If you don't want to worry about that, you can get a replacement sound
card from eBay or any place that sells computer parts, or repairs computers. If opening your computer isn't for
you, you can get a USB sound device (a box, not a part that's on a cord). Find
a good one on eBay now. If
your computer is less than eight years old, then it probably comes with
a good one.
On-board sound devices are not as good as cards that you attach to your
computer, and it's never a bad idea to install a better one. If you use your PC to listen to music, you'll notice
a difference.
If you want to test the sound card you already have, you can use a Tone
Generator. It's a two-step process.
If you are using
a laptop, you should do this test with stereo headphones (good ones
that cover your ears instead of 'earbuds' that fit in your ears). Don't use the speakers in the laptop. Lower frequencies
need big speakers, and laptops have small ones. Many, if not most, laptop computers have higher quality sound from
headphones than from their small speakers.
The very best way to do the sound card with a laptop is to connect a
pair of external speakers (the bigger, the better) to the laptop's headphone plug.
Laptop speakers are often very poor quailty, and their small size makes
it VERY hard for them to produce the low tones, even if the sound card is sending them through loud and clear.
1) Make sure your volume is up to the maximum.
To do that, use the Shakti Meter, unless you know how to do it using the windows mixer. Download
the Shakti Meter now.
It's free to use the Shakti Meter. |
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2) Run the tone generator.
Set the top field to 35 hertz. If you can hear the sound (at top volume), your sound card is fine for use with
Shakti.
Download the Tone Generator Now. Freeware by
nch.
Even if you don't hear the sound, your sound card is probably just fine. Most failed tests are because of mistakes
in testing, not poor sound devices. |
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