Well I am, and feel!, a newbie on here, but after regularly using Audacity v.2.4.2, on my Lenovo ideapad 320 under Win10 Home v.22H2, quite happily for the last 3-4 years, 2 days ago I regrettably unleashed a Windows update which led to it advising around half a dozen times that "An app default was reset. An app caused a problem with the default app setting for .mpv2/.mpa/.xxx files, so it was reset to Films &TV/Media Player/… My problem has only arisen since that update and seemingly Microsoft kicking some devices/drivers?? off my Audacity pitch.
The recording level is not greatly reduced and the number of selectable recording devices appears to have gone from, I think it was 5, to 2.
In fact it has always been necessary previously to have the computer speakers set at an audible level to fill the sound gain metering strips to a clipping level, but now that is impossible. I have always been at something of a loss to understand why Audacity cannot record internally generated sound - i.e. a radio programme from a streaming sound website - in the background, but it has nonetheless suited my purposes quite happily for a long time now.
So I’m fairly sure there must be a fairly straightforward? fix for this, if only I knew which levers to pull! Over the last 2+ hours now, I have installed Audacity 3.7.1 but to no avail, re-installed 2.4.2, and can only see myself going rund in circles with all this for ever, and rendered unable to use Audacity in the future …
Many Thanks in advance for any assistance you can hopefully give me.
Unless I misunderstand what you are saying, you CAN record whatever is playing on your PC (under normal circumstances) - see here: recording desktop audio.
To rule out Audacity itself, you could try using another free program like Ocenaudio or a trial version of a paid-for program like Sound Forge Audio Studio.. It’s a start.
Mark B
Is that a problem? Are you having trouble with some formats? It would be unusual to have Audacity set as your default. Change Default Apps in Windows
Drivers sounds like a good guess… But I don’t know what you’re saying about pitch… If you have some audio devices that aren’t working you might have to re-install the drivers. I doubt you have 5 audio devices.
Different people get different results. I don’t know if it’s different versions of Windows (or different updates) or different drivers. I’m 99.9% sure it’s not Audacity.
It’s Windows… Windows sound recording is mostly designed for recording/digitizing from an analog input to the soundcard. WASAPI loopback, and What-U-Hear or Stereo Mix if you have them are extra features that allow you to capture/record whatever is coming out of the soundcard. There is other software that can get-around the Windows limitations but Audacity only takes what Windows gives it.
Please excuse me if I‘ve been talking in riddles somewhat …
In my simple and long habitual use of the software, I have always had it recording with the input set to one of the previously available flavours – here I go again! – of the onboard ‘Realtek High Definition Audio’ speakers, there was at least one other RHDA choice, but I cannot remember what it was now, as I never needed to change it. However using that output device always necessitated the laptop speakers to be operating, i.e. audible in the room, and the recording volume/sound level had to be set to full, = 1.0 on the horizontal meter – and the Playback volume set to around 0.40 to achieve a satisfactory recording level. You could not record ‘silently’.
So what I really meant when criticising Audacity’s seeming inability to record ‘internally generated sound’ was the fact that during recording the loudspeakers could be heard, and their Volume – whether via Windows or via the Audacity volume control - also to be set to a high enough volume as Audacity does not seem to be able to record directly an audio feed at a fixed (eg. pre-amp?) level - rather like an analogue ‘phono’ output if you will – that is independent of the loudspeaker volume.
So I shall have to have a go with the Audacity help page on recording desktop audio, that you have kindly linked for me, thanks. I have no particular desire to rule out Audacity – it has served me well for several years now recording internet audio streams until the Microsoft Windows 10 Update came along 2-3 days ago – and let you know how I get on. I just know I have lost some of the recording input choices that were shown as available previously.
As ever, on re-reading my post perhaps I was talking somewhat in riddles a bit, my apologies.
The Windows notifications, that came up as the update install proceeded, were all worded very similarly, only the file format name and the Windows default re-allocation were different for some of them. I only ever use *.mp3 and *.wav audio file formats, but since the update I appear to have now lost 2 of the 5-previously available Recording devices in Audacity, and am left with just Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio) and Microphone (Realtek High Definition Audio). Unfortunately I just cannot remember what the missing alternatives were actually named, but the two now available feed the audio from an internet stream at a much lower, say 50%, sound level and so the speaker volume has to be turned up significantly to achieve an acceptably high recording level, meaning the speakers are getting EXCESSIVELY LOUD TO HAVE TO LISTEN TO ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE RECORDING !!
So if it is not usual - especially in my own pretty much all installed Audacity settings left at default - for the Audacity program to be nominated as a default app for certain filetypes in Windows, then the Windows update has to have removed some devices from the reach of Audacity during the update installation, I presume?
Drivers now available to Audacity following the update could well be the problem, rather than the existence of the drivers on the computer hard drive ‘C’.
Excuse my use of a double-meaning word with ‘pitch’ – I meant it to refer to the ‘playing-field’ meaning and not to the ‘audio frequency’ meaning!
The only audio devices I am directly aware of – i.e. not the multiplicity of sub-devices I have sometimes seen in the Windows Device Manager sub-list – are the onboard loudspeakers and the tiny microphone adjacent to the equally tiny, camera above the laptop screen.
I could swear that prior to the Windows update the were 5 various recording devices available in the drop-down menu in Audacity when I was once fiddling around with it quite some time ago, but I got it working for my purposes to my satisfaction at the time and then rigorously left it alone. So what has happened to those alternative devices – they were nonetheless connected to/referred to/sub-versions of, the two physical audio devices I mention above. The list of recording devices in Audacity may have been less than 5 if a different Audio Host - MME/ Windows Direct Sound / Windows WASAPI was selected, although I’m afraid I’ve not much idea of what an Audio Host actually is or what the initials refer to ?! – but as I’ve already said, once I got the software working for my needs I left it alone. Then suddenly I pull it up and it is not working how I want at all, and I honestly have not touched it at all …
