Problem recording music via unified headset jack on laptop

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hello, Windows 7 user on a Dell Latitude laptop. Just downloaded Audacity 2.1.1 and attempting to record from a Yamaha YPG-225 digital piano. I have a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable, with 1/4" adapter plugged into keyboard’s audio out, and the other 3.5mm end plugged into laptop’s unified headset jack (to be read as not solely a microphone jack, but as a headset jack). I confirm the jack works by using a line-in headset like you would use on a phone, but it is not picking up the audio from the keyboard. Any assistance anyone can provide would be wonderful.

Thank you so much
Jason

2

Head SET is still a single microphone and stereo headphones on one plug. It won’t record stereo.

I do it with a USB stereo adapter such as the Behringer UCA202. That’s how I record my musical keyboard.

That’s my analog mixer on the right.

Koz

3

Make sure you musical keyboard actually has a stereo audio out. Mine doesn’t and I use the headphone connection.

Koz

4

…I confirm the jack works by using a line-in headset like you would use on a phone, but it is not picking up the audio from the keyboard.

Are you using that special 4-conductor [u]TRRS connector[/u] with the keyboard?

A normal 3-conductor TRS plug will connect left-speaker, right-speaker, and the common ground, but it doesn’t have a 4th connection for the microphone.

The mic input is also a bad match for the keyboards line-out or headphone-out, so you may get poor quality (distortion and noise). And it’s mono, which could be an issue if the keyboard is stereo.

5

The keyboard shows as “phones/output” where it is plugged in. I know it can work with a dedicated mic input on a computer, as it has worked on my brother’s computer. The cable does not have the three black lines like a headset connection does, but two black lines like a standard headphone.

So if I understand right, without additional equipment, my headset jack on the laptop is incapable of recording from my keyboard?

Thanks again,
Jason

6

my headset jack on the laptop is incapable of recording from my keyboard?

That’s the short answer, yes.

I intentionally bought a shiny-new, but out of date design Mac because it did have a Stereo Recording connection. New ones don’t and PCs haven’t for a while.

Your musical keyboard could also have a USB connection, but don’t fall in love with that, either. Unless it expressly says so, that’s key-press control MIDI, not sound.

Koz

7

Most full-size PCs do have stereo line in.
Some PC laptops have stereo line in, some only have mono mic in. Probably more than half of new PCs don’t have stereo line-in though I have no reliable statistics about the exact proportion.

Sound cards that are built into most standard PCs are not particularly good quality. Usually the playback is OK, but recording quality is often not very good, particularly on laptops.