# No Stereo Mix - Conexant



## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

I need to be able to record my voice through my webcam and also the voices that I hear coming through my speakers from Skype. Now, there are a lot of problems, apparently....

My computer is a Windows 7 Dell Inspiron Zino HD with a Conexant Smartaudio 221 sound card. This apparently doesn't seem to have stereo mix or any variation of it. Before anyone suggests, yes, I clicked "show disabled devices" and "show disconnected devices", but nothing else pops up. I have also tried Virtual Audio Cable, and either I did something wrong or it still didn't allow me to record both instances of audio at once. I've even tried just putting the volume up really high on my speakers and trying to record it that way, but of course, the sound quality is crap if I do that.

I can't plug a 3.5mm cable from my speakers into my microphone port because I then wouldn't be able to hear what the people were saying to me (these are interviews). I also can't record one stream and then record the other, because its live, and it needs to be in one audio stream (plus I wouldn't be able to record what they were saying anyway, because I don't have stereo mix, know what I mean?)

I need to be able to both listen to what they're saying AND record both what I'm saying and what they're saying, at the same time, in one audio file that I can run live and broadcast. Another thing is that the webcam I'm using is of course connected via usb, so any solutions that involve me plugging my speaker 3.5mm cable into a splitter and my microphone into that as well won't work, since I don't see any Y-cables that have ports for both USB and 3.5mm.

I can't simply buy a new computer, nor can I afford much at all in terms of buying new sound cards or anything of the sort, so please don't suggest that I buy some $100 mixing board. If I could do that, I wouldn't be posting here lol.

So essentially, do you guys know any way I can accomplish this? If it requires me buying a new sound card, what is the absolute cheapest one you know of that has stereo mix, and how do I still accomplish recording both that line of audio and the one coming into my webcam's microphone at the same time, without just recording them separately and then mixing those two separate audio files together in something like Audacity? Of course, that same sound card would need to be good quality, since I can't just record static - otherwise, what's the point? I'm not expecting some high grade professional super-great quality, but just equal to what I'd be hearing from my speakers so people can hear both myself and the people I'm talking to clearly when they listen in. Preferably, under 50 bucks...preferably, some method for me to do this without spending anything lol.

Any help will be greatly appreciated!


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## GZ (Jan 31, 2010)

Did a little searching and came up with this...

5 Great Ways to Record Skype Calls - The Next Web

The second app in the list is free and looks like it will do what you want it to do.

Be sure to gain consent before recording a conversation.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

That was a step forward, but unfortunately, doesn't fully fit my requirements. About halfway through recording my test run, it started to echo the person I was listening to. Plus, I'd like for this to be able to process and broadcast live, rather than record something and then have to publish it later on. I have no choice but to do that now, but I'd like to get it to the point where I can just broadcast live on something like Ustream and be able to have people that are listening live call in and talk as well.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

Any other ideas, anyone?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

You will likely need a combination of new sound card and/or software specific to what you are doing.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

What's the cheapest sound card that has stereo mix, and what specific software things would you have in mind?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Creative has the option as well, but they call it "what you hear". I'm not sure about which chipsets support it. It seems to be supported by most of their chipsets (Live, Audigy, Audigy2, X-Fi), but I can't find an official list.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

If I need to get a sound card, I'd need to get the cheapest possible that does this...but even then, I still would have problems with needing software that mixes things together.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Software would be for recording. The purpose of Stereo Mix/What you Hear is to mix the two audio sources.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

If I had no different software but some normal stuff to use and set it to "stereo mix", wouldn't it just come up with what's on the computer coming out of my speakers as opposed to that plus the audio from my mic as well?


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Most software only allows you to choose a single input for recording. So without Stereo Mix/What you Hear, you can only record the one channel.

With Stereo Mix/What you Hear enabled, the two channels are mixed into one. So with your recording software, you would then be recording both channels.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

So does anyone know of any cheap sound cards that definitely have stereo mix?


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

Bump..


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

I don't know of any reference to which cards support it.


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## Etcetera007 (Aug 20, 2010)

Ugh, this shouldn't be anywhere near as difficult to accomplish as it is lol


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

Most quality chipsets (ie: Creative, Asus, Realtek) support Stereo Mix. It's usually the generic chipsets that don't. With that said, as stated previously, it's also not supported in all driver versions.


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