Volume booster - Page 2

marinoFret · July 26th, 2006

I have acoustic-electric guitar and I connect it directly to pc. Here is a problem: Volume is too low. Is there any software that directly (realtime) boostes volume?

I'm sorry for spelling mistakes...

fly135 · #16 July 28th, 2006

Full scale input voltage:
Line in: 1.0 Vrms
Mic In: 0.1 Vrms (Boost off) 1.0 Vrms (Boost on)

That's the AC97 specification. I haven't actually verified that through an audio test, just regurgitating the spec. Maybe I'll give a go tonite and see. I have an Audigy 2 sound card.

Tekker · #17 July 28th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by fly135

Full scale input voltage:
Line in: 1.0 Vrms
Mic In: 0.1 Vrms (Boost off) 1.0 Vrms (Boost on)

The term "full scale" deals with the A/D converters (it is the max input you can have without clipping). So that doesn't really deal with the analog preamp section (or the lack of a preamp section in the line input) that the signal goes through before hitting the A/D converters. Plus it's impossible to judge sound based on specs.

Quote:

That's the AC97 specification. I haven't actually verified that through an audio test, just regurgitating the spec. Maybe I'll give a go tonite and see. I have an Audigy 2 sound card.

Sounds like a plan. It never hurts to experiment and exhaust all possibilities...

Let us know what your results are.

Give this a try also Marino and see if it fixes anything.

-tkr

fly135 · #18 July 28th, 2006

Whoops I swapped the boost on/off in my previous post. It should have read...
Mic In: 0.1 Vrms (Boost On) 1.0 Vrms (Boost off)

Tekker, I think what you are trying to say in a roundabout fashion is that...

The mic section has an additional preamp section and even with the same electrical input specification, the preamp may color the sound or add noise even when the gain is the same as line-in. This may certainly be true, and I agree that as a general rule of thumb you don't want to send audio through additional stages of processing for no reason.

Tekker · #19 July 28th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by fly135

Whoops I swapped the boost on/off in my previous post. It should have read...
Mic In: 0.1 Vrms (Boost On) 1.0 Vrms (Boost off)

LOL! OK, that makes a lot more sense, with the values switched I was thinking those specs dealt with something else.....

Quote:

Tekker, I think what you are trying to say in a roundabout fashion is that...

The mic section has an additional preamp section and even with the same electrical input specification, the preamp may color the sound or add noise even when the gain is the same as line-in.

With the values switched, it certainly does look like the input specs are the same with the boost off..... Very interesting. So in that case, yes, that's exactly what I was saying.

-tkr

marinoFret · #20 July 29th, 2006

I tried to connect guitar into line in input.... but signal is even lower than on mic in.

Any solution???

marinoFret · #21 July 29th, 2006

Can I download some other device drivers for my sound card where volume boosting exists?

I don't know too much about sound cards....

Tekker · #22 July 29th, 2006

Is the volume fader maxed out for the line input (in the recording options)?

-tkr

marinoFret · #23 July 30th, 2006

Yes, it is.. but volume is still too low.

Tekker · #24 July 30th, 2006

How about the playback levels? Make sure both the line in and a master volumes aren't down to far.

Are you trying to record or just hear your guitar back through your PC? And if you are trying to record, which levels are to quiet, the recording levels or your playback levels (or both)?

To experiment, I just tried plugging directly into the line in on the soundcard built into my ASUS motherboard with my acoustic-electric and was able to get enough volume to severely clip in my recording program (we're talking a solid "brick" for the waveform

)... Also while listening, I peaked the input on my mixer and disorted my headphones.

So I'm guessing there is still a setup issue because you should be able to get plenty of volume from the line input. Can you take a couple screenshots of your soundcard's recording and playback mixers and post them?

-tkr

marinoFret · #25 August 3rd, 2006

I downloaded Guitar Box 2.6 and there I can adjust IN/OUT volumes. It's realtime too.

Thanks a lot.

fly135 · #26 August 3rd, 2006

marinoFret, from reading your posts it appears that you are getting plenty of volume from the mic input. You just need to lower the recording volume on the mic.