Trying to record from an Allen & Heath sound board. I have a behringer UCA222 connected to a Toshiba Satellite running Windows 8.
I get a really low signal level. You can hear the program in the background of noise and Audacity’s VU meter says around -46db. Odd thing is, I get the same signal level if I disconnect the sound board from the behringer inputs. Suspicious, eh?
Perhaps I have the wrong microphone source selected? The list shows:
Microsoft Sound Mapper
Microphone (USB Audio CODEC)
Microphone (Realtek High Definition)
I have the middle one, Microphone (USB Audio CODEC) selected. Perhaps this donated UCA222 is naff? I’m betting on operator error myself
Oh. Pardon me for withholding information. Many people were trying to “help” me figure it out and I was contending with much advice such as, “you can’t do that with a PC, you have to use Mac,” and, “here, I have 25 more cables you can try,” or even, “you need to lower the lights to record the sound.”
What model board? I have no idea, I’m the computer idiot
If I plug a headset into the UCA222’s “monitor” jack, I get nice clear sound, so I think the sound guys are giving me a nice signal, wherever they’re getting it. I think they’re using a monitor output so they can balance the recorded sound by adjusting one of the monitor channels.
At a live performance is the worst place to sort out technical problems.
Do you have anything at home that can give you a “line level” signal (example, a CD player, cassette player or almost any “hi fi separate”).
If you try this:
Connect the “CD player” (or whatever) to the line inputs of the UCA222
Connect the USB plug of the UCA222 to your laptop.
Open the Windows Sound Control Panel and go to the Recording tab. You should see the UCA222 listed as USB audio device and it should be enabled.
Start playing the CD. You should see green bars in the control panel responding to the sound of the CD.
If I plug a headset into the UCA222’s “monitor” jack, I get nice clear sound
Windows has separate recording & playback “mixers” so you don’t always hear what you’re recording.
I’m pretty sure the UCA222 gets its monitor signal from the computer so that means the signal is getting into the computer and you should be able to record it.
Microsoft Sound Mapper
Microphone (USB Audio CODEC)
Microphone (Realtek High Definition)
I have the middle one, Microphone (USB Audio CODEC) selected.
That might be correct… Windows might “think” the UCA222 is a USB microphone.
I’m pretty sure the UCA222 gets its monitor signal from the computer
Both. If you throw that little “monitor” switch on the side, the headphone connection will be a mix of Zero Latency Monitoring the local performance going up to the computer, and a duplication of the UCA222 Line-Out, which is the computer feed back down.
It’s this little mixer thing that allows the UCA series to be certified for Overdubbing/Sound-On-Sound.
If you turn the Monitor switch off, Headphone is a duplication of the UCA Line-Out.
With the Monitor switch ON, I hear a nice signal in the headphones, so seemingly, I get a nice signal from the board.
With Audacity on the windows 8 machine, I can record nix.
So I moved the UCA222 to a windows 10 machine and tried Voice Recorder. This produces me nice files of silent recording while Cortana complains she can’t hear me with this microphone. I told her I don’t care, but she never listens.
Now the Windows 8 PC that’s supposed to be doing this job is installing update 106 of 143.
Perhaps I’ll give this UCA222 back to the lady who dug it out of her bag and get something else. Suggestions?
With Audacity on the windows 8 machine, I can record nix.
I assume you meant to say “mix”?
So it’s working now? Problem solved? But, it’s not on the Win10 machine?
If the Win10 machine happens to be a desktop/tower with a regular soundcard you can use the analog line-input.
Perhaps I’ll give this UCA222 back to the lady who dug it out of her bag and get something else. Suggestions?
If it’s working on the Win8 machine, it’s not defective. You’ll likely have the same setup/configuration problems with “something else”.
It should work unless the Behringer interface is defective. The Behringer uses your Microsoft-supplied drivers (and we know these work with Audacity).
Microsoft Sound Mapper
Microphone (USB Audio CODEC)
Microphone (Realtek High Definition)
Try experimenting with these settings. Try DirectSound or WASAPI as your audio host.
I don’t think the Behringer device shows up as “Realtek”, although you might be using your Realtek ‘soundcard’ for monitoring/playback.
You can hear the program in the background of noise
Are you recording acoustic room noise? …You might be recording from the laptop’s internal microphone instead of the Behringer. That’s easy to check- Just say “testing” or clap your hands, etc, while recording. (Disconnect the mixer if you have any mics connected to it.)
That would make you the owner of the only known defective Behringer unit. They very rarely break. If you do get some other process to work, I bet you find something else wrong causing the Behringer to fail. Put it in the garage or the back of the closet until you get the system resolved.
Solved! The lady who donated it went to control panel and disabled the PC’s microphone and now Audacity gets the signal from the right source. I would have thought that’s what the drop list by the microphone icon was for.
So, if your behringer is only giving you a very low level and audacity seems to be getting its signal from somewhere else, go to the control panel and disable the internal microphone.
She saved the device from being smashed by my Jeep Liberty. I guess it’s a good thing that we never use that computer’s internal microphone.
I think your system is broken if it is not selecting the correct recording device. It sounds like it is recording the default Windows recording device even if you choose the UCA’s USB Audio CODEC.
It could be you want to reinstall Windows some time and then go to the web site of the manufacturer of that computer and look for the latest Windows 8 audio drivers for that computer model.
You do know that you have to connect the UCA before launching Audacity, don’t you?
You can’t disable devices in Audacity’s Device Toolbar. That has to be done in Windows.
Because if you were going to reduce it to plastic trash, I was prepared to buy it from you. Time zone is important because I’m not up to international shipping. I did that once. It’s not fun.
