This might be more of an engineering question, but when I playback using X2 Studio, there is a terrible buzz. I've used a both USB microphone and my laptop microphone. I've tried messing with the microphone's volume, the input volume and gain, the track volume, recording distance and nothing seems to get rid of this buzz. Am I missing something?

We'd need to know your system specs, and audiocard, to diagnose further.
 . . . but it sounds like a mixing latency issue, try increasing audiocard playback buffers (in preferences)

Pardon my newcomer status, but I'm really excited to start recording and please bear with me if I don't answer your questions. I'm running Windows 7 32 bit, and my audio sound card is whatever comes standard in a dell inspiron with intel 5 (as far as I know, there isn't one?). I just tried increasing the playback buffer and that seemed to have no affect.

Is it  possible this buzzing sound is from audio cables ?
Without hearing it it's hard to say.
The trouble in general with onboard audio cards, is the settings are not very flexible, when working in a Digital Audio Workstation.

I suppose it could be from audio connections, but its hard to say because I've done playback through headphones, on board speakers, and from my home stereo speakers. Can you think of other solutions? Would you recomend a sound card regardless? If so, what is an inexpensive way to go about getting one for someone with such little experience as myself?

If your using your laptops mic and sound card stop using those things. You also should check your ground for your studio. Try using battery power after you get a decent sound card and a decent mic. USB mics in my opinion are more trouble than good., especially for a new user of sonar.

The USB mic acts like an interface, so you will need to use WDM driver mode for your future sound card. Its Xmas, go get yourself a sound card for recording. Laptop sound chips are horrible and do not have the proper drivers for optimal performance and do not have the converters for optimal sound quality. Those are 2 big issues!!!


CJ

NoahB88:

A few questions that might help point to where the buzz is coming from:

1. How loud is this buzz compared to the audio? If you're recording at too low a gain then boosting the recorded audio a lot to get it loud enough, that may be some of the problem.

2. Do you get the buzz when using Windows Media Player, iTunes etc. to play back audio?

If so, that points to something in the playback/audio out chain being the likely culprit.

3. Is the buzz the same whether you use the USB mic or the laptop's built-in sound, or does it change?

4. If you start a new Sonar project with just one audio track, with it's input set to either the USB mic or laptop mic then, in a very quiet place, arm the track's record button (no need to record, what you're looking for is the background noise floor) what does the track's meter show? If you record as close to "silence" as you can get, what do you get on the track?

In general, laptop/motherboard built-in sound chips aren't the best thing around. They can be OK for playback, but tend to be (electronically) noisy if used to record - sometimes very noisy. They're simply not intended for quality-critical audio work.

ps - if you're using any compressors/limiters, try switching them off and see if that improves things.

Are you using an old CRT display? Those can induce a buzz through your mic or guitar pickups.