Woodshed Audio Clinic

The Woodshed's Audio Clinic is designed to help you get your Windows Mixer setup properly. Every system is different, so you may need to experiment with yours a bit to find the right settings, or email us for instructions for your specific operating system.

Setting up the Windows Mixer

The most common problems related to the Windows Mixer include:

Check Recording Settings

1. Open your Windows Mixer by double-clicking the speaker icon in the "System Tray" area on the right side of the Windows Taskbar. (if you don't see a speaker icon there, turn it on by going to Start Menu/Settings/Control Panel/Multimedia/Audio and checking the box that says Show Volume Control on the Taskbar. Then close the Control Panel).
2. You'll see a Volume Control mixer panel appear;
3. Click the Options menu at the top of the mixer, then click the Properties command.
4. Inside the Properties dialog click the Recording radio option button in the "Adjust Volume For" section.
5. Make sure the CD Audio checkbox is checked in the "Show the following volume controls" section.

Note: Most systems will use CD Audio as the device for recording, but your system may require a different device. If CD Audio does not work, then try every other device available until you find the right one (it may be called "wave out mix", for example, or "line out", or any number of other names).

6. Press the OK button to close this dialog and move on to the next step.
7. In the Recording Control Mixer Panel; make sure that the Select box at the bottom of the correct device for your system has a check mark in it and if it doesn’t click on it to put one there.
8. Adjust the volume control of the selected device as needed. If the volume is too high, loud sounds will distort. If the volume is too low, there may be excessive background hiss. But get it just right, and the sound should be pretty good.
9. Check to see what happens to your recording  settings when you exit and restart either SlowGold or SlowBlast. If the settings are changing from where you set them, do the following:

   In SlowBlast: click the Options Menu and click Auto Select Input Device to turn it off (there should be no check mark). This will prevent SlowBlast from resetting the mixer everytime you start the program.

   In SlowGold: click the Settings Menu, and from the Recording tab, click the "Set the Recording Mixer Automatically" option to turn it off (ther should be no check mark). This will prevent SlowGold from resetting the mixer everytime you start the program.

Check Playback Settings

1. Choose Properties again from the Options menu, but this time select the Playback option.
2. In the "Show the following volume controls" section make sure the CD Audio and Wave checkboxes are checked.
3. Press the OK button to close this dialog and move on to the next step.
4. You will be back at the Volume Control Mixer Panel; make sure that the mute box at the bottom of the CD Audio and Wave strips are not checked.
5. Make sure the Wave volume control is set high enough for both CD Audio and Wave (about 3/4 of the way to full volume is usually good).

Check Multimedia Device Settings

Your Windows Device Settings can affect CD Audio playback, and should be checked if the above steps have failed to solve the problem, especially if hardware changes have been made recently.

1. Click the Windows Start Button, then click Settings.
2. From the Control Panel double-click the Multimedia icon.
3. From the Multimedia dialog, click the Audio tab at the top.
4. On the Audio tab check both Record and Playback drivers to make sure valid ones are listed.

1. Click the Windows Start Button, then click Settings.
2. From the Control Panel double-click the Multimedia icon.
3. From the Multimedia dialog, click the CD Music tab at the top.
4. On the CD Music Tab make sure the CD-ROM Drive setting is showing the correct drive letter for your system.
5. Also make sure there is a check mark in the "Enable digital CD Audio for this CD-ROM device" check box.

SlowGold

1. Open SlowGold.
2. Click the Settings Menu, then the CD tab at the top of the Settings dialog box, then click the "Choose\Change CD Drive" button.
3. Type in the correct drive letter if the incorrect letter is showing, then click OK.

SlowBlast!

1. In SlowBlast! click the Options Menu then the Select CD Unit command.
2. Select the proper drive letter from the list if the incorrect letter is selected, then click the OK.

Check Sound Card Settings

Sound cards these days have a lot of sound effects that can interfere with the quality, so check your sound card properties to see if it is using 3D sound, or surround sound, etc.

1. Locate your Sound Card properties in the Windows Control Panel and disable the special effects and restart SlowGold or SlowBlast!.

Experiments to Try

If the above steps have been followed and you are still unable to hear sound in slowplay/transform mode, conduct the following experiments.

1. Close all programs, including SlowGold or SlowBlast!.
2. Type <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Del> on your keyboard to bring up the Windows Task List.
3. End task on everything except the Explorer.
4. Start up SlowGold or SlowBlast! again and try it out.

1. Open SlowGold or SlowBlast! along with your Windows Mixer.
2. Systematically go through the mixer and select the available devices that are not obviously for some other set purpose (like microphone, for instance, would not be a likely candidate) and make sure the volume is up.
3. Use the Windows Task Bar to switch to the SlowGold or SlowBlast program and try it out.
4. Continue trying one device at a time until all possibilities are exhausted.
5. If the experiment is not fruitful, make sure to select the standard device again before exiting the mixer.