On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 17:34:50 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 17:18:15 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message

On Tue, 9 Dec 2003 15:26:19 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
wrote:

Given the very modest apparent performance of his sound card,
perhaps. However, I don't know what can be quicker and easier than
using another feature of a product he is already using.

As far as hardware goes it would be far more economical to upgrade
the sound card. Pricewatch puts Audigy's between $40 and $50.

Actually, the Audigy is the card I have. If -76 dB is inordinately
high for a noise floor on this card, perhaps it's picking up noise
from other electronics in my computer case.

Unlikely. The better numbers I see are for Audigy cards in crowded
computer cases.

Perhaps that's true, but my computer case is about as crowded as they
get. There's a total of seven drives, five fans and eight neon tubes.
(The entire case is also made of clear acrylic. "Ghetto-fabulous"
would be the kindest way to describe it - lol) Goodness only knows
how much RFI it's throwing off.

The only thing you've mentioned that I haven't personally tried is the neon
tubes.

I built it a few months ago as an exercise for my right hand after my
motorcycle accident. Since it's clear acrylic, I had to assemble the
whole thing wearing gloves, and you can't use a power screwdriver on
an acrylic case. Also, with all the drives, fans, and lights, the
clear case forced me to come up with an alternate way of powering
everything other than a Medusa's head of Y-splitters upon Y-splitters.
I ended up cutting all of the drive power cables off of the power
supply (the yellow-black-black-red ones) and making a single cable
from the power supply. It goes from the power supply to the closest
device, then the next device, and so on through to all 23 devices that
need power. That way, there's only one cable that makes its way
around the case once. That was the single biggest visual improvement.



More likely, some kind of setup difficulty.

What kind of sound card setup problems so you usually see? Other than
changing drivers, I can't think of much to change.

To troubleshoot a problem like this, first I'd try standardized test like
the Audio Rightmark - http://audio.rightmark.org/

I'll give it a shot. Assuming the jumper is just a stereo 1/8" phono
to 1/8" phono, I already have one of those for connecting the iPod to
my car stereo.

It only takes a short jumper from the blue socket to the green socket to run
it. That and some level setting. It's totally free and a relatively small
download.

Based on the results of that test, I'd strategize the next move.

But since its so much better than the preamp, its not the highest
priority situation at this moment.

Like I said, I'm actually pretty happy with the results I'm getting,
once the tracks are compressed and played back on my iPod. The low
overall volume was my only complaint, and I think we have that licked.

I take it that you plan to do some dynamics processing in SoundForge to
bring up the average RMS levels and perceived loudness.

Yep, I did a test today, and used the SoundForge normalization routine
to bring the RMS level up to about -18 dB. The end result turned out
very well.

Scott Gardner