I am trying to record som old minidiscs. I use the headphone jack output on the minidisc player and the line in on my computer. It seems like it is only possible to record with MME (not with Direct Sound or WASAPI), but afterwards, when I play the MME recording with MME, there is so much distortion that the recording sounds crazy. When I play the MME recording with Direct Sound or WASAPI it is much better, but there is stil distortion and it seems like the recording jumps every second
Does your minidisc player have line-outputs?
What are your levels like? Are you seeing lots of [u]clipping[/u]? Have you tried turning-down the volume on the minidisc player?
and it seems like the recording jumps every second
Try increasing your [u]Recording Buffer[/u]. If that doesn’t help you may have to check your computer for things running in the background that might be “hogging” the CPU. (It doesn’t have to be using a LOT of CPU, it just has to hog the CPU for a few-millisconds too long while the recording buffer overflows.)
Thankyou for your answer. No, my minidisc player does’nt have line-outputs, but as far as I know this is quite normal, and it should be ok to use the headphone output. While I record on Audacity the sound of the recording through the computer is fine.
The levels are as recomended. I can se no clipping, but anyway I will try to turn down the volume on the minidisc player.
I will also try to increase the recording buffer. I have made the recording without anything else running, but it’s an old laptop, and I don’t know if it has problems with sound in this case, and it’s the first time I try Audacity.
Is it normal that you should make the recording with MME and play it with Direct Sound or WASAPI?
but it’s an old laptop
Are you sure it has line-in? Most laptops have only mic-in and headphone-out. Running a line-level or headphone-level signal into a mic input is a recipe for distortion.
Is it normal that you should make the recording with MME and play it with Direct Sound or WASAPI?
It shouldn’t make a significant difference as long as your soundcard has the appropriate driver.
Thankyou for your answer. No, my minidisc player does’nt have line-outputs, but as far as I know this is quite normal, and it should be ok to use the headphone output.
Yes, a headphone signal is approximately the same voltage as line-level. But, it can sometimes be a little “hot” or sometimes too low if the volume is turned-down.
The laptop is an Aspire 3630 which has a line-in.
Mayby I shoud let my computer expert friend Niels check sound card / driver
I’ll have to try different settings of the minidisc player volume. It’s getting late here in Denmark, so I’ll continue experiments when I get back from work tomorrow. Thankyou for your interest so far.
You were right, DVDdoug, thankyou.
By increasing recording buffer from 100 ms to 2000 I succeded to make a recording which seems ok.
It works much better with 1000 ms, but nok quite, and at 3000 ms it sounds like one speaker is falling out, but at 2000 it seems right. Besides it’s possible not only to record with MME but also play with MME.