SoundMeister recording quality?

["Rodney Hester" <rod72@optonline.net>]

I just finished repairing my Econ SoundMeister card (one of the wires was
disconnected), and now I am able to record via microphone in DigitalSession
(I haven't tried line in yet).

However, the recording quality is _horrid_.  I'm not talking about mildly
annoying here, I'm talking about unbelievably noisy and faint to the point
of being rather difficult to make out what was said at all (if you didn't
know in advance).

I'm using a standard late-90s PC 'boom microphone' to do the recording, and
even with sensitivity set to High in DigitalSession, the oscilloscope shows
no more than maybe 1/4 of the total scope in amplitude when I yell into the
mic.

I'm relatively certain the wire soldering job I did is adequate - wire
current-carrying levels seem consistent across all three 'hot' wires (2
stereo + mic) and I've resoldered without improvement.  Both the
SoundMeister Control Panel and DigitalSession are set to record from
microphone (instead of line in, which I believe controls an amplification
circuit on the board?).

Also, recording seems to be forced at 11KHz, yet when played back at this
rate, the audio sounds as if it's in slow motion...I've found that I have to
speed it up to ~30KHz to get a "natural" playback that doesn't sound like
I'm Frankenstein on downers.  =)

Is all of this "normal" for a SoundMeister?  I've read reports from years
ago about low recording quality, but between the noise (I presume this is
coming from the bus and/or poor RF shielding), the low amplitude (possibly
broken amplification circuit?), and the mismatched recording rate (almost
certainly a problem with DigitalSession), I wonder why anyone would have
ever used this card for recording (did they?).  While I haven't tried it (no
source close enough), I suspect line in recordings would be almost as bad.

NOTE: I have no intention of using this card for serious recording.  This
was merely a 'scientific experiment'.  I came to the IIgs party a little
late (two years ago, to be specific), so consider this me making up for lost
time.  ;)

Rodney