Error while opening sound device ...

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

i’m using the last version of Audacity ,
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
with Terratec DMX 6Fire USB.

The problem is that i can’t record with the mic connected to the external soundcard.
It gives me this error:
“Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the projects sample rate”

I’ve tried everything: changing the frequency (44, 48000 hz)
changhing the system in the device (windows directsound and MME)

no way. always the same message.

(on the other hand it can easily reproduce sounds with the soundcard, no problem with the output)

thank you in advice for your help!

2

Dig in the instructions and see if it requires ASIO driver software. Audacity doesn’t support ASIO.

The device does show itself in Audacity > Edit > Preferences > Devices > Recording, right?

Audacity > Edit > Preferences > Quality > Recording 44100, 16-bit should connect to almost anything. You also need to set Devices: Stereo.

Koz

3

in the soundcard manual at the end they say:
Software:
WDM driver for Windows XP SP2, Vista
ASIO 2.0 support
Windows only
Multiclient support ASIO and WDM
Windows only
WDM Kernel Streaming (e.g. Sonar)
Windows only
MME and DirectSound support
Windows only
Control panel for Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and MAC OS 10.4 or higher
http://ftp.terratec.de/Audio/DMX_6fire_USB/Manual/DMX_6Fire_USB_Manual_GB.pdf

yes, the device show itself in audacity, but no variation for playback and recording:
device — > playback ---- > speaker dmx 6fire wmd aud
device — > recording ---- > speaker dmx 6fire wmd aud

4

Please post the content of Help > Audio Device Info… .

Also say what three section version number of Audacity you have (look at Help > About Audacity as requested in the pink panel above).


Gale

5

Audacity 2.0.5
and
HERE the content of audio device info:
(Autoparlanti is speakers in italian …)

==============================
Default capture device number: 1
Default playback device number: 6
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output
Host name: MME
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
    352800
    384000
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
    352800
    384000
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Host name: MME
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0,090000
Low Output Latency: 0,090000
High Input Latency: 0,180000
High Output Latency: 0,180000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
    352800
    384000
==============================
Device ID: 8
Device name: Driver primario di acquisizione suoni
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,120000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,240000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 9
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,120000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,240000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 10
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,120000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,240000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 11
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,120000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,240000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 12
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,120000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,240000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 13
Device name: Driver audio principale
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: 0,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,120000
High Input Latency: 0,000000
High Output Latency: 0,240000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 14
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: 0,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,120000
High Input Latency: 0,000000
High Output Latency: 0,240000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 15
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows DirectSound
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,120000
High Input Latency: 0,000000
High Output Latency: 0,240000
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 16
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: 0,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,003000
High Input Latency: 0,000000
High Output Latency: 0,010000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 17
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio) (loopback)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 6
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 18
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: 0,000000
Low Output Latency: 0,003000
High Input Latency: 0,000000
High Output Latency: 0,010000
Supported Rates:
    48000
==============================
Device ID: 19
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio) (loopback)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 20
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 21
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 22
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 23
Device name: Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Audio)
Host name: Windows WASAPI
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0,003000
Low Output Latency: 0,000000
High Input Latency: 0,010000
High Output Latency: 0,000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Selected capture device: 4 - Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Selected playback device: 7 - Altoparlanti (DMX 6fire WDM Aud
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    176400
    192000
    352800
    384000
Recieved -9999 while opening devices
6

Your device works with Audacity on Mac OS X and Linux according to reports on this Forum.

There is no presumption multi-channel devices work with Audacity on Windows unless you build Audacity with ASIO support.

You could try Edit > Preferences: Quality and choose 24-bit Default Sample Format. Choose 192000 Hz Default Sample Rate.

Try all four inputs in Device Toolbar .

For each of those inputs, do you see only a choice of mono or stereo recording channels in the last box on the right in Device Toolbar? How it should work is that you get a choice of recording 1, 2, 3 or 4 channels and you would choose 4 channels to make sure you recorded the input you wanted. But you may need to build Audacity with ASIO support to see that.

If none of that helps, and you don’t want to build Audacity with ASIO support, the only other thing you can do is try the latest Audacity 2.0.6-alpha development build and choose WDM-KS host in Device Toolbar. WDM-KS does make a few multi-channel devices work correctly. But there is also a very small chance that WDM-KS could cause the computer to crash when you start Audacity.


Gale

7

I’ve tried,
nothing to do,
it doesn’t work …

another free software with ASIO support that you advice me to try ?

8

That doesn’t tell us what exactly you tried.

How many recording channels are in Device Toolbar?

Did you try 2.0.6-alpha with WDM-KS host?


Audacity supports ASIO, but you have to compile it to get that support.

You could try KRISTAL Audio Engine .


Gale