External mic not showing up in drop down menu

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Hello,

I have a soundcraft notepad 8fx mixer hooked up to my laptop by usb. The mixer is coming up on the speaker menu but the mic I have hooked up to the mixer is not coming up in the drop down menu. The mic is a Rockville rmc-xlrz. Please help! Thank you!

2

You’re not seeing “USB…something” as a [u]Recording Device[/u]?

Plug-in the mixer before starting Audacity.

Right-click the Windows speaker/volume icon, open sound devices, and check to see if it shows up there. If Windows sees it, Audacity should see it.

If it doesn’t show-up at all make sure the drivers are installed and/or try another USB cable.

3

If the mic is a condenser type and your mixing board does not have phantom power, it will not show. Here are some steps from my Audacity101 guide that you might try:

OPTION 1

  1. Start → type in “troubleshooting” (without
    quote marks) → select “Troubleshooting”
    from the list above.

  2. Under H’ware & Sound, click “Troubleshoot
    audio recording” → Next → select the
    device you wish to troubleshoot → Next →
    Apply this fix.


    OPTION 2

  3. Start → Connect to Internet → All Programs
    → launch "Sound Recorder.

  4. Press F1 key (or click “Help”) → scroll to
    bottom → select "Troubleshoot audio-recording
    problems → “Fix it.”

  5. Run (to download and run a Microsoft app
    called “Mats_Run.AudioRecording.exe”) →
    install the app → Run → “Detect and apply
    the fixes…”.

  6. Select to troubleshoot “Microphone” → Next
    → Close. If problem still persists, try mfr
    forum.


    OPTION 3

  7. Start → type Device → Device Manager →
    expand "Sound, video and game controllers.

  8. Right-click on any duplicates and Remove
    → Action → Scan for hardware changes →
    exit.

  9. Adjust Windows’ speaker volume: Click on
    speaker icon in system tray (lower right
    corner near clock) → drag faders to, say,
    one-third of the way up.

NOTE: Location of Windows’ Volume control
is…

C:\Windows\System32\SndVol.exe

NOTE: Approximate .WAV file size for 5 min
of recording at 96 Kbps = 51 MB. The
same recording in WMA format = 3.5 MB.

  1. Exit → see “Microphone” in “Recording”
    section of this guide to start recording
    with an external microphone. See also “DC
    Offset in Windows” to ensure audio quality
    is maximized.
4

Hi Doug, thank you for your response!

No, a usb option is not coming up as an option for recording device.

It’s not showing up on the window speakers option either.

I do see something about a driver not being installed when I pull up the mixer through windows settings…

5

Is the Mixer disabled as a recording device in the Windows Sound settings?

6

Problem resolved. Thank you so much all.

7

It could be very helpful for others if you say what fixed it.

8

i’m also having this problem. Windows is only allowing me to use the mixer as a speaker and doesn’t pick up that its a microphone

9

Have you checked the soundcraft notepad 8fx mixer manual?

10

I have the notepad 12fx mixer

11

How is it connected to your computer?

12

with a usb

13

Check in the Windows Sound control panel and ensure that the USB mixer is not hidden and is enabled in both the Playback and Recording tabs.

14

It shows up, it says driver unavailable then only sees it as a speaker

15

So we’ve found the problem.

Have you tried rebooting the computer?

Note that you cannot use Windows drivers and ASIO drivers at the same time. If you have ASIO drivers installed and then use any audio application that uses ASIO, that will block the Windows drivers.