Skip to main content ↑ ↓

Notice

Please note that most of the software linked on this forum is likely to be safe to use. If you are unsure, feel free to ask in the relevant topics, or send a private message to an administrator or moderator. To help curb the problems of false positives, or in the event that you do find actual malware, you can contribute through the article linked here.
Topic: Using Microphone Jack as audio (Read 9556 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

First of all, if you're gonna be all 'HEY YO MIC IS INPUT', yes, I know that and don't care about your opinion. Please move on.

That being said, what do I need to install (on vista) for this to work? On my home computer (running xp) I could reprogram all of my audio outputs (integrated soundcard) whichever way I wanted (2 mics, 3 line in, 6.1, etc.). But I don't seem to find this on Vista.

My problem is now, having a laptop, I only have two outputs in total (audio, mic) and I really want to set up a new profile that lets me put e.g. two pairs of speakers in parallel.

To be specific, something that lets me set the 'audio' output as 'front channels' and the 'mic' jack as 'back channels'. Otherwise I could just use a splitter and I'm not looking for that.

Is there anything you know about?

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #1 –
I would guess that what is different is not the OS but the capabilities of the sound card. A lot of cards don't have the capability that you are describing, and I suspect that it is especially rare for built-in cards.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #2 –
so there would be no way to install a non-usb 4.1 speaker system, for example?

I forgot, the 'home' computer also had an in-built soundcard, and the last upgrade ever was in 2004.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #3 –
As pdq said, it depends entirely on the design of a particular sound card.

It can happen with onboard sound - my Dell XPS 1330 laptop, for instance, can do exactly what you're looking for: remap the mic input to be a rear speaker output.

Does your onboard audio chipset have its own control panel (my Dell's is a SigmaTel, FWIW)?  That's where the option exists on mine for selecting how the mic input behaves.
"Not sure what the question is, but the answer is probably no."

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #4 –
It's a 'SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio', manufacturer listed as Analog Devices.

But they don't make any drivers, the ones I have are the ones from HP (laptop is a Compaq 6710s fwiw...).

Isn't there any other way if the sound card doesn't have a control panel?

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #6 –
I do have a Y cable, but I want to be able to (possibly) use one of them with headphones.

That is one ... way to do it, so thanks for the tip

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #7 –
Quote
so there would be no way to install a non-usb 4.1 speaker system, for example?

You can use a 5.1 channel USB soundcard.  I have this one[/u][/url].

Watch out for the "marketing"...  It looks like a  lot of cheap "5.1 channel"  USB soundcards have "virtual surround".

Quote
I do have a Y cable, but I want to be able to (possibly) use one of them with
Two Y-adapters.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #8 –
P.S.

I don't have Vista, but with Win2K & Win7 it was "plug & play"...  I didn't have to install and drivers.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #9 –
Thanks for the input... I was looking for something to be done with this stupid integrated card but I guess not.

Also, I think you're talking about different kinds of Y cables. I meant an RCA L+R to Jack cable, while for using headphones I would need a female jack. I asked because I don't want to use a splitter, two Ys (only have 1) and an extra RCA-to-jack (double female... or would that be called a lesbian cable?)- all of those are more trouble than they're worth.

Using Microphone Jack as audio

Reply #10 –
HDAudio codecs are required to have pretty extensive signal routing capabilities. For example, it wouldn't be uncommon to be able to switch between microphone and line input. I can't remember offhand whether they could also pull off swapping inputs for output, one would need to look that up on the interwebs. In any case some kind of control panel applet should be standard fare... look for a sound driver provided by the notebook manufacturer or, if all fails, AD themselves.

If you can get the routing sorted, a 4.1 speaker system should work (assuming it needs no more than front and rear inputs). Once you're at that point, running both (stereo) speakers and headphones would also be relatively easy, at least if you have a software-side channel duplication function (sadly it's not standard for soundcards, useful as it is; there is a stereo to 4 channel duplication plugin for Foobar2000 for example).

Running both headphones and speakers from a single output is not impossible, a simple Y cable (3.5 mm stereo plug to 2x 3.5 mm stereo jack) will do that, but frequency response may be bent when headphones are plugged in, and you're not that flexible with headphone vs. speaker volume.