Barely audible over USB mic

[NateA]

I'm new. I have had the software before but a friend told me I would get better results if I installed ASIO4ALL. In the past I had latency issues.

I have a new computer now. Dell Precision M6300. I've not recorded anything on it before. I'm trying to just record some test sounds over my Samsom USB mic and I can't heard anything when I setup as ASIO. I have ASIO4ALL installed. I see there are two devices when I open my ASIO4ALL mixer options window. The first is the High Definition Audio Device. It unavailable so I disabled it. The second was Samsom Q1U, which I have enabled.

When I try to record I can barely see any sounds register on the monitor. I can barely hear anything on the recording.

Sorry to drop such a newby question, but how should I start troublshooting? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks,

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Are you using Mixcraft 4.5 build 118?

What happens if you try Wave or WaveRT instead of ASIO?

Greg

[NateA]

Greg,

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I just downloaded Mixcraft last night, so whatever is the latest build.

Recording levels were really low over Wave and WaveRT as well. So, ASIO4ALL wasn't the issue, as much as my overall input. I only mentioned ASIO4ALL because it was the reason I thought I'd try giving Mixcraft some more effort, if it would reduce latency for me. Now that I'm trying to record again, I'm running into audio input level issues.

[Acoustica Eric]

Does the USB mic show up in the list from the drop down arrow next to the arm button on any given track?
_________________
Acoustica Support
Want to hear what our Musicians Bundle can do? Friend me at myspace.com/ericvanlandingham or mixcraftlive.com/members/3/

[NateA]

Yes. And I'm able to select Stereo or either channel off that menu.

When I view the ASIO4ALL mixer options, I also see the Samson mic listed there, in addition to the disabled MS device.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Are you using the SoftPre drivers that came with the microphone or are you just relying on the Windows drivers?



Greg

[NateA]

I am just using the drivers that came with Windows.

[Acoustica Greg]

Hi,

Right-click on the small volume control icon in your Windows taskbar and select "Recording Devices." Click on the microphone to select it, and then click Properties. On the Levels tab, make sure that the level is set to 100.

Greg

[NateA]

I will try that when I get home tonight.

Thank you for the help, Greg. I really appreciate it.

[NateA]

The volume was already all the way up for the microphone.

Playing with some more tonight, I realized I can get decent audio, with what sounds like fairly low latency, under WaveRT or Wave. ASIO, with ASIO4ALL, doesn't show anything on the monitor.

Is there something else I'm supposed to be doing to run ASIO4ALL in Mixcraft? Any thoughts?

It seems like part of my trouble was that I needed to disconnect and reconnect my mic for some settings to take place. I also had "Listen to this device" off for a while, under Sound > Recording > Listen. That was part of my problem. Reconnecting the device after turning that on started making Wave and WaveRT work, of course.

I am running Windows 7, in case someone was wondering.

[Acoustica Eric]

Yes USB devices can be very wishy washy, you should always disconnect.reconnect them if there is an issue.
I have one of those USB icicles, which lets you connect an XLR microphone to a USB port, it quits working about every 10 minutes and I have to unplug, replug it.
_________________
Acoustica Support
Want to hear what our Musicians Bundle can do? Friend me at myspace.com/ericvanlandingham or mixcraftlive.com/members/3/

[Acoustica Greg]

ASIO4All is just a generic ASIO driver, and it doesn't always work. It's generally better to have a soundcard with its own native ASIO audio drivers.