HELP!! MONITORING AND RECORDING CUTS OUT AFTER 30 SECONDS!!!

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I used Audacity years ago on a PC to record guitar and had no problems. I have just installed Audacity on a Window’s laptop.

  • I plug my guitar into Line In

  • I start monitoring input (L channel shows more action than R channel)

  • I hit record, and the sound is very faint, and the monitoring stops after 30 seconds or so

-Keeps recording, but sound fades out and dies.

Help Please! I’ll respond straight away if you need more info…

2

“Fading out” sound is usually due to Windows recording “Enhancements”. See here for how to turn them off: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements

3

I plug my guitar into Line In

Are you sure you have a Line-In? Most Windows Laptops don’t.

1000×660 65.3 KB

The pink one is Mic-In. It’s not stereo and it’s easily overloaded and creates damaged sound. Your machine might have a Line-In. You have to know to pay attention.

You should probably turn off Windows Enhanced Services. They think your guitar is Air Conditioning Noise and try to filter it out of your Skype call, whether you’re making a Skype call or not.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements

Koz

4

I’m not sure it’s a line in…I have 2 jacks - headphones and this one. when I plug into this one, a window pops ups saying:
-mic?
-Line in?
Stigma Audio?
Take no action?
When I click on the speaker icon beside the clock, i don’t see an ‘enhancement’ option, and all of my options are defaulted to ‘stigma audio’…

5

Split from Randomly losing signal and merged here (that topic is about USB connection). Even if were using USB, it is better as a separate topic than trying to help two people with different equipment in the same topic.

Please, stay in this topic now.

Then that sounds as if you have to choose whether you want the input to act as mic (for low powered signals) or line (signals that are already amplified). It is safest to choose line input first. Turn the input level up in Audacity Mixer Toolbar.

Also please read this Audacity Manual about choosing a proper connection and cable.

What version of Windows? What version of Audacity? See Help > About Audacity. Do you mean “Sigmatel Audio”?

Have you rebooted the computer?


Gale

6

I notice you still tried to post in that topic with the comment “I’m having the same problem and I need it fixed ASAP!!!”. I disapproved your post. The other user has a USB device. Yours is not the same problem because you are using a combined mic / line input on a completely different computer.

Please click HELP!! MONITORING AND RECORDING CUTS OUT AFTER 30 SECONDS!!! - #5 by Gale_Andrews to read the response you were already given in this topic. If you want step-by-step help you will need to say what version of Windows you are using. If you are not sure what version you have, right-click over Computer and choose “Properties”.

My guesses are these.

  • You are on Vista or later and you need to turn off Windows recording enhancements. Click this link Audacity Manual to read how to fix that.
  • Your sound device is broken because it does not have correct drivers. Click this link Missing features - Audacity Support for how to fix that .

Gale

7

Hi Gale,
It’s windows xp. I’ve read all of the responses given, and they all state that I need to turn off recording enhancements, but I don’t have that option in my windows!! When I click over the speaker icon, there is no microphone to click over, and nowhere in there does it show an option for ‘recording enhancements’.

Maybe it’s a driver issue. Not sure if this is relevant, but I do use a midi controller as well and it records without incident. Different input port though. It runs into a usb port.

8

OK, but until you say actually that, we’re in the dark. We asked other questions too which you haven’t answered. We can only carry on the help process if you give us information when we ask for it.

Can you find the XP Service Pack number? My Computer > Properties will tell you that.

Only Vista or later usually have “Enhancements” in the Windows control panel for “Sound”. But you could still look in the sound card’s own control panel for any settings that could be relevant. That would probably in the Windows Control Panel somewhere. Is the sound card called Sigmatel?

Have you tried choosing mic instead of line when the question pops up? If you do, turn the Audacity input slider down because the input will be much stronger.

Have you rebooted the computer? XP is an older operating system that is not efficient at multi-tasking or RAM management. The computer will need rebooting regularly.

What version of Audacity - are you using the latest 2.0.3? You can get 2.0.3 here Audacity ® | Download for Windows .

Audacity doesn’t accept MIDI input, as you may know.

Is this a new laptop? Who installed XP on it, and did they install the sound device drivers from the drivers CD? Have the audio drivers been updated since then? Most new laptops these days come with Windows 7 or Windows 8 and offer poor support for XP unless the manufacturer explicitly says otherwise.

If you give us the exact make and model number of the laptop and the exact Service Pack of Windows then (if you wish) we can see if we can find better drivers for you. All this information needs to be exact where drivers are concerned.


Gale