Low volume from computer

[70mlbu]

I am using the onboard sound from my ASUS A7N8X Deluxe motherboard through a mixing board. The volume is very low as opposed to the JVC CDG players I used previously. When I boost the line for the music on the mixing board it becomes distorted to the point where I would not want to use it in a show. I was trying to get Hoster ready for a couple Christmas parties coming up but it looks like I'll be using the trusty old CDG players until I get this figured out. Any suggestions? I have an old Soundblaster sound card in an old computer I could use but I thought the ASUS onboard sound was supposed to be a good sound controller.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

[MTUSUPPORT]

I believe that this motherboard has the Nvidia chipset, which is supposed to have a decent sound. It will also depend on the motherboard manufacturers design to rather it is as good on one motherboard as on another.

We use the Nvidia chip on the Shuttle systems that we sell and they sound great with no distortion.

I would try another sound card and see what happens.

[gduns - with the Lord]

I have the A7V8X-X, and I have used the onboard sound card and it sounded ok. open up you mixer and the advanced options and adjust your main volume, and the wave volume untill you get the right balance. I bought a creative audiology card for $75.00 and for that price I had to get it otherwise I would still be using the onboard sound also what version of direct x are you using, it makes a difference

[70mlbu]

I'm not doing something wrong with my cabling am I Bryan? I'm using a standard computer speaker cable that splits into left and right channels. On the speaker end of the cable I added 1/4" RCA adapters to plug into the mixing board. Is there something wrong with that set up or is that how your Hoster computers are run?

Thanks for the reply by the way...

[70mlbu]

gduns... thanks for the reply. I'll check the directX version but I just had the computer built with XP Pro installed. When I say "just" I mean we got it this week. When you mention the mixer you're talking about the XP sound controls right? I'll check that again but I think I turned all the computer volumes to max last night when I was trying to figure this out. Thanks again.

[70mlbu]

In case anyone looks at this looking for the answer to a similar problem I wanted to say that I think I've fixed it! I'm not sure if it's a "correct" fix but it's working.

I was running the speaker cable from the sound card into two 1/4" RCA plug adapters which plugged into one of the "line in" ports on my mixing board. For the fix I took the RCA adapters off and ran the cable into the "tape in" jacks which I used for my cassette recorder to tape people while they were singing. Now I have a lot more volume with much better quality. I then went in and adjusted the volume/mixer level on the computer down. I honestly can't tell in my living room whether I have the volume I need for a show but it does get loud and I don't have the distortion I was getting with the computer settings at max.

This set up restricts my control over volume somewhat because the "tape in" line is only controlled by the main volume on the mixing board. Yes, I can control it through the computer but it gets a little complicated in a show when I'm controlling mics through the mixing board and music through the computer.

Anyway... hope this helps someone and if you have a better way to set up a computer and mixing board please let me know!

[gduns - with the Lord]

If you will go to a "Music Store" Thats where I got mine, You can get a instrument quality cable that is shielded instead of speaker wire which isn't. It will have the small stereo out plug on one end, and 2- 1/4" jacks on the other to plug into the mixer. This is what I am running on my system. I have tried this with several systems, and it works much better than the speaker outs into the tape in. then you will have control.