There are many parts to this post, please bear with me. For many years I have recorded using the inbuilt recorder on my digital piano, then captured it in the laptop using Audacity, no other hardware involved, line in was good enough for my purposes and I used Primary Sound Capture Driver as the setting on Audacity.
My laptop has upgraded itself to Windows 10 (previously W7).
Now I can’t get any recording. That’s question 1 - what’s happened? I haven’t changed anything - I use line outs from the digi piano.
Q 2 The forum says I have to upgrade to Audacity 2.12. I’ve tried three times but it still says it’s 1.3.
Q3 I have bought a new laptop as my old one is on its way out. It is W10. It doesn’t have a separate line in/mic, but a single socket which apparently can do both. I have installed Audacity but it no longer shows Primary Sound Capture Driver as an option. I’ve tried recording - it did it but not a very good recording. So what settings do I use to get a better recording? (As said previously, the quality of the recordings I got on my old laptop was perfectly adequate for my purposes).
So I’m stumped. I use this feature such a lot (I’m a piano teacher and I need this facility)
Please answer in simple language - I’ll follow through any amount of instructions and am not afraid (!) but I need the language straightforward with step by step instructions.
Target - on either laptop to obtain decent-enough recordings again.
Thank you, quite urgent.
Aha - in the apps list clicking onto Audacity only got me to 1.3 but if I click on the shortcut on the desktop, there is 2. version! It’s a miracle. Now I desperately need to know how to get good recordings again… please keep the responses coming.
Please uninstall Audacity 1.3 and uninstall all other Audacity versions (there is no “2.12” or “2.” version made by us).
Then install Audacity 2.1.2 from us at http://audacityteam.org/download/windows. Look carefully for “Select Additional Tasks” in the installer (half way through). Check (tick) the box “Reset Preferences”. Complete the installation. When you start Audacity, it will ask if you want to reset preferences. Say yes.
This may not solve your problem on the laptop that was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, unless you are prepared to go looking for updated Windows 10 audio drivers for it.
It may help on the new laptop that came with Windows 10 if it actually has an audio input suitable for connecting from a piano. Does it have one port for audio out and another port for audio in, or only one port for both out and in? If it only has one port for out and in, that might only be suitable for a headset (headphones with microphone) and nothing else. Did you ask that when you purchased the laptop?
Please give us exact makes and model numbers of your digital piano, the old laptop and the new laptop. Without that essential information, we can only talk in generalities.
Gale
Hello Gale,
I have uninstalled the old versions of Audacity and installed 2.1.2, resetting preferences as you said. I used the .exe installer. I have done this on both laptops.
The old laptop is HP G61 Notebook PC Product number VY438EA#ABU.
The new laptop is HP Notebook Product number NZJ72EA#ABU
The piano is a Kawai ES6.
The new laptop has a single socket for both line in and headphone. I didn’t ask when I bought it as I never knew that all laptops didn’t have two sockets.
I was getting perfectly good recordings on the old laptop up to the minute it upgraded to W10.
I have tried recording since I reinstalled Audacity as per instructions. On the old laptop, nothing. No wave forms, just a single blue line.
On the new one, I’m getting a recording but it is very poor and nothing like the quality I used to get.
I have tried different combinations of settings at the top - on the old laptop it gives Windows direct sound or MME or Windows WASAPI. The next window gives Primary Sound capture but that isn’t available as soon as you plug into line in. It only then has internal mic IDT high definition, stereo mix IDT high definition, Ext mic IDT high definition.
On the new one it gives Microphone Realtek high definition or Microsoft Sound Mapper.
Thank you, hopefully …
That laptop does not support Windows 10, in so far as HP do not supply Windows 10 drivers for it. So at best you will be using generic Microsoft audio drivers that are not perfectly matched to your built-in sound device. Are you running Windows Update? Have you tried updating the sound device’s drivers in Device Manager?
Does that old laptop actually have an audio line-in input meant for recording strong audio signals, separate from the audio mic input, and then an audio output as well? It does not according to the online specifications. You can open the Recording tab of Windows Sound and follow the steps in that link to show disabled and disconnected devices. If you then see a new line-in device (explicitly called that), restart Audacity and choose MME host and the line-in as recording device.
If the old laptop’s only input is a mic input, with no way to change it to line-in, you will not get the best quality that you could get if you purchased an interface that has a proper line-in. If you still want to try it, choose MME host and the external mic recording device in Audacity.
If audio recording simply does not work correctly with the drivers Windows finds, you can roll back to Windows 7 if it is no more than 30 days since you upgraded to Windows 10.
I cannot find online details for the new notebook with the information you gave. You can try the same steps in the Recording tab of Windows Sound to show and enable devices. If you then get an external microphone to record from, try choosing MME host and that external mic recording device in Audacity.
Does the manual for that notebook say what type of audio input plug that combo port accepts? If it says “TRRS” or says that it accepts a headset, it will likely not be suitable for recording your piano, but you can buy a USB interface with a proper line-in, as mentioned above. See: Missing features - Audacity Support.
Gale