The Windows XP Sound Manager
This is a source of much confusion and more problems with setting up radio related software result from this than anything else.
Since soundcards started appearing on the scene and Microsoft started building
multimedia into Windows, it's been a mess. In fact, you could say that it has got worse in some
respects as in the early days, sound mixer interfaces used to have a signal
level display so you could see if there was any audio activity.
There are two parts to the sound manager, a volume
control and a recording control. You can think of them as a pair of audio mixers. The recording control selects and mixes between different sorces going into your PC, and the volume control determines which sources you hear coming out of the PC.
You can reach them both from Control Panel> Sounds and
Audio Devices>Advanced (button)
This will throw up the Volume control, but to start
with, let's look at the Recording control. Click on options and select
Properties and then Adjust Volume for... Recording and you should see the
picture below.
The 
Recording Control controls the level of audio going into your computer's soundcard
The sensitivity can be very critical if you are using
your soundcard to decode data.
The
Volume Control adjusts and configures the audio going out of your computer
to your headphones or speakers.
 Make sure , especially if you have more than one soundcard or sound device, that you have the right default device selected. If you've got a USB phone, for instance, this will act as a sound device and an incoming call on Skype can automatically alter this setting without telling you.
|
