I’ve spent an hour on Google and looking at the Audacity help section and don’t seem to be making much progress.
I used Audacity a number of years ago to convert vinyl records to digital format. This was with a Dell Dimension 8300 pc running Windows XP.
Today I’ve been looking to work with Audacity again. Again, I’m just looking to digitalise some vinyl records. I updated my version of Audacity to the current 2.0.6.
My output device is the same one I used with XP. That’s a standalone turntable. I hooked up the cables from the turntable to the input connectors of my pre-amp (the same pre-amp I’ve used in the past) first inserting a new battery in the pre-amp. I then plugged in the cables to the output connectors of the pre-amp. These cables end in a 3.5 mm jack.
I ran Audacity and plugged the jack plug into any number of available orifices in turn on my pc - a Dell Alienware X51. The user manual for the X51 isn’t very helpful in flagging which particular orifice I need to use - there are 6 “sound” sockets on the X51 each of which can take a 3.5 mm jack plug. Anyway, I tried them and can here nothing from the record I am playing on the turntable. Also on the pc there is a microphone and a headphone socket both of which can take the 3.5 mm jack. Again, I’ve tried to connect the jack plug to both of these in turn but cannot here anything when I play the record.
I guess the problem might be that I need to choose the correct input source but I can’t see anyway of doing this. I recall on older versions with which I am familiar it was just a question of clicking on a drop-down menu and choosing “line-out.” But I can’t see anyway of choosing the required input source on version 2.0.6.
I’m sure the answer is a very straightforward one and I’m quite annoyed that I haven’t been able to sort it out for myself. I think that part of the problem is that the latest version of Audacity hasn’t been out very long so there isn’t much information available - i.e. - most of the stuff I’ve found relates to older versions. Perhaps I should install an older version of Audacity?
I’d be grateful for any guidance forum members can provide.