Hello. I’ve used Audacity for many years on a PC with Win 7, primarily for recording internet generated audio. Now I’ve had to modernize with new PC with Win 10. Downloaded Audacity 2.3.3, and expected identical setup and ease of use as previously. Not so. With audio present, “recording” with Audacity yields no input (no waveform displayed). I tried to manage a solution via the manual, but am bewildered with WASAPI audio hosts, and loopbacks - recommended for Win 10. Probably a simple solution, but after a few hours of failure, I either have to get a simple solution for you pros, or abandon Audacity and look for an alternative. Win 10 is latest, audio drivers were updated. Thank you!
As this is a new machine, we need to check a few things first.
If your machine is a laptop, then it should have a built in mic. Can you record from that?
If there’s a problem recording from a microphone, follow these instructions to get that working: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=100117
PC, not laptop. I’m not using a microphone - I need audio from, for example, Youtube. I’ve read the manual section on “Choosing the recording device”, and the recording device defaults to “Stereo Mix”. There are no other options. Audio Host is MME.
How are your headphones / speakers connected to the computer?
Typical 3.5mm RCA (green) plug. Audio out is fine.
The “Stereo Mix” method should work, so long as the playback device (sound card) is the same as the recording device.
Try this:
- In the [ur=https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/device_toolbar.htmll]Device Toolbar[/url], set the “host” to “MME”, and the Recording device to “Stereo Mix”.
- Play some Internet audio.
- Click on the Audacity recording meter.
Do you see any activity in the recording meter?
Audio host: MME
Recording Device: Stereo mix Realtek audio
Record activated
No meter response
No waveform
I know that you are not using a mic, but try the suggestion here as it may also apply to Stereo Mix: https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=100117
Actually, I’ve been there, to change privacy settings.
Microsoft responds: "Desktop apps (Audacity included) are a specific type of app that won’t ask for permission to access data associated with privacy settings in Windows 10 in the same way that a Microsoft Store app does. Some desktop apps may not even ask for permission to get access to personal data stored on your device. Desktop apps also won’t appear in the list of apps in the privacy settings pages that allows you to choose which apps can use data associated with that privacy setting.
more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4468234/windows-10-desktop-apps-and-privacy
I think I read that as the consumer has to buy a Microsoft app to do what MS used to let Audacity do. So it seems that unless the Audacity gurus respond to my dilemna with a solution, I’ll have to seek a divorce from Audacity.
I rarely use Windows, but millions of people do successfully record with Audacity on Windows 10.
As the article says, Audacity is not a MS Store app, so it does not ask for permission to use the microphone, but your microphone permissions must nevertheless allow Audacity to use the microphone. The post that I linked to (https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=100117) says how to grant that permission. All that I did to get Audacity recording on Windows was to follow those instructions.
I’m glad that you, and millions of others, were able to access the Audacity recording utility so easily. However, I’m not seeking success statistics - I’m trying to determine why, after attempting pertinent forum posts (including yours again) I’m not able to connect. Yes, I assume it’s a microphone permission issue, but on my computer with Windows 10 Version 1909, my attempts seem to disappear into a dark hole. Please don’t again tell me I SHOULD be able to succeed - I CAN’T!