general sound question

cvax · Sep 14, 2004, 04:33 AM

so heres my question. i have a pci 5.1 channel soundcard and a 5.1 onboard sound on my motherboard. what i want to know is if it is possible to have both of them functioning at the same time thus allowing me to use 2 sets of speakers at one time? if it is possible to do that then the followup question would be is it possible to have them play the same sounds at the same time to double my audio experience?

Judas · Sep 14, 2004, 05:22 AM

yes it is possible..... ATM, running both my onboard and digifire at the same time....

HOWEVER, make sure you have no conflicts between the 2 resources wise (IRQ's DMA's)

DJ Stick will know more about this me..... would you like me to move this to the AUDIO forum?

Vampyromaniac · Sep 14, 2004, 05:52 AM

yes, if the motherboard supports it.
some motherboards detect an installed sound card, and turn off the onboard.
check your motherboard's manual

Judas · Sep 14, 2004, 06:12 AM

some motherboards have a simple setting in the bios... to disable or enable the onboard sound....but depending on which order you install the sound drivers.. be it for your main soundcard first or the motherboard.... which will be primary and which will be secondary......

Vampyromaniac · Sep 14, 2004, 06:39 AM

yes, order matters on some boards, on others you can change the primary within Windows.

what I was saying is that with some mobo's, you can enable the on-board sound in the BIOS, but it only actually works if there is no sound card installed. meaning the option is still set to enabled, but Windows still doesn't detect it. I don't think it's common though.

GutterPunk · Sep 14, 2004, 06:55 AM

wow i didnt know this is possible im gonna try it out!

Judas · Sep 14, 2004, 07:27 AM

don't forget... you'll get a preformance hit in various games IF the game can spit out to both cards at the same time...

GutterPunk · Sep 14, 2004, 05:28 PM

i want the game to be in 1 card (my 5.1 speakrs) and teamspeak out of my headset

Vampyromaniac · Sep 14, 2004, 07:35 PM

You can probably do that if at least one of the two (game or teamspeak) allows you to specify what sound device to use. If both of them do, you can simply set them as you wish. If only one of them does, you would set it to use sound device B, and tell Windows to use sound device A as the default sound device. Be sure to un-check "Use only default devices".

GutterPunk · Sep 14, 2004, 07:50 PM

okay thanks vampy

Vampyromaniac · Sep 15, 2004, 01:39 AM

ah, I just checked your manual, gutter, and yours is one of those boards that detects sound cards and turns off the on-board

Nacht · Sep 15, 2004, 02:48 AM

you can do that

thats how i have it set up. 5.1 on the audigy for games/music and i use the onboard sound for ventrilo/teamspeak. i have a headset plugged into the onboard so it ends up being kind of like xbox live.

cvax · Sep 15, 2004, 04:57 AM

beehehe awesome thanks but how exactly do i get.. lets say.. windows media player to use both sound devices to play the audio stream for the movie at the same time? like how to config it?

Vampyromaniac · Sep 15, 2004, 05:40 AM

I don't think that's possible

cvax · Sep 15, 2004, 06:07 AM

dammnn... theres no way to clone the stream over to the secondary soundcard at all?

Vampyromaniac · Sep 15, 2004, 06:40 AM

ah OK, no I don't think that is possible, but there is a simpler way for this.

you can get some stereo splitters, these plug into a jack, and turn it into 2 jacks.
so you can get 3 of these, plug them into your Front, Rear, and Center/Sub outputs,
and then send one set of lines to one speaker set, and another set of lines to another.

so you'd end up with 2 sets of 5.1 speakers playing the same audio, for whatever reason you want that . . . .

Sep 14, 2004, 04:33 AM	#1
cvax zergling rush kekek Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 70 Rep Power: 0	general sound question so heres my question. i have a pci 5.1 channel soundcard and a 5.1 onboard sound on my motherboard. what i want to know is if it is possible to have both of them functioning at the same time thus allowing me to use 2 sets of speakers at one time? if it is possible to do that then the followup question would be is it possible to have them play the same sounds at the same time to double my audio experience?

Sep 14, 2004, 05:52 AM	#3
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	yes, if the motherboard supports it. some motherboards detect an installed sound card, and turn off the onboard. check your motherboard's manual __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 14, 2004, 06:39 AM	#5
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	yes, order matters on some boards, on others you can change the primary within Windows. what I was saying is that with some mobo's, you can enable the on-board sound in the BIOS, but it only actually works if there is no sound card installed. meaning the option is still set to enabled, but Windows still doesn't detect it. I don't think it's common though. __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 14, 2004, 06:55 AM	#6
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,949 Rep Power: 71	wow i didnt know this is possible im gonna try it out! __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

Sep 14, 2004, 05:28 PM	#8
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,949 Rep Power: 71	i want the game to be in 1 card (my 5.1 speakrs) and teamspeak out of my headset __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

Sep 14, 2004, 07:35 PM	#9
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	You can probably do that if at least one of the two (game or teamspeak) allows you to specify what sound device to use. If both of them do, you can simply set them as you wish. If only one of them does, you would set it to use sound device B, and tell Windows to use sound device A as the default sound device. Be sure to un-check "Use only default devices". __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 14, 2004, 07:50 PM	#10
GutterPunk I = Greatest Dood Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Nebraska Posts: 5,949 Rep Power: 71	okay thanks vampy __________________ Rock On \m/ Thank you Mousey for the Sig! --------------- Intel Core2Duo E6660 (3.4GHZ) ~ Tuniq Tower 120 ~ Enermax Galaxy 1000W ~ Corsair Dominator @ 1090MHZ 5-5-5-15 (OCZ XTC Modded Cooler)~ EVGA 8800GTX W/ HR-03 Plus 120MM ~ Asus DVD-RW LiteScribe ~ LG DVD-RW ~ Corsair Voyager 2GB ReadyBoost Drive ~ Vantec Nexus Fan Controller ~ ThermalTake Armor 25CM fan ~ Personal Finance Blog: Dent Your Debt

Sep 15, 2004, 01:39 AM	#11
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	ah, I just checked your manual, gutter, and yours is one of those boards that detects sound cards and turns off the on-board __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 15, 2004, 02:48 AM	#12
Nacht ein Krieger Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Clemson Uni Posts: 3,127 Rep Power: 0	you can do that thats how i have it set up. 5.1 on the audigy for games/music and i use the onboard sound for ventrilo/teamspeak. i have a headset plugged into the onboard so it ends up being kind of like xbox live.

Sep 15, 2004, 04:57 AM	Thread Starter #13
cvax zergling rush kekek Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 70 Rep Power: 0	beehehe awesome thanks but how exactly do i get.. lets say.. windows media player to use both sound devices to play the audio stream for the movie at the same time? like how to config it? Last edited by cvax; Sep 15, 2004 at 05:04 AM.

Sep 15, 2004, 05:40 AM	#14
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	I don't think that's possible __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 15, 2004, 06:07 AM	Thread Starter #15
cvax zergling rush kekek Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 70 Rep Power: 0	dammnn... theres no way to clone the stream over to the secondary soundcard at all?

Sep 15, 2004, 06:40 AM	#16
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	ah OK, no I don't think that is possible, but there is a simpler way for this. you can get some stereo splitters, these plug into a jack, and turn it into 2 jacks. so you can get 3 of these, plug them into your Front, Rear, and Center/Sub outputs, and then send one set of lines to one speaker set, and another set of lines to another. so you'd end up with 2 sets of 5.1 speakers playing the same audio, for whatever reason you want that . . . . __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250