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Dr. Nick
Posts: 5
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:05 am
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I have a onboard VIA AC'97 sound controller, but when I tried to install a 6-channel C-Media CMI8738/C3DZ PCI card, windows ME gives me a device conflict, forcing me to disable one card.
Is there a way have both cards working at the same time?
Also, the PCI card doesnt seem to support full-duplex recording from the SW Synth. (I am trying to record MIDI, something I could easily do with the onboard card.)
One more thing, the PCI card has optical 6-channel SPDIF I/O, but I cant get it do do anything with my sony STR-DE685 reciever. (It might just be that I'm not using proper toslink cables, but I can see the light through the cable.)
I just rememberd, CEP 2.1 doesnt seem to know that the PCI card has 6 channels and just outputs everything in stereo. How do I get it to see the other channels?
-Thanks!
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jonrose
Location: USA
Posts: 2901
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 7:53 pm
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First of all, I only see a CMI9738 device listed on C-Media's site - is this the one? And if so, it's a 4-channel. The CMI9739 is 6-channel. These are listed as AC97 codecs, though - I haven't found an actual listing for a PCI card with those numbers... (?)
And if both devices are AC97, I can understand why there might be a conflict, as the drivers and/or devices are likely to be confused.
Or am I totally barking up the wrong tree, here?
![Question](../img/s/icon_question.gif) :???:
Best... -Jon
P.S. Check out this page, which is why I was confused by your query...
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Dr. Nick
Posts: 5
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 9:13 pm
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Quote: |
First of all, I only see a CMI9738 device listed on C-Media's site |
Um, the CMI8738 is the third one down on the link that you gave. Perhapse you misread the jumble of numbers.
This card is definately 6-channel, although very little information is available for it. (The box has a completely different brand and lacks a model number!)
I'm not even sure what AC97 means, so if you could explain, that would be appreciated.
I guess I should have expected something like this on a $10 sound card.
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jonrose
Location: USA
Posts: 2901
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Posted - Sat Jul 26, 2003 10:28 pm
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OK... my bad. I was looking at another page on their site, then found that one and didn't really scan through it.
However - If you can't get this to work by first removing the device in Windoze Device Mangler (Device Manager) and then disabling the onboard chip via the BIOS, then this is probably something you will need to clear up with C-Media themselves.
The good news is, when you finally do get this sorted out, CE won't care what you're using in terms of hardware. ![Smile](../img/s/icon_smile.gif)
Good luck with it!
Best... -Jon
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Dr. Nick
Posts: 5
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Posted - Sun Jul 27, 2003 8:59 am
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windows ME gives me a device conflict, forcing me to disable one card. |
The problem is not getting it to work by itself, but alongside the onboard chip. I wanted to do this because I thought CEP could handle multiple cards, especially usefull for multitrack mode.
Thanks anyway.
Any ideas about the other problems?
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MusicConductor
Location: USA
Posts: 1524
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Posted - Sun Jul 27, 2003 3:05 pm
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CEP can and does handle multiple cards quite nicely. The problem arises when running them simultaneously when there is no common clock, which would be the case with your configuration. Inevitably the tracks on each card will work their way out of sync with each other, some sooner than others.
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Graeme
Member
Location: Spain
Posts: 4663
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Posted - Sun Jul 27, 2003 3:18 pm
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Dr. Nick wrote: |
[
The problem is not getting it to work by itself, but alongside the onboard chip. I wanted to do this because I thought CEP could handle multiple cards, especially usefull for multitrack mode. |
No, no, no - this is not the right approach to multitracking at all. The cards needs to be locked together, otherwise you will lose sync between the tracks. If it was that simple, nobody would bother making multiple input/output cards.
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jonrose
Location: USA
Posts: 2901
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Posted - Sun Jul 27, 2003 3:47 pm
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Aside of the fact that you would have no sync if you were able to get these going together, it really sounds to me as if this is a device driver conflict, and the best help you could get would be from C-Media themselves. Another known example is with Creative's (Soundblaster) drivers, which get confused when using multiple Creative cards in the same system - they can't share the device driver.
In the end, it would probably be best to investigate a better-quality card from a reputable manufacturer (check through the forums for lots of suggestions and warnings ).
Just some thoughts...
Happy shopping! -Jon
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