arabassist Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Hello, When my amp is unavailable I plug my bass straight into the line-in jack for my laptop and have had great results of hearing it through my speakers and sub. The tone is a bit ugly but that is expected. Recently I formatted my hard drive and installed windows 7, for some reason, the way the pc plays back the line-in sound is much different - instead of setting the speakers to simply output what you input, i now have to set the 'rec. playback device'. now, when i play the bass the sound comes out of the speakers delayed, making it impossible to play in rhythm. The tone has become even uglier - however, very strangely, the slap and pop tone is far better than anything I've achieved before (including with my amp!) Has anyone got the faintest idea as to why this has happened? Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Computers are a pain in the arse and rarely do what you want/expect them to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 [quote name='Protium' post='782870' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:35 PM']Computers are a pain in the arse and rarely do what you want/expect them to do.[/quote] Ain't that just the truth! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arabassist Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 [quote name='Protium' post='782870' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:35 PM']Computers are a pain in the arse and rarely do what you want/expect them to do.[/quote] Very true, but there's always a logical explanation! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmesa Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 Driver / Latency issues? Windows is terrible? Could be either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hagguy Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 i used a line 6 tone port through my pc into a peavey guitar amp for ages before i got a bass amp best £30 i've spent on gear for sure never tried it through pc speakers tho Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arabassist Posted March 22, 2010 Author Share Posted March 22, 2010 [quote name='jmesa' post='782881' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:43 PM']Driver / Latency issues? Windows is terrible? Could be either![/quote] I'm using the same drivers as before and windows 7 is great (in relative terms) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Mariner Posted March 22, 2010 Share Posted March 22, 2010 You may have 32 bit drivers and be running W7 in 64 bit. That may be enough to cause the lag you're seeing. I'd check for updated drivers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottle Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 I tried to do this with my Toshiba laptop running XP SP3, but was less than impressed with the results, so I opted to get a USB interface (M-Audio Fast-Track Pro). Works well, has two combo inputs (Mic/Line), various routing options, and has decent latency-free hardware monitoring. Coupled with a pair of BX8a monitors, it makes a decent substitute for my full bass rig - plus I can hook up headphones for quiet practice and play-along with my iPod/iTunes. I can also hook up my SansAmp to the XLR input, so I can try out various settings without going overboard with the volume. Anyway, hope this helps. Ian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arabassist Posted March 23, 2010 Author Share Posted March 23, 2010 [quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='782904' date='Mar 22 2010, 10:59 PM']You may have 32 bit drivers and be running W7 in 64 bit. That may be enough to cause the lag you're seeing. I'd check for updated drivers.[/quote] aaah, i'm using W7 32...my last OS was vista 64 That does sound great, Ian, but judging by the price of such hardware I might as well leave that idea alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EskimoBassist Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 Line 6 Tone Port - My mate has got one, great product, will definitely do the job you're after. Makes a great recording interface too. M-Audio Fast-Track Pro - Another mate of mine has been using this too, great results. From what I know/have seen, either would do the job well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bumfrog Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) any standard aftermarket audio (m-audio/line 6/mackie/prosonus etc) related sound card (not gaming/theatre ones like soundblasters etc) will do what you need nicely. Tis all about latency issues and standard sound cards this doesn't matter because you're not doing realtime recording/playback on them, hence the latency issues. Edited March 23, 2010 by bumfrog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 You shouldn't have to have latency at all. Check you have the right drivers for your card and OS. Does the driver have a control panel? Anyway, it would be worth your while to get a decent USB audio interface - there are loads of great cheap ones around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_bass5 Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 (edited) I use W7 x86 with a M-Audio 2496 card and get 0 latency if im just directly monitoring or i can get it down to about 4ms if im using guitar rig. I dont know why anyone posts negative comments without backing it up with facts but i find W7 to be the best OS ive used. All my music apps work well and i have to tinker a lot less to get things running than i did with XP. Edited March 23, 2010 by dave_bass5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 23, 2010 Share Posted March 23, 2010 yeh W7 seems to be going down very well. I have a couple of laptops at work running it fine. I like it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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