Buy Sound Software-Only or USB Sound Card--Which is best for Laptop?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
J

Jerry Dale

Honorable
Mar 13, 2014
12
0
10,520
I purchased a Dell laptop 2 years ago and added Creative Soundblaster software to my order. It was digitally delivered. After a recent driver update, I lost the use of the S/B software and it does not appear when I open the control panel. Only Realtec shows up. Dell does not support replacing this software. I changed from Win 7 64-bit to Win 7 32-bit, with help from Dell, after I bought the laptop, due to my software products not running under 64-bit.

I lost the recording function--recordings sound like they are coming from inside a bucket.

Is there a software option for me to purchase or is an external sound card my best option?
I am assuming this is what I need to record what is being played through the computer speakers.
I use Audacity for recording. Adjusting the various settings in Audacity did not correct the problem.
Thanks.
 
Solution
J
Thanks for your quick response. I don't know if my Creative software is an application with a driver included or what it is. There is a media player application included, but its sole purpose on my laptop is to allow me to do sound recording. When I first bought the laptop with Creative installed and Win 7 64-bit, sound recording worked. I soon realized that much of my old software did not run under 64-bit. Dell assisted me in changing to Win 7 32-bit and sent me a Windows disk to do that. Then sound recording produced distorted sounds. Dell helped me download (through digital delivery) and install the Creative s/w and recording has worked ever since until I ran a driver update function with the application Advanced System Care. This...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Phillip Corcoran

Phillip Corcoran

Titan
Moderator
Sep 7, 2013
25,976
859
120,140
Creative SoundBlaster software only works with Creative SoundBlaster sound cards.

Presumably, then, when you bought your laptop it had a SoundBlaster sound card since you also got the SB software.

Are you now saying that the SoundBlaster card has somehow magically changed to a Realtek card (since a Realtek driver only works with Realtek hardware)?

Sounds to me like you've installed the wrong sound driver - it needs to be a SoundBlaster driver since there is no way your SoundBlaster device can change itself to a Realtek one.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
J

Jerry Dale

Honorable
Mar 13, 2014
12
0
10,520
Thanks for your quick response. I don't know if my Creative software is an application with a driver included or what it is. There is a media player application included, but its sole purpose on my laptop is to allow me to do sound recording. When I first bought the laptop with Creative installed and Win 7 64-bit, sound recording worked. I soon realized that much of my old software did not run under 64-bit. Dell assisted me in changing to Win 7 32-bit and sent me a Windows disk to do that. Then sound recording produced distorted sounds. Dell helped me download (through digital delivery) and install the Creative s/w and recording has worked ever since until I ran a driver update function with the application Advanced System Care. This updated Realtek drivers.

Today I went into System Restore, saw that Realtek was changed on March 3rd, so I restored the PC as of Feb 28.
Sound recording is working now. This is solved. System Restore was the solution. Thanks again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom