Audacity / M-Audio Compaibility

[Steve995]

We purchased an M-Audio M-Track 8x4m usb interface so we could record with 3 microphones on Audacity. Two of the mics will record, but the 3rd won’t, although the vu meter on the M-Audio unit shows mic 3 is working. Attached is a picture of the possible inputs we can select on Audacity. Using ‘multichannel m-audio’ should allow us to record with all three mics, but it won’t. It only records mics 1 & 2. If we select ‘line 1/2 m-audio’ it only records mics 1 & 2. When we select ‘line 3/4 m-audio’ we can record with mic 3, but not 1 & 2. We checked with M-Audio tech support and they said ‘multichannel m-audio’ is the proper selection but claim Audacity will only accept 2 mics. That makes no sense to us as the M-Audio device is basically a mixer and sends one signal to the computer and Audacity. At least that’s our thinking. Does anyone have any recommendations on getting all 3 mics to record? We’re using Audacity version 2.3.1. Thanks in advance.

[DVDdoug]

[u]Here[/u] is some information about multitrack recording in Audacity. I’ve never tried it, but a LOT of people seem to have trouble with it.

Did the M-Audio interface some with software? Sometimes interfaces some with a “lite” DAW application. Or, [u]Cakewalk[/u] is now free or you may want to buy a [u]another DAW[/u].

That makes no sense to us as the M-Audio device is basically a mixer and sends one signal to the computer and Audacity.

No… It’s a multi-channel interface for multi-track recording, where each channel gets recorded to it’s own-separate channel. Mixing is done in software after recording.

There are USB mixers that mix-down to stereo (or mono). The main advantage of multitrack recording is that you can adjust and edit the tracks independently or you can re-record the vocals or one instrument, etc., if you want to correct or change part without re-recording everything.

If you record the stereo mix, you’re stuck with what you get and if the drums are too-loud (or something like that) you can’t just turn-down the drums and you’d have to record the whole thing again if you don’t want to live with it.

[Trebor]

… Using ‘multichannel m-audio’ should allow us to record with all three mics, but it won’t. It only records mics 1 & 2. If we select ‘line 1/2 m-audio’ it only records mics 1 & 2. When we select ‘line 3/4 m-audio’ we can record with mic 3, but not 1 & 2. We checked with M-Audio tech support and they said ‘multichannel m-audio’ is the proper selection but claim Audacity will only accept 2 mics …

Audacity is only compatible with some multi-track devices …

@audacityteam

As distributed, Audacity comes with support for Windows MME and WDM drivers. MME drivers work fine for simple stereo recording and playback, and are available on all versions of Windows where Audacity will run. However, neither these nor most WDM drivers will provide multi-channel recording; if you try to send multiple inputs to Audacity with these, you will only be presented with a series of separate two-channel “recording devices” from which one can be chosen, instead of the number of input channels there actually are.

https ://manual.audacityteam.org/man/multi_channel_recording.html

If you don’t have the DAW-software that the interface came with,
I’d be tempted to try Audacity’s (free) competitor OCENaudio & ASIO4ALL (free) driver software.
( the distributed version of Audacity is not compatible with ASIO drivers )

[Steve995]

We’re a small community radio station manned by all volunteers. We had a previous M-Audio interface that was limited to two mics. We need 3 mics to handle interviews with multiple people. So we thought the 4 mic interface would do the trick. M-Audio offers a free version of Pro Tools First which we downloaded and found to be amazingly complicated. So we didn’t even get it set up.

From the two responses, it appears we’ve misunderstood how the M-Audio device and Audacity work and need to come up with another way of reaching our objective.

Thanks for the information

[steve]

Please attach the “audio device info” to your next reply (see: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/help_menu_diagnostics.html#audio_device_info and https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-attach-files-to-forum-posts/24026/1)

[Steve995]

Attached in the device info as requested.

I guess my final question would be if Audacity will record our three mics if we used an actual mixer, like a Behringer. Or is it the same problem?

I apologize for my ignorance, but I’m not a tech. Our engineer left a few weeks ago and we’re searching for tech help.

Thanks!
deviceinfo.txt (15 KB)

[steve]

Unfortunately, the drivers for the M-Audio M-Track present multiple 2 channel devices rather than one multi-channel device. Currently, Audacity can only record from one device at a time, so that limits you to 2 channel recording.

You may be able to record multiple channels at the same time with other software. Programs like Reaper, Cubase, Sonar … can use ASIO drivers, which will probably allow the M-Track to multi-channel record. Reaper is available as an unlimited trial for free, and is very reasonably priced (charged on an “honesty” system). Or, as Trebor suggested, “ocenaudio” with ASIO.

[Steve995]

Thank you for the information!! Much appreciated.

Steve