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Re: [WriteLog] USB Soundcard recommendation and setup

To: writelog@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [WriteLog] USB Soundcard recommendation and setup
From: "Wayne, W5XD" <w5xd@writelog.com>
Reply-to: w5xd@writelog.com
Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 10:20:27 -0800
List-post: <writelog@contesting.com">mailto:writelog@contesting.com>
>my mic is hot during SSB message playback

For historical reasons there are lots of things to know to deal with this. My short answer is that I think you're best off by installing the latest WL (11.24) on Win7 or later, and do SO2R SSB with mic switching and RTTY AFSK using a total of three sound devices. The very long story follows.

As of Windows Vista, WriteLog had two very different schemes for supporting sound boards. As of version 11.24 there is a third. I have posted a couple of pages about WriteLog's new 11.24 sound support (which is item #3 below):
http://writelog.com/category/sound-board
(That page is in the form of a blog--to start at the beginning, you have to scroll to the bottom. There is more I need to say that will be added later.)

1. When WL first got sound board support (in the days of Windows 3.1 circa 1993, my how time flies), boards were expensive and the best way to support SO2R was to build special splitter cables and put the two rigs on the L and R channels of a single sound board. For all Windows versions from 3.1 through XP, the Windows-supported way to route audio through the PC involved using the old Win3.1 interface to flip mixer bits and manipulate mixer L/R controls. All versions of WriteLog when installed on XP and earlier support this, but with the caveat that the drivers provided with the boards actually allow flipping all those bits. WriteLog accomplishes L/R transmit switching by sourcing a monophonic signal and using the sound board mixer controls to adjust the Stereo Balance full Left and full Right. And it supports its "Echo Mic" by making the one-and-only sound board internally route its audio from its Mic input to its Line Out. This is the mode that is documented here: http://writelog.com/support2/sound-board-setup, and also is the only mode where the old SoundBoardCheck does anything useful. Users can even coerce WriteLog to use this mixer-flipping method on Vista and later, but when WriteLog installs on Vista and later, I purposely arranged for it to hide this old capability because it uses old compatibility interfaces that modern sound board drivers don't reliably support. (If you really have to know: go into WriteLog's Programs folder and find and run the file WlogSbControl.exe instead of WlogSbControlW6.exe).

2. As of Windows Vista, Microsoft published the Windows Core Audio API. On Vista and later, WL no longer plays with the mixer bits and levels--you have to use the Windows controls to set the levels. WlogSbControlW6.exe is what you get in Start menu, WriteLog V11, Sound Board Mixer Control. For station microphone input, you need a separate sound board (because, using this core audio, WL doesn't try to manipulate a sound board's internal audio routing). WriteLog accomplishes L/R switching of transmit audio by sourcing a stereo signal that has silence on L or R, as appropriate. Echo Mic is supported inside WL by reading the mic sound board channel and writing that sound--copied to the L or R channel as appropriate and with the other silent--to the "other" sound board.

3. As of WriteLog 11.24 (the most recent). WriteLog can be configured to use a separate sound board per rig. SO2R support and mic switching, then, require a total of three sound devices on your PC. WL accomplishes L/R transmit audio switching by sourcing a monophonic sound (or Left-only) on the sound board connected to the rig.

The above-referenced URL I intend to update with more technical information as I get around to it.

Wayne, W5XD



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