI and PCIE slot.

Thanks.

 

[mpilchfamily]

As far as 2.1 sound goes the onboard audio will match anything any sound card will offer. If you where in need of better qulaity because your an audiofile then get a descreat sound card. Otherwise stick with the onboard audio. You won't really notice any differnce anyway.

 

[Texun]

I noticed a difference between the on board and the cheap Audigy SE. The on board had a lot more noise and a less definition - even with a cheap gaming headset.

 

[mpilchfamily]

How old is you old motehrbaord?

There have been allot of improvment with onboard audio over the past 3 to 5 years.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
How old is you old motehrbaord?

There have been allot of improvement with onboard audio over the past 3 to 5 years.

I've had it for a little under 2 years and I read that some OB audio does pretty well. I also have a couple of Gigabyte 780 and a 740 boards and the OB audio seems fine for what I need, but I don't think the crappy audio on my M2N is my imagination. The Audigy SE has more punch thn the OB audio. I just can't use Audacity with the SE unless I jumper the back of the card with a stereo cable. I'm not sure that will work but I read where someone tried it and said it did.

Thanks.

 

[jackschmittusa]

I use an old Audigy (not SE, was a "gamer" I think) in a rig with XP for recording vinyl and tape with Audacity 1.2.6 (analog mix selected) and Magix Audio Cleaning Lab. Never tried it with Vista though.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
I use an old Audigy (not SE, was a "gamer" I think) in a rig with XP for recording vinyl and tape with Audacity 1.2.6 (analog mix selected) and Magix Audio Cleaning Lab. Never tried it with Vista though.

I have an old Audigy Extreme Audio that I bought a few years ago after finding a thread in here about some steal deal. The card was relatively cheap and I think it may have been an OEM card for HP. HP downloads wouldn't work. The Creative downloads would install but many of the features were disabled. It required some tweaking and custom software pack to work under XP, but I haven't been able to get anywhere near the same function in Vista. That wasn't a big problem until I tried to get the mic working. What a PITA that was. I switched to the ASUS OB sound and it worked fine but lacked the punch. I then switched to the Audigy SE and the punch was back (sort of) but the "What U Hear" and stereo mix options were gone. It seems that MS or Creative put the screws to it.

I was hoping to find a card with a similar sampling rate and S:N as the Audigy that would allow a WUH or similar function to use with Audacity. I can buy another Audigy but would rather stay away from Creative if other options could be found.

Save your drivers! During a Google search I read that the WUH option no longer worked with newer drivers. I don't remember if this was specifically related to new drivers for XP or new drivers for Vista, but New+Vista= screwed for the WUH and stereo mix option. I have checked the audio properties several times to verify that "show disabled" is checked and they just aren't there.



Thanks!

 

[jackschmittusa]

Thanks for the tip on the drivers. I'd guess that 90% of what I do on that rig is record and burn. It always works as expected, so I never upgrade anything but the AV software.

It's a cheap Asrock mb with built in everything, an X2 5000BE oc to 3.2, 4gb ram, 2 dvd burners, 320gb hd, Audigy sound card, Antec Tru430 psu, put into an old Inwin full tower case. Works great for my audio and (meager) video needs, so it will be a long time till I change anything.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: jackschmittusa
Thanks for the tip on the drivers. I'd guess that 90% of what I do on that rig is record and burn. It always works as expected, so I never upgrade anything but the AV software.

It's a cheap Asrock mb with built in everything, an X2 5000BE oc to 3.2, 4gb ram, 2 dvd burners, 320gb hd, Audigy sound card, Antec Tru430 psu, put into an old Inwin full tower case. Works great for my audio and (meager) video needs, so it will be a long time till I change anything.

Hey that's a good overclock!

I looked for the page that mentioned the specific driver issue so I could post it in here but couldn't find it again. Creative's driver page only mentions that it won't work but they don't provide any details about a fix or possible update. I dug up an old Aopen Cobra 850AW sound card out of the closet and partially solved my problem. The mixer works and I can now record WUH with Audacity but the quality isn't that great. At least everything works as it should, which sort of surprised me since I'm running Vista64 and the card is at least 5 years old. It installed perfectly.

I will eventually replace the card, but at the moment I'm one of the zillions of people who have been booted to the curb due to the economy and company downsizing. I've had to put a hold on non-essential spending.