Using kX as a pre-amp to compensate for bad chipset

mazdek

I built a new machine recently, put XP 64 on it. Sadly kX doesn't have 64 bit support and Creative either didn't have drivers or they were for Vista or they just didn't work. The new machine has onboard sound from Realtek, and I've read places that its microphone abilities are quite limited. I went looking to see if I was doing something wrong when I couldn't get people to hear me in games and Skype and what not, unless I was nearly eating the microphone. They could then hear that I was speaking but not well enough to understand what I was saying.

I still have a machine with an old SB Live! OEM (that I had tried to put in the new one to no avail), been using kX drivers on it for a long time. I wondered if I could use the kX DSP to act as a pre-amp to seriously boost the signal. I thought there ought to be a way to take the mic input, pass it through a gain object or three, then pipe it out Line Out and plug that into the Line In on the other machine. My attempt was not successful though, all I seemed to get was noise. I couldn't figure out how to send it out a Line Out so I just used one of the speaker channels.

Any hints? Thanks!

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Tyrsonswood

I think I know what you are trying to do, mic into old computer, line out from old computer into new computer line input correct?

First, check your new computer's line input with something like a home cd player line out..... Is it loud enough and no noise? if so next test.

You don't need tons of gain on the old computer, you are just bringing mic level up to line level.... too much gain will cause lots of noise and possibly some clipping. So default KX DSP should do what you need, and there should be a built in gain on the mic input if you need it in KX mixer. Test this setup by itself for normal volume and low noise also. You can send the line out to a home stereo or even your powered computer speakers for testing.

If both of those tests work just hook a stereo cable from old computer line out to new computer line in. Make sure both systems are plugged into the same power strip so there's no grounding issues and it should work fine.

You could get fancy with the KX DSP but it's not needed and may confuse the issue at first.

Peace

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