Microphone issues with Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS in Windows 7 and Vista
Hi, I have the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS and I have issues with the Microphone. When talking into the mic over MSN,Google Talk Skype...etc people report that there is some stuttering/shivering/poppi
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J1ZU242H
Worse there are times when the stuttering becomes severe that no one can hear or understand what I am saying, and times that the mic doesn't work at all. I have been having this issue in Vista and still the same after upgrading to Windows 7 RTM.
I ensured the standard troubleshooting steps were followed, such as making sure the mic was connected to the correct sound card jack and Microphone is set as default device in Recording Devices in Windows..etc
Additionally I installed the latest creative driver (2_18_0011 is the current version). with no luck and as a last resort I tried installing the latest beta version, oddly enough the problem was completely gone for a minute then returned and now persist.
To make sure the mike was not the issue I tried testing it in another computer (my laptop) and its working fine
Interesting enough while googling around for the problem I found this thread
http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/21647-audigy-2zs-microphone-not-working.html
posted by someone having similar problem, unfortunately the suggested solutions didn't work for me
Note: the current version of Windows I am using is 7 Ultimate RTM, but since I have been having the same issue in Windows vista I believe I should include Windows Vista in the zone selection as well.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J1ZU242H
Worse there are times when the stuttering becomes severe that no one can hear or understand what I am saying, and times that the mic doesn't work at all. I have been having this issue in Vista and still the same after upgrading to Windows 7 RTM.
I ensured the standard troubleshooting steps were followed, such as making sure the mic was connected to the correct sound card jack and Microphone is set as default device in Recording Devices in Windows..etc
Additionally I installed the latest creative driver (2_18_0011 is the current version). with no luck and as a last resort I tried installing the latest beta version, oddly enough the problem was completely gone for a minute then returned and now persist.
To make sure the mike was not the issue I tried testing it in another computer (my laptop) and its working fine
Interesting enough while googling around for the problem I found this thread
http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/21647-audigy-2zs-microphone-not-working.html
posted by someone having similar problem, unfortunately the suggested solutions didn't work for me
Note: the current version of Windows I am using is 7 Ultimate RTM, but since I have been having the same issue in Windows vista I believe I should include Windows Vista in the zone selection as well.
ASKER
My PC is a custom build desktop with the following main specification
CPU: Pentium Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHZ
Memory: 4GB RAM (4 x 1 667MHZ Dual Channel)
Graphic Card: XFX Geforce GTX 260 896MB
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
MotherBoard: XFX Nforce 650i Ultra
PSU: K-Mex 500W
In terms of the sound setting you suggested, sound setting in Windows Vista is significantly different from windows xp so most of the settings you talked about doesn't apply to Vista however as far as the master volume goes, its set at 75%, I tried lowering it but had no effect
CPU: Pentium Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHZ
Memory: 4GB RAM (4 x 1 667MHZ Dual Channel)
Graphic Card: XFX Geforce GTX 260 896MB
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 ZS
MotherBoard: XFX Nforce 650i Ultra
PSU: K-Mex 500W
In terms of the sound setting you suggested, sound setting in Windows Vista is significantly different from windows xp so most of the settings you talked about doesn't apply to Vista however as far as the master volume goes, its set at 75%, I tried lowering it but had no effect
The settings I was referring to was for W7 and I have used these to ref the digital speaker configuration Vista,
I do feel it's related to the digital dolby or a booster on the microphone recording levels
and of course creative sound blaster drivers must be 2009
This is to illistrate what i'm referring to
http://www.kombitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/w7-sound-3.jpg
http://www.kombitz.com/2009/01/14/microphone-problem-under-windows-7-and-vista/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Windows-Vista-Volume-Mixer-41882.shtml
try installing the AC3Filter which is an audio decoder and processor filter.
The codec is a free download from the following link.
http://ac3filter.net/projects/ac3filter
I do feel it's related to the digital dolby or a booster on the microphone recording levels
and of course creative sound blaster drivers must be 2009
This is to illistrate what i'm referring to
http://www.kombitz.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/w7-sound-3.jpg
http://www.kombitz.com/2009/01/14/microphone-problem-under-windows-7-and-vista/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Windows-Vista-Volume-Mixer-41882.shtml
try installing the AC3Filter which is an audio decoder and processor filter.
The codec is a free download from the following link.
http://ac3filter.net/projects/ac3filter
ASKER
>>It might be down to the card itself<<
You know.. I am beginning to suspect its a problem with the sound card itself, either hardware or driver related issue. And I am more inclined to the later since I didn't use to have mic issue in the past until recently namely after updating sound card driver, I think the recent drivers introduced this bug because I noticed there were other problems along such as Windows media players not playing audio files, flv files playing with a sound volume that is too low. Unfortunately creative don't update their drivers as frequently as they used to do, particularly for older hardware. Given that they quite often take ages for the next version driver release it will probably be long before I see my issue fixed. My sound card is around 5 to 6 years old so chances its reaching the end of its life cycle in terms of support, hence it might be the time to switch to another sound card, so I am going to try switching to the onboard audio (Realtek ALC885) my motherboard has and see what happens, hopefully it does support OpenAL.
You know.. I am beginning to suspect its a problem with the sound card itself, either hardware or driver related issue. And I am more inclined to the later since I didn't use to have mic issue in the past until recently namely after updating sound card driver, I think the recent drivers introduced this bug because I noticed there were other problems along such as Windows media players not playing audio files, flv files playing with a sound volume that is too low. Unfortunately creative don't update their drivers as frequently as they used to do, particularly for older hardware. Given that they quite often take ages for the next version driver release it will probably be long before I see my issue fixed. My sound card is around 5 to 6 years old so chances its reaching the end of its life cycle in terms of support, hence it might be the time to switch to another sound card, so I am going to try switching to the onboard audio (Realtek ALC885) my motherboard has and see what happens, hopefully it does support OpenAL.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Well It has been almost 2 days since I switched the motherboard onboard audio, so far so good, mic working without any noises in the background, and no shivering in the voice either. Additionally other problems I had with the sound card are gone
>> my humble opinion may actually not be compatible.<<
I suspected it was a hardware issue with the sound card, but its possible the drivers are the issue too, if so that is a shame, the sound card was really great till now, but no matter how good it is useless if doesn't have good drivers anymore
>>They want you to buy a new computer every 2 years not 5 years<<
That could be true, when I upgraded to Windows Vista the driver that was released for my audigy only provided the basic functionality, others were removed which creative explained due to technical issue in vista, however it wasn't not removed from their latest X-FI series, shortly a modded driver was released by a person nicknamed Daniel_K for the audigy series that brough back all the missing functionality. It wasn't long before he received a cease and desist letter from creative stating that the deliberate removal of the functionality in vista was for business reason. Needless to say they obviously lied blaming vista for the lack of functionality while it was actually for blatant commercial reasons namely to give people incentive to buy their next products (X-Fi)
>> my humble opinion may actually not be compatible.<<
I suspected it was a hardware issue with the sound card, but its possible the drivers are the issue too, if so that is a shame, the sound card was really great till now, but no matter how good it is useless if doesn't have good drivers anymore
>>They want you to buy a new computer every 2 years not 5 years<<
That could be true, when I upgraded to Windows Vista the driver that was released for my audigy only provided the basic functionality, others were removed which creative explained due to technical issue in vista, however it wasn't not removed from their latest X-FI series, shortly a modded driver was released by a person nicknamed Daniel_K for the audigy series that brough back all the missing functionality. It wasn't long before he received a cease and desist letter from creative stating that the deliberate removal of the functionality in vista was for business reason. Needless to say they obviously lied blaming vista for the lack of functionality while it was actually for blatant commercial reasons namely to give people incentive to buy their next products (X-Fi)
That's partly true>blatant commercial reasons on behalf of Microsoft for sure/
Vista was originally called Longhorn and was ion the works for years,
I was really looking forward to it but it took long and MS decided to release a different version and named it Vista. And here we go again Vista Business Vista Home Visa Basic and so on
Longhorn became a server.
Vista was released before it was fully tested and Companies like intel- Creative and many others had no time to prepare OEM drivers to match each OS.
I often wonder why we have to constantly upgrade windows? And I think they would concur
Xp was the best why go Vista now W7?
Vista was originally called Longhorn and was ion the works for years,
I was really looking forward to it but it took long and MS decided to release a different version and named it Vista. And here we go again Vista Business Vista Home Visa Basic and so on
Longhorn became a server.
Vista was released before it was fully tested and Companies like intel- Creative and many others had no time to prepare OEM drivers to match each OS.
I often wonder why we have to constantly upgrade windows? And I think they would concur
Xp was the best why go Vista now W7?
Post back those details please/
yes definately sounds like a problem with the onboard sound card like it's not grounding correctly I can hear the decimal ping like, how loud is the wav volume on the master volume?
Try decreasing that volume
I'm on XP now but check>start-control panel-sounds right click the entry "speakers" and select "set as default".
It maybe set to "digital" by default
that may resolve it.
It might be down to the card itself, on laptops it's a half duplex in otherwords you dont have the stereo mix option, cause there is no external speakers only the inbuilt.
Maybe it's causing a loopback noise since it's sharing the resources with mic.
try these trouble shoot ideas,
Soundcard tips and facts
look down to Tips on using microphones, it refers to sound blaster mikes as no good
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/pc/soundcard_tips.html#micinput
http://www.epanorama.net/documents/pc/soundcard_tips.html#commonproblems
Could be USB problem
another sound blaster assistance
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5080&start=0
BTW
I had problems installing the drivers for my creative sound blaster on the W7 ultimate as well.
Never resolved it.