Signal Treatment

[Stalker]

I’m having a problem regarding the signal I’m hearing from my PC. I have an AMD 64 1.8ghz with an onboard soundcard ( Realtek AC97).

 

Two passive monitors connected to a simple amplifier that is connected to the PC.

Now the problem is that, I’m hearing some “clips” and distorted sounds even when I’m hearing music from a CD, or directly from the PC and especially when I’m producing or recording.

The happening of those clips varies, they can happen quite frequently and sometimes they cease for a while. I’m thinking this is maybe a soundcard problem related to the settings of my driver which is ASIO4ALL, but it could be also the configurations of the signal output of my PC ( a Windows XP problem), or maybe the amplifier, I really don’t know

 

The only thing I’m sure is that is not a problem related to the monitors as I tested with different models

 

 

Anyone knows how do I "treat" something like this?

Any help will be apreciated

 

Oh and I use Logic Platinum 5

[Reznik]

did you install all your mainboard drivers?

if you have a sata hdd, (re)install sata drivers

it should work then for music playback

 

but for music production??

 

ac97 is teh shit

[Mike A]

play just a plain wav file. then in your player (winamp, or whatever) change the output settings to different drivers. try using the asio, then directplay, then mme. see if that changes anything. if not - then it's not a driver problem imo, although asio4all sucks.

[dharma lab]

Does sound like a driver issue. Are the clips repeatable? (As in, when you rewind back to when you heard a clip, does it happen again). Do the clips occur even when you turn the amp down to a low level? Do the clips occur when you turn the amp up, but the levels downs in your software? This might help determine if it's a clip from a actual overload, or if it's a clip from a buffer/driver problem.

 

Sometimes, video drivers, network card drivers, and motherboard (chipset) drivers could be the culprit. Might be easier to first test the signal line from your speakers to the computer, making sure it's not a hardware issue outside the computer. Are you playing the CD thru the computer. or is it playing thru a CD player?

 

Check your control panel for any AC97 soundcard settings. Look for entries other than 'Sounds & Audio Devices'. For example, my soundcard at my work computer has a 'Sound Effect Manager', which allows various EQ, sound FX, etc. Also, sometimes when you install a new codec pack, it changes the codec that is being used for playback, applying different settings or filtering, or creating new control panel entries. May be as simple as going thru the settings & removing everything not necessary.

[Mike A]

also try connecting something else to your speakers - that is not your computer. a tv, or stereo system.

see if the problem is still there.

[Colin OOOD]

The Windows mixer for the AC97 is capable of boosting sounds too much... try turning the relevant channels down.

[Kalki]

but for music production??

 

ac97 is teh shit

639469[/snapback]

ha ha i am also having the same sound card at home pc. one great thing abot that is if sound is not there sound will not be there. i mean here iam using creative soundblaster. but i can here that white noise if i increse the volume. especially when iam recording from stereo mix its clarity problem. but with my home pc with with realtek i cannot hear any background noise. but i think its just a matter of luck to get a noiseless soudcard even if it is same model

[Kalki]

stalker, is it same with different volume level

[Stalker]

Well guys thanks for your help

 

I sorted it out. Yes, the problem is that the signal was way too high. I once had already turned down but the problem was still there

The thing is that there was an "Auto Gain Control" optiom enabled on the driver settings. I disabled and turned down the volume and its seens to be working fine now