Newbie question about the audio sounds of my PC

[jeanpave]

Hi.

Sorry for troubling you with a question perhaps too trivial, but I really am very lost.

I recently re-installed Windows XP (SP2), and I also re-installed the sound drivers. I did not still have the CD, so I installed them after downloading the files from the Internet. It put a program called SoundMax on my computer. Everything looks the way it was before the re-installation.

But the problem is that the regular sounds (the beeps, the noise an emptied Recycle Bin makes, the short thump when you go from one folder to another, the booming error message, etc.) are very powerful when compared with the sound from a .VOB file created with NeroVision Express, for example. How can I make all the noises made by my computer, no matter which application is used, have the same power?

Also, I have PowerDVD installed. And a very annoying thing it does with the sound, I don't know why, is the following: Let's say I turn the volume of PowerDVD to the maximum, in order to hear the DVD files properly; the damn program also turns the main volume of the PC to the max, forcing me to go into the Control Panel to turn it down again because the regular sounds of Windows will awaken my neighbours in the middle of the night.

How in the world can I get a balance between the two, so I wouldn't have to touch the volume every ten seconds?

Thanks in advance.

[Richard_G]

Open up your audio mixer software (or double click the loudspeaker icon in your system tray) and adjust the relative levels. Turning down WAV will adjust the level of system sounds but leave the others as they are.

The PowerDVD volume control adjust the main output level and not an individual level for DVDs only.

Alternatively, do as I do and turn the Windows sounds off. I have Windows Start and Windows Exit playing sounds, everything else is silent.

[jeanpave]

Hey, Richard, thank you very much, my friend!
You sure know your stuff.

Do you know what the other settings do, as well? For example, there's a "SW Synth" slider, right next to "Wave", which is also pushed to the max, that I have no idea what it does.

[Delerious]

Hey, Richard, thank you very much, my friend!
You sure know your stuff.

Do you know what the other settings do, as well? For example, there's a "SW Synth" slider, right next to "Wave", which is also pushed to the max, that I have no idea what it does.

It's been a while since I used my onboard sound, but I believe that's for MIDI.

J

[jeanpave]

Thanks for the reply.
(Although, I have to confess, I have no idea what MIDI does.)

[jagabo]

Yes, SW Synth is the software midi (musical instrument digital interface) synthesizer built into Windows.