Realtek Microphone Monitor - Here's how

There is a very good fix given to monitor Mic Input through speakers or headphones by Sigmatel drivers in Windows Vista, just by adding EnableMonitorInput into its registry. Similarly there is also a very good fix for Realtek drivers which are as follows:

1. First of all open registry editor and then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E96C-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001\AD1981\Disable.
2. You will find 2 binary keys which are "MicV" and "MonR" in here, both with a value of 01
3. All we have to do is change those valuse to 00 and they cant be disabled next time. After that simply restart the computer.
4. You will now have the option to either Unmute or mute mic monitoring and also set any kind of level by going into Speakers >> Plaback devices >> Properties >> Levels.

Enjoy

I have an Acer TravelMate 5720 which is running Windows XP Home service pack 3 and I am having the Realtek Driver 5.10.0.5672 Version. I have tried the above steps that is given, but it doesnt work in my case. I am not able to monitor the input live, other things just work on playback only. Can you be more helpful by providing another fix for this issue. Thanks.

First of all, if you click on start then go to control panel and then sounds and in this section if you select recordings tab then does Microphones show up? What all properties show up if each one of them shows up?

I would say that do not let Vista automatically install the drivers in your computer/laptop. You all can just go to the realtek manufacturer website and can directly download and install the latest version of the Realtek sound driver manually in your pc. Even I have realtek audio in my computer and after the manual installation, I noticed that there were more control options in the playback devices with levels tab that was never before and I was also getting the option to unmute the microphone and increase or decrease its volume as per my choice.

I'm using Windows Vista Home Basic, having the same issue. I used to have WinXP and simply plugged an aux cable from line in the the mic jack and would work perfectly playing through the speakers in my pc. I've recently upgraded to a new Toshiba laptop with Vista and tried hooking it up the same exact way. I can see it working because the sound bars go up and down as I play but there is no sound at all! No mute button to uncheck for the mic or speakers. Reading through several different forums it sounds like my best bet will be a registry hack but the 4 listed above don't work, my folders aren't the same. I'm using Realtek High Definition Audio 6.0.6002.18005. If anyone can help I'd love a solution to this, I'm willing to upgrade/downgrade drivers to get this to work or if you need any more info to help please!

In Windows 7 , there is an easy way ,go to Control Panel.Hardware and Sound,manage Audio devices, then go into Tab ,Recording, Microphone realtek
,Properties , you will find a tab Listen, turn it on ! , then happy days .

I'm recording off a Yamaha keyboard through an analogue cable from headphone out to mic in, to Audacity , works great.

if anyone knows how to configure a midi cable tho :-(

There is an basic tutorial which you will need to follow. For this there is a file you can use to configure midi on Windows. You have to download a file dsmidiwifi-v1.01.zip. You can search for DSMI project. This is an kind of server which runs midi files and devices. Unzip the files on your desktop. For setting an communication with Windows MIDI Capable application you will need to run MIDI Loopback driver. This is essential for MIDI server to contact. Now follow the Midi setup wizard. The server setup is easy.

Thanks, thats very very interesting ,the project and context they are using the file link you refereed me to, like they said MIDI is an old standard .I'll see if I can get it working today sometime.Appreciated