Recording from TASCAM US122 onto Audacity

I have a TASCAM USB input/output device while running Audacity.
I really use Cubase for band practice, but like the concept of Audacity.

I can record (of course) from mic and guitar inputs onto Audacity Tracks,
But when using Keyboard to play emulation software (Like Native Instruments B4 Organ),
it does not record directly into track, unless I loop the output cables into Guitar / Input
(Which I suspect is dangerous, if I have input level too high)

Question: Am I missing a technique, or is this “Just the way” Audacity works?

Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated :slight_smile:

Murray Saul

Virtual Instruments (emulation software like Native Instruments B4 Organ), generally use ASIO, which is not supported by Audacity.
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=ASIO_Audio_Interface

Taking an audio out from your computer “line out” and feeding it back in via your Tascam should be fine as long as you avoid any feedback loops (ensure that only the virtual instrument gets sent to the Tascam, and not the recording input)

ASIO isn’t the issue, it’s the fact that it’s usually the MIDI data of a virtual instrument performance that’s recorded in Cubase, Sonar etc, rather than the audio output (unless you subsequently render the track to audio). Routing the audio output to Audacity by hardware or software means is kind of missing the point - when you record a MIDI performance in the likes of Cubase you can tweak it after the event without having to re-record sections of the track. As a pure audio recording app Audacity doesn’t support VSTi or DXi instruments.

However, if you are looking for a simple way of capturing the audio of a virtual instrument, the donationware VST host “Minihost” (http://www.tobybear.de/) has a “Record WAV” feature, although this is not much use if you want to play along with audio tracks - for that I’d go back to Cubase. I use Cakewalk Project5, where virtual instruments and audio tracks co-exist in a single project.

Hi,
I am completely new to Audacity and got it to do practice recording from acoustic (classical) guitar.
I have a mic, a Tascam US122l going to my laptop USB.
Apparently, some of you are using the same.
Could anyone tell me how to best set up the Tascam and Audacity to get a good quality recording in both mono and stereo?
Thanks a lot for helping, I have been trying but not going anywhere!
jjm

Install Audacity 1.3.12.
Use the microphone quite close to the guitar - try about 10 cm directly facing of the 12th fret.
You will need a quiet environment, preferably somewhere with a lot of soft furnishings to cut down on echoes.
If you have any specific questions, please post in the section that is appropriate for your operating system and version of Audacity.