SoundMax recording control - Line In/Wav on T61

[QNHi]

Hi,

I have a brand new T61. Love the configuration - except for the SoundMax driver. This only lets me choose microphone as input for recording, meanwhile I want to be able to choose Line In or composite wave as alternatives. Sometimes I like to record stuff that directly plays over my sound card, rather than have it recorded via the mic through the wave out. My previous Z60m did have this option...

Is it possible to get another SoundMax driver that also has these options? I kinda miss it...

Txs very much.

Richard

[DeliriumNL]

Hey there

I might have a temporary solution to your problem. 

Try and download  Breakaway. It acts as a pipeline and you can use it as a line in. It also improves your audio but you can turn that off if you don't need it. 

http://www.claessonedwards.com/winmore.htm

[QNHi]

@DeliriumNL: thanks, but no, i don't really need audio processing (except for listening to Last.fm). I edit music and therefore want the sound to be pure.

What I'm looking for is alternative input selection on the SoundMax driver... something the previous version did have, but this one lacks (for some strange reason).

Lenovo - are you able to help me out? Txs.

[mixz1]

If you search this site you'll find tons of information on this situation. On the other ThinkPad forum, check out this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=52527 for the bleak history of this problem. The short answer is that without a piece of software, such as Virtual Audio Cable, you will need to purchase an auxilliary device to accomplish what you want to do.

The basic facts are the abilities you're looking for are disabled at the hardware level and cannot be fixed by a new driver. That's the position stated here by a Lenovo employee who is one of the most helpful and authoritive people on this board. You can speculate about the whys of this disturbing manufacturing position, but the fact is, if you are a music editor, you bought the wrong machine.

[tanker21]

Hi. I found this forum & thread because I got a T61 last week and discovered this week that it doesn't record sound - like the previous T41 did perfectly well. Tough on me because it's an employer's machine and there isn't a hope of an upgrade exchange.

In the several mentions of the "it's down to the RIAA" no one seems to have pointed out that the USA isn't the whole world. I'm in the UK and the RIAA doesn't apply to me (we might or might not have a local equivalent). Therefore I will be pretty ticked off if it does turn out that we're being crippled by a US nonsense.

As a side thought for Lenovo people reading this, the T61 is my employer's standard issue machine in the UK at present and there is an installed base of 14,000+ staff using laptops. Even allowing for a rolling replacement cycle (meaning that not everyone moves "up" at once) that is still a lot of machines. I'm not sure yet that our IT people have realised that sound isn't fully featured on these machines and that they might get a shock when they come up with an application that needs it. I might add that we're a major global organisation and the killer application could well be developed in a country that doesn't use T61's and can handle the sound. Tough if it hits us in the UK and we have to say "sorry, can use it".

[eecon]

Welcome to the forum tanker21,

Unfortunately, the ThinkPad line is now owned a Chinese company and as you may know, China is trying to clean up it's world image with regards to copyright infringment issues.  My own opinion is that if IBM still owned the ThinkPad line, we would be seeing none of this crippled SoundMAX nonsense.

Other non-Chinese companies like Dell have stepped up and fixed the issue, but I do not believe the Chinese government would be pleased if Lenovo did the same.   Just my quick opinion on the subject ...... and since it was crippled at the hardware level rather than at the software level (Dell used the software level approach), I do not think there will be any alternatives, other than the cumbersome use of Virtual Audio Cable software or an external hardware device on the current X and T 61 series.

From now on it will be interesting to see if the T400/T500 series that replaces the 61 series is also hardware crippled .... ask your procurment department to order a few to test before upgrading the next round.

[revduane]

Been a while since I posted on this thread. 

I see a lot of talk on here about which external card to use to get the functionality we need since Lenovo evidently isn't going to correct this little blunder.  I have convinced my vendor that this is a serious enough issue that he needs to make it right for me, so he says he will give me an external card to make it right.

That brings up my question.  What is the concensus on which sound card the T61P will support that will work correctly?  I hate to cave in and do a workaround instead of continuing to push for a real fix, but free is free after all.    I do want to make sure I get the right one though, and you folks seem to have already done the experimenting.

Thank you!

Duane

[eecon]

There have been some reports the the "p" models may only be software crippled (in the deep bowels of the threads at the ThinkPad Forum).   Go through this thread first to confirm:

 http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=52527

Otherwise, if your unit has an Express54 Slot on top of the PCMCIA Slot then a Creative X-Fi Express54 Notebook card did the trick for me.  You do not have to even disable the SoundMAX card (in fact you still need it if you choose not to route the X-Fi's sound through the laptop's speakers to properly open movie DVDs) ..... both drivers work in harmony and be sure to install all the Creative software to mke the X-Fi properly functunal. 

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=16642

[revduane]

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eecon wrote:

Otherwise, if your unit has an Express54 Slot on top of the PCMCIA Slot then a Creative X-Fi Express54 Notebook card did the trick for me. 

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OK.  Silly question.  What is the easiest way to make sure that my T61P has the Express54 installed?

Thank you for all the help.

Duane

[eecon]

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revduane wrote:

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eecon wrote:

Otherwise, if your unit has an Express54 Slot on top of the PCMCIA Slot then a Creative X-Fi Express54 Notebook card did the trick for me. 

---

OK.  Silly question.  What is the easiest way to make sure that my T61P has the Express54 installed?

Thank you for all the help.

Duane

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http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ExpressCard_slot

and

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=443192#443192

Message Edited by eecon on 08-13-2008 05:06 PM