Read manuals, searched forum and couldn’t find specifics.
Have an Alesis dm6 electronic drum set.
From the drums I have a usb that runs into my Lenovo desktop (windows 8.) Also from drums is an output line which runs a line into the computer’s mic jack (no line-in jack.)
Can hear me hitting the pads when I record…and every other sound, but no actual drum sounds. Seems that the computer’s external mike is recording and the output line into the mike jack is not being recognized.
Don’t expect good results from the mic port. If what you are doing needs to sound as good as it can, buy a USB interface that has a line-in (such as at Missing features - Audacity Support).
Have you enabled the mic port you are recording into in Windows Sound?
When you have done that, restart Audacity and choose the external mic input by the mic icon in Device Toolbar. Here is Device Toolbar with a red line around it:
[windevtool][/windevtool]
From the drums I have a usb that runs into my Lenovo desktop (windows 8.)
The USB is MIDI only, not audio. Audacity does not support MIDI, so with audacity you’ll need line-in.
As you may know, with MIDI the actual drums sounds are generated in software and they will generally sound different from the drum’s audio output (unless Alesis supplies identical MIDI samples).