Brand new computer. I had Windows 7 installed, rather than 8 or 10. 16 GB RAM, i7 processor. System sounds all setup normal. Windows Media Player plays all sounds beautifully. Youtube and other sound sources all sound great.
Downloaded Audacity 2.1.0.
Made a bass guitar riff in my DAW (.wav).
That file plays beautifully in Windows Media Player. That same file plays beautifully on my old computer, in Audacity 2.0.5.
On this new computer, Audacity 2.1.0 adds a high-pitched noise to playback of that file.
Uninstalled, then installed 2.0.5. Same high-pitch noise occurs upon playback.
I looked at Audacity preferences — saw nothing unusual to effect playback.
What version of Windows does the new computer run? I could not follow that from what you wrote.
What is the make and model number of the new computer?
What device are you using for Audacity playback on the new computer? USB headphones? Built-in speakers?
Have you been to Windows Sound, Playback tab, selected Properties for the sound device you are using and turned off all the sound effects? The sound card may also have a control panel in the Windows Control Panel. Turn off sound effects there too.
(1) New Computer: Windows 7; Dell Precision 3620 desktop workstation
(2) old computer (on which Audacity always worked perfectly) was Windows XP
(3) Playing back sounds on the same external set of speakers I have always used on my old computer — all audio sounds wonderful on the new computer, except when I playback from Audacity
(4) I have not specifically checked anything regarding “sound effects”. I will check that, as you have advised, when I return home this evening.
Ok, I checked the new computer. The only “sound effect” that was active was the “Windows sound” upon startup. I deactivated that.
Audacity is still adding the high-pitched noise to all bass sounds.
All other audio sources sound perfect on this computer: my DAW, Windows Media Player, Youtube, SoundCloud, plus several other websites where I have my music posted.
Audacity has been an important component of my music-creation process for a long time — I hope this issue can be resolved.
Make it do it’s noise thing and then slowly reduce the volume with the Audacity playback slider. Does the high-pitched sound follow you down? If your machine doesn’t follow the slider in real time (mine does), stop and start several times at different volume settings. Are they equally noisy just at different volumes?
Fire up the Personal Recorder on your cellphone and see if you can capture any of it.
Yes, I slowly reduce the volume, and the high-pitch noise reduces volume in the same proportion as the bass sound.
I have a pretty high-quality 12-sec audio-recording of this issue. small mp3 file.
I will try to attach it here. If that doesn’t work, I can email it to anyone who believes they can help resolve the issue. If it’s necessary, I’ll convert it to mp3 or any other format — just let me know.
No, Steve, there has been no solution. If you listen to the audio file attached to my previous post, you will clearly hear a bass sound PLUS a high-pitch noise. That was a recording of a bass phrase wav file being played back by Audacity on my new computer.
On my new computer, I created that bass phrase without any high-pitch noise. When I play back that wav file thru Windows Media Player or my DAW (on the new computer), or thru Audacity on my old computer, or thru any other source, the high-pitch noise is not there.
When I play back that wav file thru Audacity (2.1.0 or 2.0.5) on my new computer, the high-pitch noise is there. Therefore, that high-pitch noise was somehow added by Audacity.
Therefore, I am seeking help to resolve this unacceptable issue.
How exactly are you creating that phrase? Is it a recording or a synth?
Audacity does not add real-time effects while playing. So the more obvious conclusion is that the difference is your new computer’s built-in sound device, assuming you connect the external speakers to audio out of the computer.
Or are you using a USB sound card to connect the speakers to?
Are you connecting the speakers to the same sound card when you use Audacity as when you use Windows Media Player?
Audacity 2.1.0 isn’t even the current Audacity version. I suggest you download Audacity 2.1.2 (EXE installer) from us at http://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/. Half way through the installation, tick (check) the box “Reset Preferences”. Launch Audacity and confirm you want to reset Preferences. Then we will know what Audacity settings you have.
OK, but where is the original bass phrase wav file?
As Gale wrote, Audacity does not do real-time effects, so we’re trying to work out where the “high pitch noise” that you are describing is coming from.
Does the file that I posted have the high pitched noise? In other words, have I removed the thing that you are describing as “high pitched noise”?
Internal sound card; external speakers plugged into computer’s audio-out jack.
All audio-output signals in this computer go thru the exact same sound card and external speakers, regardless of the source of those audio-output signals.
That high-pitch added noise is only heard when the source of the audio-out signal is Audacity. So there is something different about the way that signal is being sent from Audacity.
When I get home, about 6 hours from now, I will attach the exact audio file which sounds exactly as it should, when it is played back by anything other than Audacity on my new computer. You will notice that it sounds the same as the audio file I attached earlier, except it will not have the high-pitch noise.
ok, attached is the original audio-file (converted to mp3 so this forum will accept the size of the attachment).
This file sounds exactly as it should, when I play it back thru my DAW or Windows Media Player on the new computer, or when played back thru any audio software (including Audacity) on the old computer.
The high-pitch noise is only added when it is played back thru Audacity on the new computer, as you can hear on the previously attached audio-file.
I created several basslines in various bass synths in my DAW on the new computer. They all sound as they were intended, except when imported into Audacity and played back from Audacity, on the new computer.
In addition, I have downloaded onto this new computer other bass-centric tracks from various websites. They all sound great — except they have an added high-pitch noise when played back thru Audacity, on my new computer.
OK, I can hear (and see) the difference between the two versions.
I do not hear the “high pitch noise” when I play the “orig G A A# rifflet 8-bars in MicroRock #17 Black Bax ctrpan.mp3” file in Audacity.
Some of this may already be covered, but I can’t scroll down very far while typing, and it’s worth having this information in one place:
If you shut down Audacity, then re-open it and from the File menu select “Import > Audio” then select the file “orig G A A# rifflet 8-bars in MicroRock #17 Black Bax ctrpan.mp3” and then click the Play button, do you hear the high pitch noise?
Did you “Reset Preferences” as Gale suggested? When you first started Audacity after resetting preferences, you should have been prompted to confirm that you want to reset preferences - did that happen and did you confirm?
Go to “Help menu > Audio device info”. Wait for the info to appear, then select and copy all of it, and paste it into your reply.
What speakers / headphones are you using and how are they connected to your computer?
Are you using the same speakers / headphones, connected in the same way, to the same computer when you listen with Windows Media Player?
Yes, I selected “Reset Preferences” and confirmed that when prompted.
Yes, I imported that audio-file into Audacity (many times) and, yes, when I played it back from Audacity it included that high-pitch noise, every time. And I hear that noise when the sound is playing thru my Cambridge Soundworks speakers, and also when I unplug the speakers and plug in the headphones.
And yes, same speakers are used when listening to everything with this computer.
Please see below the data copied from the Audacity help file, as I was instructed to do.
Thanks for the details and clarification sizemore.
Looking at the “Audio device info”:
This looks weird to me (though I’m not an expert on Windows).
Your recording device is set to:
Device name: Speakers / Headphones (Realtek High Definition Audio) (loopback)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Your playback device is set to:
Device name: Speakers / Headphones (Realtek
Host name: MME
I didn’t think that was possible - your input and output devices are using different “hosts”.
I think that the reason that has happened is because no MME recording device can be found (and there is no “DirectSound” recording device available either).
Do you have Skype or any other voip application, or any other audio applications running (even in the background)?
Look in the Task Manager and double check.
The most likely possibilities seem to be that either some application has grabbed exclusive access to the Realtek recording device, or there is a problem with your sound card drivers. I’m hoping that it’s the first.
which means there are no recording devices enabled in Windows Sound. However that still gives sizemore a Windows WASAPI (loopback) recording device in Audacity which never appears in Windows Sound.
It is not possible to “select” playback device from one host and recording device from another. But as we see Sizemore’s selected recording device is “Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output” I assume they have selected MME host.
I don’t hear the high pitched noise in the good file when playing in Audacity either. Does changing project rate bottom left of Audacity to 48000 Hz make any difference?
When you arranged to have Windows 7 installed on this new computer, did you also arrange to install Windows 7 audio drivers for it?