Hey Michael, thanks for all the info. Being as I'm not ON Linux yet, I'm 
going to save this for when I am.

Not Realtek, it's Conexant. Prolly about the same. But def not a driver 
issue; drivers don't touch the problem whether generic or not, new or 
old. It's def something HP and or MS did. I've given up. Weeks ago I 
posted the Q on MS tech-whatever, and haven't heard a peep. The 
knowledge of how to fix it is buried and forgotten like the Statue of 
Liberty in Planet of the Apes. And maybe for the same reason....

I dunno what the high-end people do - well, they use Macs. Don't need a 
patchbay, I just demo my stuff living-room style so I have something to 
show to other musicians to get the idea of my songs. But that step is 
crucially important to me. Today I started tracking guitar, which I 
don't really play and couldn't hear, of course, due to someome's 
malfeasance. Just have to guess whether the track is good enough as I 
go, and then review later, and punch in if needed.

No doubt Linux makes hardware specs avail better than LOSEdows does; I 
can't find jack poopie about the soundcard, and I've been through all 
the LOSEdows info thises and info thats.

When my old Pavilion breaks, I might take that dust-gatherer if its 
issues aren't too horrible.  :-)

- Vara


On 10/1/2016 4:37 PM, Michael Butash wrote:
> Interesting, can't say I've ever used sound input hard-switched to 
> output in that capacity, but seems like something that would require a 
> driver, or at least some method of communications to change the 
> hardware.  I doubt that's a default behavior, or at least I've never 
> seen it to be, probably more up to the chip, where those like 
> realtek's are known to be quirky anyways.  Add in crappy mangled HP 
> oem win builds, and who knows.
>
> How about under linux?  If nothing else, try live booting and examine 
> the /proc/asound states of hardware mixing devices if the are even 
> actually capable.  It's easier to examine the hardware capabilities 
> than under windoze imho.  Try booting Ubuntu Studio live cd and see if 
> that with low-latency kernel + jack can reproduce your i/o 
> requirements with the same hardware.
>
> People do mixing commonly with linux and jack for production it seems, 
> maybe give you back some life expectancy there.  I've been watching 
> for a cheap(er) RME HDSPe card to play with as they are known linux 
> friendly and used in mega-production studios for i/o patching across 
> exotic multi-channel pcm transport like madi, raydat, adat, aes, etc.  
> I considered replacing my pioneer receiver with my htpc and a few adat 
> breakout boxes for sound mixing, but even used they aren't *cheap* 
> still.  Plus I haven't as I haven't figured out a good way to make my 
> remote switch sources yet, but if you're mixing studio inclined, 
> you'll have a display and mouse anyways to work with the patchbay ui 
> connections.
>
> HP hardware in consumer space is typically crap, particularly the 
> Pavilions (no offense).  Every one in my experience in dismantling 
> (which is several) is dying/has already died from a bad power 
> connector as the worst issue, and replacing them is no fun.  They 
> generally just fall apart otherwise in general from what I've seen 
> when tearing them apart.  I've soldered new power jacks into them 
> grudgingly for friends, they are not fun to work on/in.  Same for lcd 
> hinges, fans, trackpads, they're always spindly made and bound to 
> break.  Kids with no respect for technology break them in 3-6 months.
>
> Last time someone asked me to look at repairing an HP Pavilion laptop 
> with some mix of said issues, I refused calling it disposable and to 
> treat it as such.  It still sits here collecting dust left from my friend.
>
> The enterprise stuff isn't bad though.  I actually had an hp elite 
> business laptop myself with docking and such years ago, and it was 
> nice, other than being 10lb to lug about, nothing like the Pavilion lines.
>
> -mb
>
>
> On 09/28/2016 02:50 PM, Vara La Fey wrote:
>>
>> I'm typing this on an old HP Pavilion billed as an "entertainment 
>> pc". Nearly every laptop in existence has a feature sometimes called 
>> "input monitor" that allows sound from the mic or line-in to 
>> immediately (without latency) play back through headphones (but not 
>> speakers). It's automatic, and is an entirely different (and to a 
>> musician recording tracks, it's an incalculably superior) feature to 
>> the LOSEdows high-distortion, high-latency "Listen to this device" 
>> feature. Laying tracks requires constant quality control: you 
>> absolutely have to hear what you're playing exactly when you play it 
>> - and some instruments are best recorded "direct-in" with no external 
>> amp/monitor (and thus no hassles with mics). Further, if you're 
>> laying a track on top of other tracks - say, a bass track for your 
>> existing drum track - you have to hear your run-time bass and your 
>> recorded drums precisely together without any humanly discernible 
>> delay anywhere in the chain.
>>
>> Guess whether HP inexplicably and inexcusably disabled that feature - 
>> which nearly every other computer in existence has. Mine is old and I 
>> cannot find the information about which registry keys (allegedly) 
>> re-enable it. This HP Pavilion is utterly worthless for the task I 
>> bought it to perform, and I have no money to replace it.
>>
>> Worse even than that, is the kinda heartbreaking thread from a 
>> musician who spent hundreds and hundreds on a Pavilion /when it was 
>> new /and then found it was exactly as worthless for him - and found 
>> that HP absolutely would not even /respond /to his repeated requests 
>> for help and support even back then. The thread still exists on their 
>> own forum where he's practically begging for support.
>>
>> More than you wanted to know? It's just so that any would-be HP 
>> apologists can maybe feel the helpless frustration and rage when a 
>> customer-hostile and fraudulent company knowingly sabotages their 
>> product and does not state that they have done so. HP makes a habit 
>> of it.
>>
>> Go out of business, HP. The sooner the better.
>
>
>
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