hardware question usb soundcard

lulularsen · Post by **lulularsen** » July 28th, 2012, 8:57 am

Hi someone

I bought a microphone with af jackstick before I heard that one with a usb stick is much better. If I buy a usbstick with a soundcard and possibility to connect my jackstick microphone, will it then be as good as if the microphone had an usb? I´m looking at this one:

http://www.elgiganten.dk/product/spil-konsol/tilbehor-pc-spil/SSSIBERUSBWH/steelseries-siberia-usb-soundcard-hvid

Hope to hear from someone soon, I can´t wait to get started.

Sarah

Post by **TriciaG** » July 28th, 2012, 9:35 am

Some computer sound cards are better than others. I would suggest first submitting a one-minute test to see if your setup is fine without buying anything extra.

lulularsen · Post by **lulularsen** » July 28th, 2012, 10:54 am

But it´s even more due to that I only have a microphone with a jackstick, so instead of buying a new microphone, could I maybe use the solution I mentioned?

Post by **TriciaG** » July 28th, 2012, 11:01 am

What is a jackstick? I assumed it was a round plug that you put into the microphone port on the computer. Do you have a link to the microphone that shows the connector?

lulularsen · Post by **lulularsen** » July 28th, 2012, 11:13 am

Yes it is the stick you plug in to the computer, but I heard that it is better using usb to connect the microphone to the computer. So i thougt the usb "adapter" i found could turn my microphone to a usb microphone, but I don´t know if the sound will be better or worse by using that device

Cori · Post by **Cori** » July 28th, 2012, 11:16 am

No, that won't make the mic a USB one ... I would definitely recommend a test now, before spending any money. Quite often, it's better to get a better microphone, it's very rarely better to upgrade the sound-card.

lulularsen · Post by **lulularsen** » July 28th, 2012, 11:29 am

Thanks for all the help.
I´m a little afraid of sounding negative. I tried using the microphone I have, but it doesn´t work. I run windows 7 and I´ve been trying every button I could find in the microphone settings, but even though I turn up the microphone volume to maximum and I yell in the microphone, I can only hear a little when playing it

Cori · Post by **Cori** » July 28th, 2012, 11:31 am

Can you test it out on a friend's computer -- it might be that the mic itself is broken?

carolb · Post by **carolb** » July 28th, 2012, 11:41 am

lulularsen wrote:Thanks for all the help.
I´m a little afraid of sounding negative. I tried using the microphone I have, but it doesn´t work. I run windows 7 and I´ve been trying every button I could find in the microphone settings, but even though I turn up the microphone volume to maximum and I yell in the microphone, I can only hear a little when playing it

Just a thought...are you using Audacity?

If so you need to make sure that Audacity is switched on before you plug the mic in, otherwise it won't be recognised - even if you shout really loudly

Good luck.

Carol

lulularsen · Post by **lulularsen** » July 28th, 2012, 12:10 pm

I tried it on my netbook just now, and the sound is definitely higher, and I can see differences in the soundwaves in audacity which I almost can´t on my laptop though I set the preferences for the microphone the same.

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » July 28th, 2012, 2:57 pm

I've done a test with a crappy analog mic using a USB adapter and without. It definitely made a difference with the adapter. The adapter itself costs about $5 Canadian.

Esther

lubee930 · Post by **lubee930** » July 28th, 2012, 3:07 pm

I just have to mention one other thing on the laptop--(simply because I have made this mistake!

)

When you plug in your microphone to the laptop, then open Audacity, there is a little dropdown menu (kind of right under the Record button). Make sure that you have the correct microphone selected in Audacity. Otherwise, when you are yelling at your laptop (as I did!!), you are just recording using the internal laptop microphone--not the microphone that you have plugged in.

At least, this was a problem for me until I figured it out. Keep trying.

There are lots and lots of knowledgeable, helpful people here at LibriVox!

carolb · Post by **carolb** » July 29th, 2012, 2:21 am

lubee930 wrote:When you plug in your microphone to the laptop, then open Audacity, there is a little dropdown menu (kind of right under the Record button).

But when I plugged the mic in before opening Audacity I was given no option at all in the drop-down box, it was just blank.
So Audacity needs to be opened first on my computer.

Carol

lubee930 · Post by **lubee930** » July 29th, 2012, 3:51 am

carolb wrote:
lubee930 wrote:When you plug in your microphone to the laptop, then open Audacity, there is a little dropdown menu (kind of right under the Record button).
But when I plugged the mic in before opening Audacity I was given no option at all in the drop-down box, it was just blank.
So Audacity needs to be opened first on my computer.

Carol

Very interesting, Carol! With mine, I have to plug the mic in first, then open Audacity. Otherwise, it doesn't "find" my USB mic at all. These computers just have minds of their own, I think--kind of magically do things!

As for myself, I just accidentally stumble on the answer more often than not (as I'm not very technically astute)--hence my advice "Keep trying"--!

carolb · Post by **carolb** » July 29th, 2012, 4:02 am

I'm just going to hide behind the sofa now!

I'm so sorry for the confusion - sometimes I talk rubbish, so please take no notice!

Carol