I have a Crosley Advance USB turntable and am using Audacity 2.0.6 on a Windows 8 laptop. No matter what I do, I cannot adjust playback and recording levels. The slider adjustments do nothing and I have tried adjusting the sound levels in the control panel of my computer with no success either. When I try to record a record, the levels max out and the recording is severely clipped and distorted. The turntable itself does not have any adjustments for gain or levels - just speed and pitch.
What am I missing? I have followed the ‘tutorial’ but as noted, using the sliders makes no difference whatsoever. And adjusting volume and microphone levels in the control panel doesn’t work either.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would very much like to copy some of my old vinyl, but this is getting frustrating to say the least…
Crosley Advance USB turntable
Did the turntable come with custom drivers or other software? Does the turntable support Win8?
Koz
Are you connecting to the computer using the USB cable and choosing the USB CODEC as the recording device in Audacity?
If yes, does the turntable have red and white cables for speakers? If it does you could try buying a stereo RCA to 1/4 inch TRS adaptor, then connect the cables to the adaptor and the adaptor to the audio input on the computer (if you have a separate line in and microphone in, choose the line in). Set Audacity to record from the input you connect to. The level sliders may work for the built in sound device.
If your computer only has a microphone input, it may or may not avoid the distortion. The correct procedure should be to use the USB cable and record from that.
Gale
The turntable did not come with any other software or drivers. I tried it first on a Win 7 computer and it did the same thing. Moved to my Win 8 laptop hoping it would make a difference.
I am connected using the did USB cable. It does not give me the USB CODEC option but rather has USB Microphone array. Maybe that is the issue? The only recording device choices are the microphone input and the USB microphone array…
Thanks.
Then try the red and white cables, if it has those.
Can you change the cartridge on this turntable? If it has a cheap ceramic cartridge, replacing it with a magnetic cartridge will reduce the output volume (and wear your records less).
It’s only an issue if you are choosing the wrong device to record from. Do you have any other USB audio devices connected to the computer? If not, the “USB microphone array” must be the turntable.
Are you sure you are adjusting levels in the correct place, in Windows Sound: Missing features - Audacity Support?
Gale