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I'm trying to record bassguitar in Sonar 8, but get a strange noise in the recordings.. Sounds as if the speakers are blown (i know this is not the case..) i've checked all the wiring and adjustments so there's no overdrive or distortion or bad cables or anything. Only thing i can think of is that it is problems with the soundcard, either hardware or software, however a driver update yielded no results.
A realtek HD audio inbuilt in motherboard soundcard. About 2 years old. Can't seem to find the specific model name..:/

Does anyone else have similar problems with realtek HD?

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anonymous Mon, 12/22/2008 - 20:07

I also record onboard with a realtek HD 16 bit soundcard. I have the same problem with bass guitar. I believe the low heavy frequency is just too much for these onboard soundcards. An external interface will solve this problem immediately. I have however had some success with micing bass amps at low volume at the right distance6-8 fee away and working with that, but its not the punch you want from a bass track.

vinniesrs Mon, 12/22/2008 - 21:36

The problem with these soundcards is noise. THe problem is also that the quality of the electronics is poor. It is fine for playing mp3's on computer speaker systems, but that is all they are really meant for.
If you get an external piece that can convert the analog signal into a digital signal before the computer can mess it up with a bunch of noise, that is the objective.

You will find that; even if you get a track that sounds, kinda clean - once you mix it together with a bunch of kinda clean tracks it gets kinda muddy.

If you are looking for a useable - even enjoyable recording go for a decend sound interface.

anonymous Thu, 06/25/2009 - 09:31

Every one stop..... just to let you know, everything needs to be grounded into one plug, the reason for this is, there will be back feed from the grounds. So you have to interlock everything together to stop this.... Or, I say or, just go to Radio Shack, right Radio Shack and but a suppressor for the lines where you are going into the computer to stop the noise, very easy solution.

Rocket

vinniesrs Thu, 06/25/2009 - 10:13

Grounding issues can certainly cause problems, but even if you solve grounding problems, you cannot perform a clean A/D conversion inside a computer.
Hard drives with motors, cd rom drives, processors, RAM, all of this stuff gives off tons of interference. If your analog signal is imported into a computer it will pick up the noise. Not to mention if you look at the input signal on a scope DC is all over the place. It's really pretty brutal.
A very inexpensive way of getting a reasonably clean input signal is with an analog pre ot soundboard with RCA outputs. Take the outs and run them to a Roland Edirol UA-1EX or an M-audio transit. Both of these devices are usb, and cost less than $100. I have a UA1EX which I have used for various portable tasks with my notebook and found the input signal to be acceptable.
On a couple of occasions I have had to record an idea without the UA-1, but man - did the quality ever suck. In this case, grounding issues were not a problem.

So I agree, that grounding issues should be considered and your signal path should be made as clean as possible, but this will not fix the impossiblility of an integrated soundcard to receive an analog signal without demolishing the sound! Spend the 100 bucks. :wink: