impossible recording - no signal

Hello to you,
To begin, forgive me my ignorance. I am at my first test with Audacity and I would like to explore the various recording possibilities that seem to be almost limitless. Also, forgive my English; I use Google Translate to write to you and understand the topics covered in the forum.

My main problem is that I am unable to record sounds in Audacity. No signal seems to fit in the software. However, if I import an .mp3 file from the “File - open” menu, there is no problem; I can play the part and the sound is excellent. Regarding the different manipulations of the imported file, I have not tested yet and I will do my experiments later. My current problem is to get a signal into the software to record.
I think I followed the instructions for setting up the recording devices but nothing helps. There is surely something that I do not understand or that I hurt, unless my new configurations are the problem in itself. I tried different combinations and possibilities in Audacity as recording devices, always with MME as an audio host but nothing works. The graph that appears in Audacity is a straight line, which indicates no signal. Here is the description of my equipment: I installed Audacity 2.2.2. I have a very recent Lenovo Ideapad 320 notebook with an Intel Core i5 processor - 7200U CPU and 12 GB RAM, running Windows 10 Family, 64 bit.

As an audio device, I just installed an external interface brand Audient ID-14 and my speakers are Focal Alpha 50 and all gives me an excellent sound. Maybe my recording problem in Audacity comes from there. To be able to install my interface, I had to disable the internal devices of my computer but after reading Audacity configurations in the instruction manual, I reactivated some other parameters. Does using an external audio interface make it difficult to operate Audacity? Regarding the playback of imported files, there is no problem but impossible to record the sounds that goes through my computer.

Could you guide me please? Thank you very much for bringing your knowledge to the service of the community. Greetings!

Do you see the interface or “USB… something” as a [u]Recording Device[/u] option?

If it doesn’t show-up, right-click the Windows Speaker/Volume icon, then Recording Devices and make sure Windows sees it and that it’s enabled.

Are the LED meters on the interface showing a signal?

The Audient website says something about mixer software. You may have to install and configure that.

The website also says something about it being a 10-input interface, but the picture doesn’t look like it. Is it really a multichannel interface? …Audacity doesn’t work well with multi-channel / multi-tracking interfaces.


Thank you very much for your answer.
And to answer your question, no the LED counters did not display a signal but I finally found the combination to record the sound of the computer. I use the WASAPI host. By cons, what I find a little weird is that the recording device is Output 1/2 of my Audient card. I would have expected it to be the Input 1/2; I tried it and it does not work with the Input. It’s the Output that works to record. On the other hand, as a reading device, it is also the Output 1/2 of Audient. Another thing I do not understand is that I have a guitar input on my Audient interface but when I plug in, I still have a total absence of signal in Audacity. I really need to learn how to work with Audacity. I do not know anything about computer-assisted music and my learning will be quite difficult I think because I do not know the language that is associated with it. I just had Cubase LE9.5 and for me it’s Chinese! And yes to answer your question, the interface Audient has 2 physical inputs but a special function would get up to 10 entries but still there, I am unable to explain how because I have only 1 week. Thank you again and I will read carefully the site of Audient. I hope to solve my guitar recording problem …
Forgive my English; I use google translation