There are some simple and not generally known settings you can make to get the best possible performance from a computer soundcard and therefore a cleaner and richer sound.

1. Open the Volume Control panel and in the Playback section Mute and Zero all the channels you are not using.

2. In the Recording section Zero all the channels you are not using.

This saves the resources of the computer soundcard for the channel you are using.

Remember the actions you have done above when you use other channels and getting no response.
Brian

This tip will certainly result in a cleaner sound and it's true with any signal chain; whether inputs to your audio card or mixing live sound - if it's not being used; it gets the mute.

When I run live sound, I almost always bus individual channels to subgroups (all vox to a group, drumkit to a group, guitars to a group, etc.) and then use the mute on the groups to manage the overall amount of 'noise-floor' that can get added up.

However, I must say that with most of the live mixing desks I've used in the past few years (Mostly Mackies and Allen & Heaths) the channels are pretty doggoned clean in and of themselves.

Mackie manuals do a nice job leading one through how to get the absolute best gain structure out of their desks - with the first step being to 'zero the board' - doing exactly what you suggest here. On a fresh setup, I'll actually take my hand and start at the right side of the board, and just run it along on the attenuation pots, from right to left, to spin all of the attenuators to zero. That way, even if I forget and leave an unused channel un-muted, it's not on a high-gain setting.

-Scott

Hi Scott,

Thanks for your comments and I was really refering to computer soundcards.
Brian

I got a new SB audigy SE fitted and tried recording a vocal track today - even after doing all of the above muting/zeroing ,I still get a low "buzz".
I can get rid of it with the denoiser, but I'd rather not have it to start with.
(Another thing that happened was that the vocal went out of sync with the backing as the song progressed - I had loaded the Biab tracks into my Magix seq.)
Maybe just "teething" troubles - I hope!

Mark,

Make sure to set the audio tempo when importing the files. Magix has a tendency to decipher the audio and make up its own tempo values.

Trax

Hi Mark,

That should not happen so double check that on both the Playback and Recording areas again that everything you are not using is either at zero or/and mute.
The mic in and line in cause the most noise here.

Also that all the jack plugs are clean from the grease/sweat of handling with an electrical contact cleaner or spirit wipe.

On the other hand it might be the spec of the SE card which is at the lower end of the range to the top end ZS or X-Fi music cards

I also use Magix amongst others and not had that sync problem - sometimes it is best to re-do.
Brian

Thanks Brian,
I've checked all the settings - might be the card specs, or the cables as you suggest.
Could there be an "irq" conflict - I think that's what I mean!

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I got a new SB audigy SE fitted and tried recording a vocal track today - even after doing all of the above muting/zeroing ,I still get a low "buzz".

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That noise is almost certainly the mic or cable or both. I would try a different cable first. Make sure it's a proper shielded mic cable. Guitar pickups are known for picking up noise from a CRT monitor if you have one of those. I don't know if a mic will pick up noise from a CRT but try moving away from the monitor anyway. This doesn't sound like a PC/soundcard problem to me but you can also try plugging your PC into another power outlet just for laughs.

Bob