I would say that a PC mic is putting out a mic, not a line level. Line
levels are about 500 - 2000 mV, while a mic level is more like 10 - 100mV.
Your scheme won't work without a mic preamp. Also, I may be wrong here, but
I'm pretty sure that a PC mic is a condenser, which means it needs some
power (1.5-12V) to work, which it is probably getting from the mic input on
the soundcard.

You can verify this by putting a DC voltmeter on the output of your
soundcard, and you can verify the input level problem by plugging your PC
mic into the line input of your card.


"JURB6006" wrote in message
...
Hi;

I think I know what's going on with my failing soundcards, the last victim
was
an AWE64 , but I saw corrosion in some on the IC pins. How it got there
I
still don't know, but that's not the topic of this post..

I would like to record more than one microphone channel on my PC and I
think I
got a hassle free way to do it.

What I need to know is what level the mike puts out to the soundcard. I'm
assuming (that's why I thought I better ask) that the microphone's
internal
preamp puts out approximately line level. I think this because if you
design
some standards for this system, and you have a powered preamp, why not
eliminate extra stages on the card right ?

To be lazy as possible I want to take a Y adapter from the mic input,
stereo
adapters to two other adapters that will distribute the power to all three
mics
and send the outputs 1.to the orig mic input, 2 left and right each to the
line
input. There would be three mics, but I'm pretty sure power wouldn't be a
problem with these flea power preamps.

Can anyone confirm that PC mics put out approx. line level to the
soundcard ?
If so all I need is some adapters and I can get this done without
soldering.
Three channels, it would be great, even though I can't post-mix.

Thanks in advance

JURB


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