But it has RGB!
1 Like
Basically any external sound card is usually fine. The onboard ones tend to be noisy (due to EM inside the case). You’ll hear hums or crackles. If you don’t hear that, they’re usually fine. If you do, get something external.
I of course cheat. I use the onboard sound via a headset for gaming and general computing. But, if I’m listening to music and I care about that music, I listen through the Mackie.
I can route the Mackie (our mixer) to the “control room”, which is basically just speakers in the room, and/or to my headphones. I have very good headphones plugged into it.
I can also route that audio BACK into the computer via several different channels if I want. So I can record sound my computer is playing live, and even select which sources I want to record.
I have sub-mixes on two different AUX buses as well. So I can route some audio from the mixer to one of four channels on the computer. I can do this while taking audio from the computer back into the mixer. This means things like live signal processing.
It’s ridiculous overkill. Don’t buy a mixer just to have good sound. But if you happen to already have a mixer…
It’s real real nice.
I bought a USB sound card to replace the dead onboard chip on my dad’s desktop. That is the only time I have ever thought about audio on a PC.
I had that botched Win10 update that killed your sound driver, as did my mother.
For some reason I’ve literally never had a Windows 10 update cause even one problem ever. Maybe just lucky? Even despite having some hacky firewire nonsense and three separate soundcards.
1 Like
It’s legit the only Win10 problem I’ve had. I frankly like Win10 a lot.
Biggest nuisance I can think of is that Windows 10 became a lot more aggressive about under the hood updates, up to and including downloading those updates. When I was doing a clean reinstall to an older image of windows 10 it basically bottlenecked everything else… and it somewhat hid that. I thought something horrible was happening, as all I wanted to do was update the actual hardware drivers first, but I couldn’t get to them. Similarly they moved away from the old (admittedly somewhat shitty) cd key system and now do a better/worse job of tracking your physical hardware… so migrating hardware even with a full license takes more steps than it used to. And woe be to you to have to talk to microsoft support about anything as far as I’ve ever heard.
What about the corrupted podcast recording I repaired?
That was a configuration setting that was changed by a driver update. It was my fuck-up for not checking the configuration before recording.
Firewire mixers are very sensitive to mismatches in sampling rates. You have to set them in several places for reasons. I would have noticed if I’d been paying attention. I also would have been fine if I’d been running the backup analog recorder, which I didn’t because I was stupid.
I knew that the Atari Lynx had an incredibly poorly designed power circuit. The main mosfet that switches the power fails all the time, and it turns on with the press of a face button, meaning it can accidentally turn on in your bag and eat the batteries. This as opposed to a physical switch, that literally every other handheld console of the era uses.
I’m now learning that it has another failure mode where the 5V power rail can go completely unregulated and cook all the logic chips, so good job Atari.
2 Likes
Yeah, no:
5 Likes
If there was ever a use for one of those usb condoms. That is that use.
1 Like
Indeed. I always have one on me when I travel.
I too always carry a USB condom. I’m going to need a USB-C condom though. Does anyone make one yet?
This is the one I have:
My bank (Schwab) really failed me today by not allowing me to get cashier’s checks on demand, which my new apartment landlord requested for the security deposit. Granted I also think it’s dumb that my new landlord requires a cashier’s check in the first place, but it should be an easy standard thing to get. I can easily get one from my other bank (CapitalOne) tomorrow, but I just feel bad for having to keep pushing back when I said I’d get the checks in.
I tried making a whole chicken in a slow cooker crock pot using a recipe I found online. The spice mix turned out utterly foul (or should I say… fowl?) after cooking. Something about the combination of spices had an unappetizing cloying stink after cooking. I hate to waste most of a chicken but its just inedible.
Used to work for Schwab. Even as a job hungry teenager I left when I saw the inside. I ran away. Granted that was about 12 or so years ago but still…
Can I ask for what the recipe was? Just so I can know to steer clear?
Kid is going to need to get his tonsils removed… the same weekend as Anime Boston…