I have been using Audacity for several years on Windows XP, and now Windows 7. I’ve tried really hard to find the answer to this problem, and apologise if it has been covered before.
Whilst recording from an LP (ION iTTUSB turntable) all goes well for a while then I’m suddenly deafened by a gigantic hissing. The music is still there, but instead of running along the centre of each panel, it moves to top and foot, with the panel being filled with solid lighter blue.
Today, I can’t even record anything, so I’ve downloaded version 2.1.1. but it makes no difference.
Please help - it’s driving me crazy! Jester
Change the USB cable and/or make sure it is tight at both ends.
Gale
That does sound like a scrambled digital-data problem. It’s probably a hardware issue, so as Gale says, try a different USB cable. I don’t think it’s a driver or software problem. (I believe your turntable uses the Windows-supplied USB audio drivers.)
For example if one byte (8 bits) gets “lost”, the bytes can be reassembled in the wrong sequence (with 16-bit audio or higher). If the data gets scrambled, you can get what you describe… Mostly loud noise, but with some “hint” of the recorded audio mixed-in.
Something like that happened to me and it was a bad hard drive. (But, in my case the problem showed-up when editing, not during recording.)
There’s also a chance it’s an analog problem with the turntable’s electronics. (Or, it could be the turntable’s digital electronics.) You can check the analog side by connecting the turntable’s analog outputs to your stereo system, or directly to a set of “powered” computer speakers to see if the analog signal is reliable. (If there is a line/phono switch on the turntable, choose line unless you’re using a phono-preamp or the phono-input on an older audio receiver that has a phono-input.)
If you have a desktop/tower computer with a regular soundcard, you can try an analog connection to line-in on the soundcard, instead of USB.