Error message: Recording device (Sound Blaster AE-5)

[LucyLustig]

Hello everyone,
this is my first post (question) here and I hope we can solve my problem together.

The aim is to save audio from the PC (Internet) directly to the hard disk as MP3.

I am using a desktop PC with a sound card (Creative Sound Blaster X AE-5).

I followed the instructions on the net and activated the recording device in the system settings (Sound and Device Manager). The only thing I can find is: "What U Hear (Sound BlasterX) I have also selected this option in Audacity.

However, as soon as I want to start a recording, the following error message appears:
-9999 Unanticipated host error

Do you have any tips on what else I need to change in the system?

Many thanks in advance for your help and best regards
(Sorry for my English. Translated with Deepl…

Falk

[DVDdoug]

I don’t know what the error means.

But here is something:

9999 Unanticipated host error : this means means “something is wrong”. And appears to most often be due to either:

1. A lost connection to a USB audio device.
2. Recent Windows / Mac update requiring that user gives permission for Audacity to access the microphone.

You can try WASAPI loopback. With loopback you have to select the loopback device where the sound is coming out (usually your regular soundcard) and you may need to start the playback first because although WASAPI can record silence, it can’t record “nothing”.

Note that Audacity can’t record directly to MP3. It records to a special, temporary, uncompressed, 32-bit format. You can export to MP3 (or WAV, etc.) after recording. (Or you can save as an Audacity project, which only works in Audacity.)