2 soundcards?

dragon · 26-10-2007, 19:13

When I put my Soundcard in I disabled the onboard audio on my pc...

Theres a headphone socket on my amp so I could use that for headphones but I was thinking of re-enabling the onboard to make use of the microphone/headphone socket directly on the front of the pc when I want to use skype or any VOIP functions of games.

Is it possible to use both onboard and a soundcard at the same time.

running ubuntu/winxp.

lsproc · 26-10-2007, 19:23

I believe it is

Though you would have to do some funky configuring, not my area, im setup/network :P

26-10-2007, 19:23

in windows you just tell the software what hardware to use

Jon T · 26-10-2007, 19:42

I'm using two, an Nvidia on-board card and a Soundblaster Live! 24 USB external.

Like Zing says, the software should be configurable as to what soundcard it uses. The only problem being if you have a program that insists on using the windows default sound device and won't you select any others.

xpod · 26-10-2007, 20:17

Pretty straightforward in Ubuntu too as far as i understand although it`s not something i`ve ever done myself dragon.
I`m not too sure if anythings possible using just the "sound" utility in the menus(default mixer mabey??)but app`s like xmns,audacious and vlc all have the ability to choose which sound device they use as far as i know.

bmxbandit · 26-10-2007, 20:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragon

Is it possible to use both onboard and a soundcard at the same time.

Probably - depends on your motherboard. Have you set the onboard sound to on in the BIOS? Some boards will automatically turn it off when you have an add-on sound card installed.

As others have said, no problem with software

Uncle Peter · 26-10-2007, 21:18

I have two active sound cards running without any problems: PCI card dedicated to digital audio workstation functions and the onboard soundcard which is used for playing legacy games.

As Zing and John T have mentioned above you can simply choose which one you want to use if the software allows you to do so. If it doesn't then you can go to "sounds and audio devices" in control panel (if you're running xp) and change the default playback device as desired.

EDIT: In fact you'll find that some PC based DJs will run multiple sound cards/audio interfaces, say if they're doing an Ableton Live set and want to cue in etc.

26-10-2007, 22:05

3 soundcards here! Some onboard crappy thing for driving Windows sounds through to TFT speakers and the other two (SB Audigy Live & Yamaha Sw1000XG) going to small mixer. No issues here!

dragon · 26-10-2007, 22:49

Ah thanks i'll probably turn the on-board back on for the convince of using the Mic socket in the front of the pc

26-10-2007, 23:02

The only problem I've ever had with trying to run 2 sound cards, was the joystick port...

The mobo has built in audio, but no joystick port on the backplane.

The soundcard I tried (Trust 514DX) had a joystick port, but clashed with a 'ghost' port that couldn't be turned off on the mobo, even with the internal audio disabled in the bios.

Not a biggie - the joystick is fine via usb, I just thought I'd share

dragon · 27-10-2007, 00:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by homealone

The only problem I've ever had with trying to run 2 sound cards, was the joystick port...

The mobo has built in audio, but no joystick port on the backplane.

The soundcard I tried (Trust 514DX) had a joystick port, but clashed with a 'ghost' port that couldn't be turned off on the mobo, even with the internal audio disabled in the bios.

Not a biggie - the joystick is fine via usb, I just thought I'd share

My soundcard has one but doesn't there's a header on the board to plug a joystick port onto but I don't have the actual port to plug onto it.

Not that I need it, don't have that sidewinder 3d pro any more..
Do have a saitek evo force somewhere, bought it whist at a LAN event and used it about twice...