P
Pete Matthews Jr
Turntable: Denon DP-29F with builtin preamp switched on, tested with Bose radio, plays a record properly.
Sound card 1: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi HD, connected via USB.
Sound card 2: Realtek 1220 built into motherboard.
Software 1: Wave Corrector, which I have used reliably for 20 years (now is free), always fails on this system with "undefined external error".
Software 2: Audacity, suggested for testing by Derek Higgins of wavecor, always fails on this system with error code -9999.
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro WiFi.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700
RAM: 16 GB
Video: NVIDIA 1030
Speakers: Altec-Lansing ADA-885 (classic!)
OS: Windows 10 Home 1903
Summary: I believe Windows 10 Home is unable to record from a turntable, either (A) because of a bug, or (B) because this capability was excised from Windows 10 Pro to make Home, without inclusion in published comparisons - it would not be the first time.
Initial setup: turntable connected to turntable input on the X-Fi, which was connected via USB to computer and then to speakers. I tried everything I could think of, finally got the turntable to play through to the speakers, but could not record it. This setup had worked on my old Windows 7 computer. [I think it still worked after I upgraded to Windows 10, but not sure. However, I stopped using it, because a hum came through to the speakers whenever the turntable was plugged into power, even when idle.] I have found Creative products to have relatively short lifetimes, so I figured it had partially failed.
Current setup: motherboard sound, turntable plugged into Line In, speakers plugged into "front" jack, stereo (2.1) output only to speakers. Initially, no sound from turntable. I tried the latest Realtek driver, 8854, no help. Then I found that Realtek drivers correspond to Windows 10 versions, and that one corresponds to 1909. I downloaded from Gigabyte and installed a fresh copy of the 8688 driver, which should work with 1903. However, upon inspection, I find that the actual driver installed is 8703. (I did this twice to be sure.) This is the only unresolved issue for me, except that I cannot record the turntable. It is possible this is the problem, but I suspect Gigabyte or Realtek failed to upgrade the file name and description when they upgraded the driver. After all, I could not get the X-Fi to work, either. Here are the things I tried:
Sound Control Panel:
Windows-R > control mmsys.cpl,,0 [one way to get there] > Recording
right-click Microphone > Disable
double-click Line In > Listen > check Listen to this device
This causes the turntable to play to the speakers.
... Advanced > uncheck Enable audio enhancements [supposed to let through pure sound]
After a tiny dip, turntable resumes playing through speakers.
... OK [back to Sound control panel]
right-click Stereo Mix > Enable
Stereo Mix becomes default device, and Line In becomes default communication device.
Listening to Stereo Mix instead of Line In does not pass the sound through to the speakers.
Start/Search > Device Manager > Sound > right-click Realktek(R) Audio > Properties > Driver
Driver Date: 5/14/2019, Driver Version: 6.0.8703.1.
Start/Search > Control Panel > Troubleshooting > Hardware and Sound > Recording Audio > Stereo Mix
No issues found.
Went back and tried again for Line In, wants to apply the fix of making it the default device.
Well, I had tried that at length, won't help, so I skipped it and continued.
It said that had been skipped, and then "Audio format not set to default - fixed".
My last test will be to reboot and try one more time. Assume it failed, if I do not post an update.
Microphone: I have none, so I set about disabling it beyond the above.
Start > Settings > Privacy > Microphone
"Microsoft access for this device is on"
When I turned this off and then rebooted, I could no longer hear the turntable.
I did specify that no apps are permitted to use the microphone, but "Host process for Windows Services" does.
It's not clear to me why the system should be using the (non-existent) microphone at all.
In Wave Corrector: on several occasions, I ran wavecor as Administrator, no change.
Wavecor has three input devices, all of which I have tried: Microsoft sound mapper, Line In, and Stereo Mix.
All of this was done with lots of tests of both programs and lots of reboots.
After days of investigation, I'm 75% sure this is a problem in Windows 19 Home. Please, prove me wrong!
Continue reading...
Sound card 1: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi HD, connected via USB.
Sound card 2: Realtek 1220 built into motherboard.
Software 1: Wave Corrector, which I have used reliably for 20 years (now is free), always fails on this system with "undefined external error".
Software 2: Audacity, suggested for testing by Derek Higgins of wavecor, always fails on this system with error code -9999.
Motherboard: Gigabyte X570 Aorus Pro WiFi.
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 3700
RAM: 16 GB
Video: NVIDIA 1030
Speakers: Altec-Lansing ADA-885 (classic!)
OS: Windows 10 Home 1903
Summary: I believe Windows 10 Home is unable to record from a turntable, either (A) because of a bug, or (B) because this capability was excised from Windows 10 Pro to make Home, without inclusion in published comparisons - it would not be the first time.
Initial setup: turntable connected to turntable input on the X-Fi, which was connected via USB to computer and then to speakers. I tried everything I could think of, finally got the turntable to play through to the speakers, but could not record it. This setup had worked on my old Windows 7 computer. [I think it still worked after I upgraded to Windows 10, but not sure. However, I stopped using it, because a hum came through to the speakers whenever the turntable was plugged into power, even when idle.] I have found Creative products to have relatively short lifetimes, so I figured it had partially failed.
Current setup: motherboard sound, turntable plugged into Line In, speakers plugged into "front" jack, stereo (2.1) output only to speakers. Initially, no sound from turntable. I tried the latest Realtek driver, 8854, no help. Then I found that Realtek drivers correspond to Windows 10 versions, and that one corresponds to 1909. I downloaded from Gigabyte and installed a fresh copy of the 8688 driver, which should work with 1903. However, upon inspection, I find that the actual driver installed is 8703. (I did this twice to be sure.) This is the only unresolved issue for me, except that I cannot record the turntable. It is possible this is the problem, but I suspect Gigabyte or Realtek failed to upgrade the file name and description when they upgraded the driver. After all, I could not get the X-Fi to work, either. Here are the things I tried:
Sound Control Panel:
Windows-R > control mmsys.cpl,,0 [one way to get there] > Recording
right-click Microphone > Disable
double-click Line In > Listen > check Listen to this device
This causes the turntable to play to the speakers.
... Advanced > uncheck Enable audio enhancements [supposed to let through pure sound]
After a tiny dip, turntable resumes playing through speakers.
... OK [back to Sound control panel]
right-click Stereo Mix > Enable
Stereo Mix becomes default device, and Line In becomes default communication device.
Listening to Stereo Mix instead of Line In does not pass the sound through to the speakers.
Start/Search > Device Manager > Sound > right-click Realktek(R) Audio > Properties > Driver
Driver Date: 5/14/2019, Driver Version: 6.0.8703.1.
Start/Search > Control Panel > Troubleshooting > Hardware and Sound > Recording Audio > Stereo Mix
No issues found.
Went back and tried again for Line In, wants to apply the fix of making it the default device.
Well, I had tried that at length, won't help, so I skipped it and continued.
It said that had been skipped, and then "Audio format not set to default - fixed".
My last test will be to reboot and try one more time. Assume it failed, if I do not post an update.
Microphone: I have none, so I set about disabling it beyond the above.
Start > Settings > Privacy > Microphone
"Microsoft access for this device is on"
When I turned this off and then rebooted, I could no longer hear the turntable.
I did specify that no apps are permitted to use the microphone, but "Host process for Windows Services" does.
It's not clear to me why the system should be using the (non-existent) microphone at all.
In Wave Corrector: on several occasions, I ran wavecor as Administrator, no change.
Wavecor has three input devices, all of which I have tried: Microsoft sound mapper, Line In, and Stereo Mix.
All of this was done with lots of tests of both programs and lots of reboots.
After days of investigation, I'm 75% sure this is a problem in Windows 19 Home. Please, prove me wrong!
Continue reading...