Vinyl Deck 97 troubles -- advice?

Here are problems that began in late Spring with my Averatec 3700 sound:

- Pick up a hum when recording through a mic. Have tested various mics and cross-tested them on other computers. They are not the problem.
- Pick up scratchy sounds, too, and sometimes these are related to moving the cursor, other times, not.
- Have a slight delay in speech vs realtime. Especially evident in video recording. Lips out of synch with voice. But also can hear it when talking on Jaduka Earthcaller or Skype, or simply when digitally recording if I am also monitoring playback.

Have replaced the ACVinylDeck97 driver (updated, rolled back) a couple times and that has done nothing to help.

1. Any ideas where this problem might lie?

2. Any particular driver version that is especially good for VinylDeck?

3. Other soundcard software that will work with the Averatec 3250 and 3700?

Thank you,
kwc

 

Probably the mic port is loose or broken. Replace it is not difficult if you know how to solder, but the problem is to find the part.

 

As this sounds like a hardware issue more so than a software driver issue, the least expensive option might be a USB audio adapter. See this posting on this forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=320616

 

Thanks.

Jim, I'm going to give your solution a whirl. Find these for about $3 shipped on eBay if I'm willing to wait for it to get here from Hong Kong; about $6 otherwise. So an inexpensive possible solution indeed!

Best,
kwc

 

New Question about the
5.1 Sound card USB Audio Microphone Adapter, Jim:

Will I be able to use that with my videocam, too? It has a built-in mic that I like to use, and I DO have the option of selecting what sound software it is to default to. With the Adapter plugged into the USB port, can you then select IT as your soundcard?

Thanks,
kwc

 

I have the USB mic adaptor on its way to me. And it may well solve my problem. Am sure it will if when it is plugged into the USB port, the computer operating system recognizes it as a soundcard device that other programs can access and use.

And still pretty sure that my initial issue is software and not hardware related, though.

A strong indicator of that is the problem with the webcam, which uses a USB port for both the audio and video input (thus bypassing the microphone jack on the computer altogether). And which uses The AC Vinyl 97 sound software.

I get some audio effects -- like presence and reverb/delay -- that may be the result of some other audio processing software on my computer having latched onto the soundcard and refusing to let go. I seem to remember that the equalizer in WMP has a tendency to do that. That doesn't explain the slightly audible hum however, when I have a mic plugged into the mic jack on the front of the computer. That hum suggests a bad ground in the jack. So maybe two separate issues here.

I'm pretty sure some software conflict exists somewhere; some other program -- maybe Windows Media Player? -- is interfering with the processing of analog-to-wave sound input. Am going to keep exploring that possible avenue, too. I have about a dozen audio and video processing/editing programs installed on this machine and any one of them might have registered itself with AC Vinyl 97 at some point.

Appreciate the tip about the USB mic adaptor, Jim. And was pleased to read of your experience with the Triton minispeakers/amp. I bought one of those for my 3250 a few years back and was terribly disappointed because of the pops and crackling noises I got. It's been packed away ever since. Now, after reading your comments on another thread, realize that I probably won't have that issue if I use it on other laptops. My next computer is going to be an ultra mini (like the new little Acer) and the mini-speakers might be a really nice accessory to that.

Best,
kwc

 

This laptop is designed for portable and it's not a high end one. Also, its sofwares are buggy, you need latest software updates and drivers.

For editing video and audio, you should use a recent desktop, instead of this cheap and poorly designed laptop. For example, changing a hard drive, one has to disassemble completely this laptop to access it.

 

Beut, I don't disagree with you that my Averatec laptops do not have the power of a high-end desktop computer. However, I live off the grid on solar power and on the road and only want and use laptops (and even smaller devices) and only ones that draw very little wattage. My Averatec 3700, with the monitor brightness turned low, tends to pull an average of about 25 watts, with occasional spikes to 40. My 3250 averages in the mid 30s and can spike to the high 40s.

I'm open to suggestions for reasonably priced, small, lightweight laptops that draw 25 watts or less and that have the processing power to handle light audio and video editing (not full time, but as part of their regular duty).

I prefer 12-inch or smaller screens, to help keep the profile of the beast low and help keep it portable. (Plus they tend to need less power than the bigger screens.)

I also do not want Vista, but prefer XP.

What do you suggest for under $1k? I'm expecting to try one of the Acer ultra minis in January, the one with the largest harddrive and with an outboard CD/DVD reader/burner that I will purchase to use when needed. The computer will cost me about $400. I've typed on one and the keyboard feels full-size to me -- I don't hit the wrong keys while typing at 100-plus wpm on it. And the size is perfect. And my test of the wattage draw shows it pulling just under 20 watts a lot of the time -- which is very cool.

My whole house is set up to use less than 1200 watts per day. And I only buy appliances and techie things that will work within that. My RV solar is set up to provide less than 300 watts per day (but can store more while driving).

My house LED lighting uses between 5 watts and 30 watts per hour, depending upon whether I have every room lit up or just one at a time. Using the same lighting in the RV (but less, so my max lighting draw is about 10 watts per hour there).

Energy efficiency, as well as computing efficiency and compactness, are the most important criteria for me when considering a computer.

That's how I ended up with another Averatec. When it came time to get another laptop a couple years ago, I couldn't find ANYTHING out there that was drawing less than about 60 watts per hour. I bought a Lenova at Sam's with a darn fast processor and found it was much slower than my Averatec 3250 -- mainly because of Vista. So took it back. And went on eBay and found an Averatec 3700 used, which has served me pretty well for quite awhile now.