Combining Windows Media Player Playback with Mic Input

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Hi I am trying to record a vocal track over an accompaniment played by Windows Media Player.

I am using a laptop with the following configuration
Operating System Windows 7 Professional 32-bit SP1
CPU Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo @ 1.20GHz 69 °C Merom 65nm Technology
RAM 3.00GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 332MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard LENOVO 647717G (None) 67 °C
Graphics ThinkPad Display 1440x900 (1440x900@60Hz) T23B551 (1440x900@60Hz) Intel Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family (Lenovo) Intel Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family (Lenovo)
Hard Drives 119GB KINGSTON SVP180S2128G (SSD) 41 °C
Optical Drives No optical disk drives
Audio SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio

and the microphone is connected via an M-Audio Mobile Pre USB interface.

Audacity version is 2.0.2 and its info shows

==============================
Default capture device number: 1
Default playback device number: 3
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: Line 1/2 (M-Audio MobilePre)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: Speakers (SoundMAX Integrated D
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.200000
Low Output Latency: 0.200000
High Input Latency: 0.400000
High Output Latency: 0.400000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: Primary Sound Capture Driver
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: Line 1/2 (M-Audio MobilePre)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: Primary Sound Driver
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: Speakers (SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.000000
High Input Latency: 0.000000
High Output Latency: 0.000000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Selected capture device: 5 - Line 1/2 (M-Audio MobilePre)
Selected playback device: 6 - Primary Sound Driver
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Available mixers:
==============================
Available capture sources:
0 - Master Volume
==============================
Available playback volumes:
0 - CD Audio
1 - Master Volume
==============================
Capture volume is native
Playback volume is native

and it picks up the mic fine but I can’t get it to hear the WMP output.

I’ve been fiddling with Audio Devices setting in Control Panel but can’t get it to work. Anyone with thoughts on what I’m doing wrong?

2

Audacity supports multiple tracks.
Rather than using Windows Media Player to play the accompaniment it would be better to Import the accompaniment track into Audacity and then record your new track.
There is a relevant tutorial here:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_multi_track_overdubs.html

There may also be some useful stuff in this one:
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_mixing_a_narration_with_background_music.html

3

Thanks, that’s a good thought and one that hadn’t occurred to me. I will certainly consider that for full accompaniments.

What I am struggling with just now is getting a tone into Audacity. I use a drone note to check my pitch as I sing a song unaccompanied and as that is generated by a program running on the PC in real time I can’t import it.

More thoughts?

4

Many computers can be set up for self recording, to record Stereo-Mix, What-U-Hear or other process which can change depending on your computer.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_audio_playing_on_the_computer.html

Some don’t, though, so it’s not unheard of to have a computer which won’t allow this. A work-around might be to set audacity to generate a pure, flute-like tone instead. You’ll need to figure out the name of the note you use and then the frequency of that note. International “A” is 440Hz for one example. That’s the oboe tone at the beginning of a symphony.

Koz

5

The laptop I’m using can’t capture “off air” like my desktop can because the manufacturer (Lenovo) conspired with Microsoft to make sure it can’t happen.

If I could get Audacity to generate a musical tone - not a pure tone because it’s so hard to tune to - that would be brilliant but I looked at the Nyquist stuff on here and couldn’t see how I could get, say, an organ or pitch pipe tone. I suppose one way would be to record a suitable number of tones (ie various tonics for different keys) and use them?

6

I suppose one way would be to record a suitable number of tones (ie various tonics for different keys) and use them?

I’ll be making coffee while you try that. We got lots of time.

People keep telling me you can get anything on-line and by Google. You can’t find someone that recorded a pitch pipe?

What’s the note, or is it one of those things that has different notes around the outside of a little circular blowy thing? Would that be like one octave of notes from middle C on the organ and up?

Koz

7

That work? I started with C below middle C because it sounded cooler.

Koz

8

What’s the drone note?
Yes, with Nyquist you can generate almost any sound imaginable. What are we aiming for?

9

Really grateful for the help here; and an offer of coffee as well just adds the cherry. (Mixed metaphors - nah.)

Yes. Ideally, I would be emulating a continuous note as blown by one of those round blowy things but an organ like note would also work well. (Maintaining a continuous, unwavering note on a pitch pipe is very difficult, a mechanically generated one would be more reliable.)

I don’t need all the notes, just those that are popular for baritone singers, so things like Ab, Bb, C, D, E, F, G, all on the lower half of the treble clef. I think this would make them D4, E4, F4, G4, Ab5, Bb5 and C5?

I’d probably just go through our repertoire (I sing in a barbershop chorus) and pick out the appropriate notes from there.

Making recordings of drone notes wouldn’t take that long as I could use Audacity to double and re-double them?

10

Here’s a C4 (Middle C)

It’s just under 10 seconds. If you want it longer, use the “Repeat” effect http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/repeat.html
If you want other notes, use the “Change Pitch” effect: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/change_pitch.html

11

I’m at work just now and can’t try out your audio files but I am grateful for your continuing interest in this. As soon as I get home I’ll give them a go.

I have to say that Audacity never ceases to amaze me; the stuff that’s there - its capabilities - is just astonishing.

And the effort people on the forum put into solving users’ problems - and for free - is fantastic.

12

That MP3 is an orchestral oboe playing a chromatic scale and holding each note 4-5 seconds. I held it long enough for me to be able to sing a pitch sync, figuring if I can do it, any real singer should be able to deal with it. All the notes between C below middle C and ending with middle C. That’s what, C3 to C4?

The keyboard insists on playing a little vibrato and echo in there, it’s a theatrical performance, but it didn’t seem to affect the pitch.

There are “stops” on my keyboard for electronic music and they’re like triangle waves and other distortions. One is “Simple Saw.” Full musical buzz with pitch control. That’s what you’re likely to get by managing multiple generated waves.

Koz

13

I’ll give Koz’s oboe tones a go when I get home. Many thanks for building the file.

Failing their working, I’ve got a midi controller/keyboard and I was going to use that to generate tones by setting the MIDI interface to play organ sounds.

I think if I do that the controller/keyboard will send a tone code for as long as I hold a key down? (Unlike when I select Grand Piano.)

The latency I usually experience using the keyboard with my laptop shouldn’t be a problem as Audacity won’t start recording the tone until it “hears” it?

Fingers crossed.

PS Fixed the Subject; apologies for the typos.

14

Audacity doesn’t deal with MIDI very well and if your keyboard is sending MIDI codes to the computer, you’ll have the same problem. The computer is playing the tones and you don’t have any good way to record the computer.

If you’re on Windows and have a laptop, you don’t have any really good way to record your keyboard as a straight keyboard, either, for example the headphone output. Mic-In won’t do that.

Cut those tones down to individual notes and put the right one at the beginning of an overdubbing session. That will play to your headphones and not necessarily become part of the show. You might even build a rhythm guide into the same track.

Koz

15

Hello Everyone

I used PitchPerfector (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pewx2pdfBe0) to generate tones for the pitches I need.

I set it to produce a G, say, and let it run for a minute. I then used the Repeat option to magnify that 1 minute to 8 and I used Clip Join to remove the split bars. I can live with the tiny clicks that come once a minute; they’ll probably be lost when I’m singing.

I’ll load them in as needed to Audacity and sing while they play; should be fine.

If anybody wants the MP3s let me know and I’ll put them up somewhere they are accessible (DropBox or the like.)

Thanks to everyone.

16

Wait. You’re running a pitch sync tone the entire time you’re singing? What happens when you sing a C-G-C-F-C progression or something like that when a specific segment of the song has no relationship with the tone?
Koz

17

Hi Koz

That really is the point of the exercise.

Firstly it helps to tune the ear to the full intervals; singers notoriously short change themselves on 3rds for example, commonly singing them flat.

Secondly, it helps the ear to learn the discord intervals, the seconds, the 6ths and the 7ths. When, say, the second degree of the scale is sung against a tonic drone there is musicality to be heard if and when the pitch is right. It’s very helpful to learn to hear that musicality.

And, finally, it forces you to become very sure of the tune, the way the melody goes. Great for reinforcing the learning process and locking songs down.

The progression you give - C-G-C-F-C - is composed (ha ha!) of perfect 4ths (C - F) and 5ths (C - G) and those notes will sound very euphonic when sung together. C - D and C - A will sound “off” until the ear learns to hear the music these combinations make. Accidentals (producing diminished and augmented chords*) and minor chord combinations can also be learnt - the famous devil’s interval or tritone for example - and sung more accurately as a result.

Singing against a tonic drone is hard at first but well worth persevering with. Sometimes it can be a chastening experience as you hear, possibly for the first time, that you are one of the short changers! A few sessions will quickly correct that and reset the ear.

Thanks for all your interest and help.

Brian

  • edited to correct/explain reference to accidentals.
18

It seems that the link (domain) on the YouTube site isn’t used anymore.

19

Hi Robert

I don’t understand this post.

What’s the connection?

Brian

20

You’ve posted a link to the pitch-perfect advertisement video.
However, the link to their homepage is not valid anymore. Just in case, someone wants to look at the app.

Unfortunately, Audacity can’t analyse the mic input in real time, anything else is perfectly possible with Nyquist.

Here’s a sample organ cadence for the Nyquist Prompt:

(defun init-organ()
  (setf factor '(8 8 8 8 5 2 1 1 4))
  (setf harm '(1 2 2.9966 4 5.9932 8 10.0794 11.9864 16))
  (setq *table*  (maketable (simrep (overtone 9)
  (scale (/ (nth overtone factor) 100.0)
         (build-harmonic (nth overtone harm) 1000))))))
;;
(defun organ (pitch)
  (osc-note pitch 1 '(0.1 0 0.1 1 1 1)))
;;
(defun cadence ()
  (init-organ)
   (sim
    (at 0 
     (stretch 1.98 
      (sim
        (organ c3)
 (organ e3)
 (organ g3)
 (organ as3))))
    (at 2 
     (stretch 1.98
      (sim
 (organ c3)
 (organ ds3)
 (organ f3)
 (organ a3))))
    (at 4 (stretch 1.98 (organ c3)))
    (at 4 (stretch 0.1 (organ ds3)))
    (at 4.1 (stretch 1.88 (organ e3)))
    (at 4 (stretch 1.98 (organ g3)))))
;;
(set-sound-srate *sound-srate*)
(cadence)