Can't get external mic to work with vista

[theshadow2001]

I'm trying to use an external mic in the mic input on the front panel of my note book to use with sound recorder. I'm using windows vista home premium.

The mic works. I've tried disabling the onboard mic over the screen.

I'm getting no input at all.

Any ideas?

 

[plastik-bass[?]]

well the 1st thing i see wrong is your using vista.....

actually i have no idea....but vista isnt good :/

 

[theshadow2001]

I told my friend that's exactly the reply i would get. Anyone know anything helpful?

 

[shortyversion48]

if your using the sound recorder i used, which is the one that came with vista, dont. i tried using it and it sounded like absolute crap. i had so much static and background noise that i could barely hear what i was doing. i would suggest downloading some free recording software that will get the job done, and if you can find it, get like a converter or something like that so you dont have to go through the mic plug-in.

if your dedicated to recording yourself then you can do what i did. i ended up getting a mixer and ran it through that and ran the stereo outputs from the mixer to the usb port on my computer and it sounds absolutely amazing, you can just get a cheap mixer, mine was about $150 but that was because i needed something with i tiny bit of balls but you can get smaller ones if need be..

like i said, if your dedicated to it, or have more of a reason then just for the hell of it, i would say go for the mixer route.. if not.. then sorry

 

[theshadow2001]

if your using the sound recorder i used, which is the one that came with vista, dont. i tried using it and it sounded like absolute crap. i had so much static and background noise that i could barely hear what i was doing. i would suggest downloading some free recording software that will get the job done, and if you can find it, get like a converter or something like that so you dont have to go through the mic plug-in.

if your dedicated to recording yourself then you can do what i did. i ended up getting a mixer and ran it through that and ran the stereo outputs from the mixer to the usb port on my computer and it sounds absolutely amazing, you can just get a cheap mixer, mine was about $150 but that was because i needed something with i tiny bit of balls but you can get smaller ones if need be..

like i said, if your dedicated to it, or have more of a reason then just for the hell of it, i would say go for the mixer route.. if not.. then sorry

I have no need fora mixer or anything else. Just need quick and easy recordings. Not that it matters the mic wont even register anything on the recorder. When I tried setting up the voice recognition it barely registered an input and then it wouldn't at all.

 

[hunta]

Try using audacity (free download) instead of the built-in vista sound recorder.

 

[funkybassplayer]

SP1 should be coming out in early March i believe. I have heard that it should fix most of the problems people have been having with Vista. Of course i am still using XP. good luck with the mic issue

 

[theshadow2001]

I have my doubts if audacity would be ano better it seems I just cant get a signal into the computer. As I said whilst trying to set up voice recogniciton with the external mic it wouldn't work either. Suggesting theres a problem getting the computer to recognise any kind of signal to the input


Is SP1 free?

 

[axisluminary]

have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the driver used for the microphone? i don't even know if it's possible, but i had a sort of similiar issue about a month ago and i ended up just doing that for one of the drivers and for whatever reason, it solved my problem.

 

[funkybassplayer]

Is SP1 free?

I think so. Don't quote me on that though.

 

[shortyversion48]

Try using audacity (free download) instead of the built-in vista sound recorder.

i use audacity and its very good, especially since its free. my friend had the same problem as it sounds as your having. his computer ended messing up in someother way but his mic never worked since he first got it from the factory, he had to set back to factory settings to fix a different problem and then his mic worked perfectly, so maybe thats all you need to do.

 

[theshadow2001]

It doesn't really work with audacity either. It's coming out all muffled and weird. I think it's just F'ed up

 

[lemur821]

It doesn't really work with audacity either.

The software you use has nothing to do with the quality of your recording.

Are you sure you're connecting the microphone to the proper input jack, and that you have the proper input selected in Windows?

 

[MonetBass]

Are you sure you're connecting the microphone to the proper input jack, and that you have the proper input selected in Windows?

Lemur beat me to it. With most sound cards you have to select what the input is that are trying to record. If you haven't selected the "line in" input (and made sure it's plugged into that), then it won't work.