Setup guide

1.10.4 Two soundcards installed (disable Realtek and use the other..)
The issue with the RealTek HD Audio system is that RealTek creates two separate mixers: RealTek
HD Audio Input and RealTek HD Audio Output.
Windows assigns the Audio Output as Mixer 0 (Windows Default) and Audio Input as Mixer 1. This
results in a mismatch between the Wave In ID, Wave Out ID and Mixer ID for not only other
soundcards but also the Wave Out device. For example a system with RealTek HD on the
motherboard, Sound−Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, microHAM microKEYER II and microHAM MK2R+ looks
like this under Windows XP (my own "testbed" system):
ID Wave Out Wave In Mixer
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
0 RealTek HD Out RealTek HD In RealTek HD output
1 SB Audigy 2 ZS Audigy 2 ZS RealTek HD input
2 USB Voice CODEC USB Voice CODEC Audigy 2 ZS
3 microHAM CODEC microHAM CODEC USB Voice CODEC
4 USB Audio CODEC USB Audio CODEC microHAM CODEC
5 n/a n/a USB Audio CODEC
It is possible to force "normal" behavior by defining the desired soundcard as the Windows Default
(with all the issues of "Windows sounds" impacting the radio and other software screwing with the
audio settings). However, with a RealTek sound device installed, the HD Input Mixer will almost
always take up the "Mixer ID 1" position and every device other than the default will be impacted by
the Wave/Mixer mismatch.
N1MM Logger addresses the Wave In and Wave Out devices based on the Mixer ID. In the system
documented above, setting N1MM Logger to use the microHAM microKEYER II (microHAM CODEC)
results in an attempt to use the output and input devices attached to the "USB Audio CODEC" (the
digital/recording input of microHAM MK2R+). Attempting to "cheat" by telling N1MM Logger to use
"USB Voice CODEC" also fails because USB Voice CODEC has no "Line" input.
WriteLog will function in this environment because it addresses all of the systems inputs and outputs
individually rather than through the mixer.
So when having two sound cards (Realtek onmotherboard) disable the Realtek in the motherboard
BIOS. Use the other soundacrd installed and make it the "Windows
Default." You can then allow Windows to access the default card without impacting "microHAM
CODEC" and N1MM Logger should not have any problems selecting inputs since the Mixer ID will
point to the correct end−points. This is exactly what I would do to prepare my test system for daily use
(I leave the ReaTek enabled for testing/evaluation).
This situation is not restricted to systems with RealTek hardware. It sometimes occurs with old
modems that support telephone answering/recording capabilities; they often install just an audio
output but rely on the soundcard fortheir input. The Mixer/Wave mismatch also occurs in systems
where the user has installed a USB Audio output only device like some of the digital audio playback
"dongles." Those devices install output mixers but no input mixer.
73, ... Joe Subich, W4TV
13−2−2009 1 General information (setting up microHAM and N1MM logger) 10