error while opening sound device?

[xxkatherine]

Hi,
I've been using Audacity for a few months now just to make a few homemade recordings, and I've never had a problem. But today when I opened a file to record it said "Error while opening sound device. Please check the output settings and project sample rate".
Can anyone help? I'm not sure what this means.
Thank you!

[hypnomom]

I also have this same problem. I am too much of a novice to figure this one out .HELP PLEASE!

[alatham]

That error message is pretty generic. It basically says that Audacity either doesn't know how or can't tell your sound card to start recording. There are any number of reasons for this to happen.

You could have one or more of the following problems:
1) Trying to use a sample rate that your sound card doesn't supply. Check the bottom left hand corner of Audacity's main screen. There's a drop-down menu there that should say something like "44100" or "48000" Hz. Those are the two most common sample rates that people use.
2) You could be trying to record more channels than your sound card provides. In the edit -> preferences -> audio i/o menu, make sure the number of channels is either 1 or 2 (for most users).
3) Your sound card might not support recording and playing at the same time. This seems unlikely, but can you record when no other sounds are playing?
4) You could simply have the wrong input or output source selected. Often if you plug/unplug a USB device, that device will set itself as the default audio device for your computer and if it's something like a microphone or turntable then it won't be able to play sounds.

Really the best thing to do is tell us what you're trying to record and we can help from there.

[bassofone]

I'm getting the same error message(running Vista, Acer 3100 w/ AMD dual core 4400, recording from Minidisc plugged into mic in of Realtek sound card)--checked settings(sample rate,devices enabled) in preference menu, checked sound card settings, all as it should be, but error message persists. Audacity was working fine during my initial attempt, until it crashed, after which I downloaded the recovery utility, which Vista didn't seem to like. The feeling was apparently mutual, as the utility "stored" the recovered files in a nonexistent folder. After 2 recovery attempts, I let Audacity delete the temp files from the prompt upon opening, and uninstalled the recovery utility. When I attempted to record again, hello pesky error message. So--what now?

OK, I'll answer my own question--in my case, it was resolved by switching the "recording device" setting to aux, instead of using stereo mix (which I'd swear was the setting when it worked before, but what do I know?).

Now Audacity seems to have changed its mind and likes stereo mix again. No more trying to be Mr. Smart Guy for me....

[alatham]

I can't tell you what's going on with the Recovery Utility. All I know is it's far from being perfect and doesn't work for many people. I think it was designed to help handle one specific kind of crash, but people get and handful of others and the program can't keep up with the differences.

I can tell you that the "Stereo Mix" option is recording your speaker output, so if you hear any Windows sounds while it's playing they'll get recorded too. You'll also hear any noise on all the other inputs that are turned on, even if there's nothing plugged in (this may be inaudible though). It's best to use the input that you've plugged directly into (which might be "Aux", though I would expect it to be called "Mic In", but it depends one what your drivers decided to call it).

One final note, you seem to have plugged a Line level device into a Mic Input. This isn't a very good idea. The Mic input is designed for signals that are (on average) 100-1000 times smaller than a Line Level signal. You might have a Mic/Line input that can switch itself between the two volume levels, but if you don't, you'll probably get much higher quality recordings if you use an external audio device with a Line level input like the Behringer UCA202 (~$35). Standard Mic inputs are also limited to mono signals, they can't record true stereo (though you might get 2 channels out of it, but they'll be identical). I can't tell you how to figure out what you've got, but your computer manual should say somewhere.

[bassofone]

The Realtek mic in seems to be fine with line level signals and is in stereo, but I'm going to try the line in and see if there's any sonic advantage that's worth the hassle of using the rear panel jack.

[monicakm]

THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I've been having this same problem lately. Couldn't figure it out on my own and finally dug my heels in tonight to find the answer or else! I had the channels set to too many (5). I'm sure I did it a few months ago when trying to get a fuller, richer sound from a recording. I've set it back to two and all is well
Monica

[ryuka]

I cannot find where to set the channels? Can you help.
Thank you

[waxcylinder]

ryuka,

go to Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O > Channels

WC

[bennyboy]

Hi guys.

I was getting this error on a Gigabyte motherboard system using onboard Realtek HD. Drove me crazy for a couple days... tried setting volumes and settings in XP, every setting I could think of in Audacity. In the end, the problem was kind of stupid... the Realtek Sound Effect manager wasn't running in the tray. I don't know why it needs to be, but running from Control Panel/audio got me up and working again. I didn't have to mess around with any of the other methods you guys are talking about.

I know the onboard Realtek cards are pretty common, so hope this helps out some other dummy like me.

Ben.