MP3's Wont Play through Soundcard Input

[jkzimm]

Running WinAmp 5.61 with latest Shoutcast DSP plugin on Win 7. Using a USB mixer (USB Codec driver) for mic input and as a soundcard. In control panel, Codec devices are set to default. Using Soundcard as input device in Shoutcast plugin, voice from mic plays over stream, MP3 files do not. When using Winamp as input, MP3 files play, microphone does not.

What is driving me crazy is I have another PC with exactly the same setup, and I can stream voice and music through soundcard input fine. The only difference is the winamp was upgraded from previous versions. The PC giving me trouble has a fresh install. Have also tried different USB mixers - same result.

[thinktink]

http://www.google.com/search?q=Mic+a...x%22+Windows+7

Not all sound card drivers for Win Vista/7 support Stereo Mix + Mic. You may need to find a third party solution if the above google search link does not ultimately help you resolve the issue.

[hackerdork]

eek welcome to windows 7 and vista. using a USB mic will never get your to working well with playing background audio. The main reason is when you have the headset connection you have a 2nd or 3rd soundcard (the usb is a sound card). Even if you had stereo mix as and option on your soundcard that is only for the soundcard and not the headset.

avoid USB mixers unless you have both the mic and music source connected to the usb mixer

Here's what works using a standard 1/8 (3.5mm ) stereo jack male one one end and dual female, plus a 2nd 3.5mm male to male.

connect the male to female duplex to mic in. connect headset mic (has to have a 3.5mm mic connector) to one connector. then connect the male-male to audio-out and the other end to the 2nd female connector. you just put mic and audio out into the mic input. This may echo or have the sound over driven so then the volume down for playback.

The best solution is a external mixer where the audio from any other device is coming into the mixer and the mic. notice you cant connect a usb headset to a mixer either. toss it away or use it for skpe and voice chat not for shoutcast.

The other software solutions isnt free either, but virtual audio cable acts like a virtual soundcard and can loop or copy audio from one source into another. (use google to look for it). The big disadvantage is echo, delay (latency) or the potential of sounding like a robot.

the best option hardly exists on soundcard esp those on laptop is the use of stereo or MASTER mix which takes input, playback and allows you to mix them together. This has long since been removed from soundcard drivers and even the hardware lacks it on realtek, sigmaltel, and intel HD audio cards

best of luck.