Vista audio question: No input volume controls in Vista?

I was trying to record from a cassette into my computer using the mic and line-in and I realised that Vista doesn't seem to have any RECORD volume controls.

In XP you can open your output volumes, your input volumes and enable and disable certain inputs using the checkboxes.

Vista seems to only have output volume controls. I couldn't use Line-In at all and mic picked up a signal and I could record it but I couldn't hear what I was recording through my speakers at the same time. I remember plugging in a microphone and hearing myself through the speakers in the past but for some reason, while Audition 2.0 was open I couldn't hear anything. I would have rather used the Line-In but like I said, it doesn't work at all.

Is this just because I'm using the onboard SoundMAX integrated audio from my motherboard or is there no Record Volume in Vista?

In the end, I rebooted into XP, started up Audition and Line-In worked fine. I set the levels to where they should be and it recorded just fine.

This is amazing.  Kenster, thanks so much for this post!  I can only imagine how many people have benefited from your research but haven't posted replies.

One note: I found that I needed to edit both versions of the ADIHdAud.inf file -- in the driver pack I downloaded from HP, there was one copy in "i386" and another in "amd64" -- for the fix to work.

I have no doubt that the audio record functions are disabled as a result of recording industry interference.  Pretty amazing to me that they would disable fairly basic computer functionality just to prevent consumers from recording audio, but apparently that's what has happened.  Wow.

I have a SoundMAX as well and one of the things I don't like about the Vista audio stack is that they now search the hardware on board (or something similar according to Larry Osterman) to give the supported output channels.  I have a 5.1 audio speaker setup that I have working on XP, but in Vista I can't output 5.1 channels, which renders those speakers useless.  Back on topic, I consider the Vista audio stack immature if not incomplete.

Edit: In Vista's defense, it COULD be that my drivers aren't properly reporting the audio channels it supports (or XP was allowing 5.1 channel output through stereo which is fine by me and my speakers), but I also used the drivers that Windows Update served me for the sound card.

Yup, I found all of that. It's just not very useful. Then old Recording controls where much easier to use.

I just plugged a Creative Zen Micro into the Line-In of my computer while I was typing that first sentence and for some reason I can hear it through my speakers now but that LEVELS slider does absolutely nothing. The meters in Audition move but it just records quiet static.

The MIC jack picks up a signal if I plug in the wire half way and I can see the little meter moving but I hear nothing out my speakers.

I'm going to mess with this a bit more and try out Vista's sound recorder. It might have something to do with Audition.

Ion Todirel wrote:

how about this: Control Panel - Hardware and Sound - Sound - Manage audio devices?



also look at Speakers Properties (in Playback tab), for recording sounds you also can use Vista's built in tool accesible from Start - All Programs - Accesories - Sound Recorder.

OK, after messing around a bit more I got Audition to record AND monitor the signal coming into the MIC jack (monitoring is always a bit complicated on a new installation of Audition) but Line-In just records static even though the meters move.
In Adobe Audition 2.0 you have to make sure Monitoring is set to Audition Mix instead of External if you want to hear what your recording.

Vista Sound Recorder records the signal from the MIC jack but I can't hear it while it's recording. Line-In does nothing.

I've come to the conclusion that Line-In just doesn't work in Vista yet and it probably has to do with the drivers being so unfinished.
Audition and Sound Recorder don't even know that the Line-In exists.

One good thing is that I can apply effects in real time and they seem react quickly. Maybe the latency is better in Vista.

Here's a screenshot. Notice that [01S] Microphone is the only input available, all the meters are moving (I could hear it too) and in the bottom right corner Monitoring: is set to Audition Mix.

What happens when you set Line-In as the default? Is Audition still unable to use it then?

Sven Groot wrote:

What happens when you set Line-In as the default? Is Audition still unable to use it then?

Hmm... I wondered about that but never tried it. I'll have to test that out tomorrow.

Sven Groot wrote:

What happens when you set Line-In as the default? Is Audition still unable to use it then?

I just set Line-In as default and now the little meter moves but the levels slider still does absolutely nothing and Audition still doesn't seem to know Line-In exists.

The only way to set the levels is the move the volume on the device that's playing the sounds (the MP3 player in my case) but that's not a big deal.

The Vista Sound Recorder picks up Line-In now but that tiny little meter is pretty useless for figuring out if your levels are set correctly. What you hear out of the speakers is just a signal going straight through your soundcard and out of the speakers. It's not the actual sound that's being recorded. Your recording could be too loud or too quiet but you'll never know until you listen to the file you just made.

I wish you could disable jack sensing. If Vista "thinks" theres no speakers plugged in it will disable sound output altogether. I have a machine at work with pretty flaky jack sensing that will think there's nothing plugged in intermittently.

When this stuff works though its pretty cool. Vista remembers volume levels when headphones are plugged in and switches volume when you plug them in again.

With some sound cards, there was a recording option to record "What You Hear", IOW, whatever was being send to the speakers. I haven't been able to locate this option in Vista. Is this yet another symptom of incomplete drivers?

Why does vista list in the Volume Mixer, all applications even though they might not be audio enabled? Why does it not detect the audio enabled ones and list them in the Volume Mixer?

LarryOsterman wrote:



SecretSoftware wrote: Why does vista list in the Volume Mixer, all applications even though they might not be audio enabled? Why does it not detect the audio enabled ones and list them in the Volume Mixer?

An application won't show up in the mixer until it makes a sound.  Every app in the mixer has made a sound at one point or another.

Does that include PC speaker?

It appears that there is no way to run the microphone into the speakers as you could with XP? (So you can hear yourself while using a pair of headphones and a microphone, for example.) In XP the control to do this was clearly there. I don't see it in Vista at all.

Not freeware but check out Power Mixer, a must for audio producers using Vista.

http://www.actualsolution.com/power_mixer/

I had this same problem with Vista.  I was using the onboard audio on my dell (SoundMax), and i had no options to set line-in output volumes.  I went and purchased a $30 Creative Audigy SE card and installed the Creative Beta drivers and now I have options in the Vista Mixer to change line-in output volumes.  So it appears it is a driver issue and not neccesarily a Vista issue.  I do with the generic drivers that whipped with Vista had this support.

I had this same problem.  Go to:    http://fxaudioeditor.com/vista_recording_problems.htm