Audacity stops recording when windows mic dissapears from icon tray (Win 11)

Audacity 3 Help Forum
1

Hello, I have been happily recording some old tape for the last week or so but today I have run into a very frustrating error when trying to record.

I have a tape deck connected to the PC via the line in audio jack, I have been recording old tapes this way for years with no problems what so ever.

Today when I try and record it starts fine but audacity will suddenly stop at random times. I have noticed that the stop/crash happens at the exact moment the microphone icon on the window 11 start bar tray disappears. When I hover over the mic icon in the tray it says ‘mic in use by audacity’.

I have tried many steps to resolve this issue but am now at my wits end and reaching out to you for help – any help will be greatly appreciated!
BigR

2

I have never set eyes on Windows 11 so I can’t help in relation to it but I can suggest a temporary workaround. Instead of recording with Audacity you could give Ocenaudio a try. It’s also free and easy to use. I find it faster and more stable than Audacity for certain tasks. You can always do the editing in Audacity, which has a better workflow for that. This will:

  1. Give you a plan B
  2. Eliminate or confirm Audacity as the culprit
  3. Allow you to keep recording tapes while you wait for other (and maybe better) answers.
3

Hello & many thanks for the reply and I will give Ocenaudio a try. In the mean time i will keep trying different solutions for Audacity.

BigR

4

Ok so installed Ocenaudio and the exact same error occurs after a few minutes recording. So seems to be a windows 11 issue relating to the microphone in icon tray. I will keep on troubleshooting.

5

Sorry to hear that and I agree with you about the possible cause.

6

The possibility exists that the icon is disappearing because the sound device is starting to fail.

7

I’d probably try another soundcard. Or a USB audio interface with line inputs.

Soundcards aren’t necessarily expensive if you can install it yourself, and if you’ve actually got a soundcard in a slot, or an extra slot. And then you’ll know if it was a hardware problem, or if you’ve got an operating system problem.

… I actually bought a little USB soundcard just for “troubleshooting purposes” but these things don’t have line-in.

8

Hi all, I seem to have resolved the issue by deleting windows 11 cache and all temporary files. Restarted the computer and just recorded a 60 minute cassette with no issues :slight_smile:

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9

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