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United States

Whenever I plug the audio cable (which is red on both ends, same size, and fits into standard audio jacks)  into the gameboy and the mic jack of my laptop to record from audacity I get a phase-y filter sweep sounding noise that distorts over and ruins the recording. This same audio cable has let me record music from Korg programs on my DS and 2DS to my laptop before with no issues. Whenever I plug ear buds into the gameboy I can hear some static on top of the other sounds. Also if lsdj isn't playing music every button press makes a buzzing sound.

Edit: I have no mods on the gameboy at all.

Last edited by IceWolf (Jul 21, 2015 5:33 pm)

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Seattle, WA

A lot of that is just how the hardware works. Gameboys are noisy and imperfect, and it takes some work to get really good finished sounds out of them.

The phasing thing is not normal. Can you upload a recording so I can get a better idea of what's happening?

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Aarhus, Denmark

The buzzing is just the gameboy, it's part of the charm so to say. wink
Can't say the same for the distorted recordings. The mic channel really isn't supposed to capture anything but microphones though - something something impendance. Do you have a line in socket instead?

Edit: Dire Hit beat me to it.. smile

Last edited by zii.hrs (Jul 21, 2015 6:11 pm)

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Seattle, WA

If I had to guess without hearing it the phasing issues could be from recording in mono instead of stereo. But that's just off the top of my head.

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United States

How do I change it to stereo or do I need a different audio cable?

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Rhode Island

A quick way to check if cable isnt stereo or you arent recording in stereo. Do you have panning in your tracks. If so, when you pan right or left, is it playing back in just the right or left ear or is it now in the center?

The hissing is normal and part of the charm as zii.hrs said. Once you record you can use a gate and filter it out. A dedicated line out on the gameboy would improve the quality of the audio. Your headphone jack might also be dirty and or having issues.

As for the phase sweeping you are getting when recording. Are you plugging a power adapter into the gameboy when you are recording?

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United States

Here's an uploaded sample file snippet https://db.tt/VbsaqtPN . Cable isn't picking up stereo differentiations and I don't have a power adapter for the gameboy. It starts off normal and then it does a sweeping effect thing that I didn't add from the gameboy at all, nor want.

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sounds like its summing to mono to me. Are you sure your soundcard is a stereo input?

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United States

Well on windows it says it has a stereo mix in recording.

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I think windows is full of shit. Or its some weird non standard 3 pin mic/headphone combo jack?

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United States
herr_prof wrote:

I think windows is full of shit. Or its some weird non standard 3 pin mic/headphone combo jack?

Wouldn't be the first time big_smile It's the usual laptop mic jack has one port headphone jack has its own port.

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IceWolf wrote:

Wouldn't be the first time big_smile It's the usual laptop mic jack has one port headphone jack has its own port.

how many rings are there on the jack your using? 1=mono, 2=stereo.4

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United States

The cable tip that goes into that jack has 2 black rings on it.

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NC in the US of America
herr_prof wrote:

I think windows is full of shit. Or its some weird non standard 3 pin mic/headphone combo jack?

I've had this problem when trying to run my smartphone through to my car's RCA input jacks. With some cords it sums to mono and makes it sound all screwy. With others it works just fine and all the sound comes through. So odd.

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Chicago

You're probably better off using a USB audio interface instead of the built in jack to record. Even a basic one like this should give you much better quality:

If you do buy that one, you'd also need an RCA adapter.

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Rhode Island

Do a quick test with one of your Korg trackers and try some hard panning. Then you can rule out an issue with the cable and mic in doing some conversion to mono when you dont want it to. You might just have an issue with your gameboy jack or some failing component inside. If you added a line out on your gameboy you could at least bypass the stock jack.