Sound Card on Lenovo V130 Laptop

James-Sharkey wrote on 2/18/2019, 9:53 AM

I've recently upgraded from an old PC to a new Lenovo V130 laptop with Windows 10 Pro and i'm now trying to get my copy of Audio Cleaning Lab 2014 working. The laptop does not have the traditional Line-in port that was on the old PC. It has something called a Combo Audio Jack which supports both microphone and headphones but I'm not able to get Audio Cleaning Lab to 'hear' any input from my amp. I've seen lots of ads for USB Sound Cards; will one of these solve my problem? I've noticed that most of these devices focus on output to speakers and/or headphones and say little about line-in functionality and those that do are simply mono and not stereo. Does anyone have any advise or recommendations on solving this problem?

 

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 2/18/2019, 10:31 AM

@James-Sharkey

Welcome to the Magix forums.

A very quick read of the spec of your new laptop shows its "audio" input connection is, indeed, a "combined" one. But, as far as I can tell, that "input" is designed for what the Lenovo site calls a "Single Digital mic", whatever that may be!

So, yes, a USB audio interface is the way to go for you. (In my experience, all of them are by default "stereo" units.) Depending whether you want to be able to record from a mic, a line input (e.g. a stereo system) or both, will determine the type and complexity of the unit you need, and, inevitably, the price you need to pay! E.g., a simple USB 2 audio interface, allowing you to input a stereo line signal, could cost less than £30. If you need to also input the signal from a mic, you will need to check that the unit has capacity for this (not all do); those with professional XLR connectors (usually a minimum of 1 or 2) will offer the best quality - assuming your mic uses an XLR lead - but the price will be considerably more than the simpler unit I referred to earlier. Unless you are using a capacitor mic, which needs phantom power, there is no need to consider buying an interface which offers this facility.

HTH

Jeff

Win 10 Pro 64 bit, Intel i7 Quad Core 6700K @ 4GHz, 32 GB RAM, NVidia GTX 1660TI and Intel HD530 Graphics, MOTU 8-Pre f/w audio interface, VPX, MEP, Music Maker, PhotoStory Deluxe, Photo Manager Deluxe, Xara 3D Maker 7, Samplitude Pro X7 Suite, Reaper, Adobe Audition 3, CS6 and CC, 2 x Canon HG10 cameras, 1 x Canon EOS 600D, Akaso EK7000 Pro Action Cam

James-Sharkey wrote on 2/19/2019, 4:45 AM

Jeff, thanks for your feedback. I’ll definitely take up your advice although I’ve just realised I have a problem my amp which needs checking out first.

Once again, many thanks.

James