Monitoring while recording

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi,
I’m using Audacity 2.0.5 with Windows 7 (64-bit) and a Creative SB Audigy 5/RX sound card. I’ve created and successfully recorded a backing track (from MIDI) and want to record an electric guitar track over the backing track (guitar into the Line-in of my sound card). When I play the recorded backing track I hear it through my computer speakers. When I press Record and play the guitar part, I see it recording but I hear nothing. I’ve been through the tutorial and manual and still can’t figure out how to hear both the recorded track and the new track I’m recording while recording. Tried searching the forum but there are hundreds of hits and none of them seem to address my exact situation. Tips or hints? Thanks.

2

Transport > Software Playthrough sends the input to the output but it’s the wrong solution because latency is added as the audio is sent through the computer. You will hear yourself late.

The only thing you can try is to look in the manual for the Audigy and see if it supports hardware (low or zero latency) input monitoring in its headphones output. I see that it does “mic monitoring with stereo mixing”. You can use Audacity’s Device Toolbar to change your playback device to Audigy instead of the computer speakers.

Gale

3

Thanks – I’ve taken another step which I think will improve matters, but I still have a problem.

I now have a Yamaha Audiogram 3 interface so I don’t have to depend on my card so much. Problem I have now is, I have the background track recorded in Audacity. When I play it back in Audacity, I hear it just fine. When I attempt to record the guitar track over it, I hear only the guitar part I’m playing and can’t hear the backing track at all. How do I hear the recorded track that I’m trying to add a track to?

Thanks again.

4

Transport > Overdub plays existing tracks while recording. Set Audacity in Device Toolbar to play to the interface. See if the interface can hear a mix of the input and the sound coming from the computer. The online brochure isn’t clear to me if it can do that.

Ask here if you are unsure https://yamahaeurope.secure.force.com/webcase?lang=en&qxz=uk.

Gale