I am running Windows 7 and a recent version of Audacity (downloaded about 1 month ago). I also use a Tascam US-144mkII external soundcard for music production (in conjunction with cubase LE4), and in fact all sound is generated by the Tascam including online sources, e.g. youtube
I would like to record from youtube using Audacity, so I can add sounds/speech to music in cubase. However, I can’t find a way to configure Audacity to do this. When I used to use an internal sound card it was straightforward, but I am wondering whether the external sound card complicates things - is it the case that sound isn’t generated until a signal reaches the Tascam, after which it goes to speakers/headphones, but there’s no input back into the computer so sound isn’t recorded?
That said, I use a USB cable to connect the Tascam to the computer (a Dell inspiron) - I guess the signals are transmitted both ways along the cable, so it should be possible to record?
You may be able to do it by connecting the S/PDIF out to the S/PDIF input. Configure playback from your web browser to use the S/PDIF out and set Audacity to record from the S/PDIF input.
An easier, more reliable, quicker and generally better way would be to download the media from YouTube. There are several free plug-ins (Add-ons) available for Firefox that allow YouTube videos to be downloaded as .FLA or .MP4 files. If you have FFMpeg installed then Audacity can import the audio from these files.
I would love to use the S/PDIF idea but use MSIE 10.0.9. For many reasons not relevant I do not use FF on my DAW Win 7 64-Bit PC. How does one “configure” MSIE to use S/PDIF?
I actually have another issue with Audacity 2.0.3 that I’m searching on right now, but- the subject of this Post is nearly identical to an issue I had before as an online student. I would love to fix it for the future.
I too use a Tascam USB 1800 Sound Card- when I bring up my DAW. Otherwise, I use a Gigabyte HD sound card. However, I am unable to record from my web browser on neither. Thanks for any help.
Self recording is a delicate dance between the operating system, the sound card and the support or driver software. All three have to work for “internet” recording to happen.
Also note that self recording is not a guaranteed service like running the mouse and making the screen light up. Some computers just don’t and in that case, you might need one of the guaranteed software products like Total Recorder.
Good info at the link. I willneed to experiment with some of the stuff written there. As I built this PC from the GPU up, I now have better ideas on troubleshooting. I thank you for this Info.
I still would like to know how one sets a browser to output to S/PDIF. If that’s possible it would give instant solutions to about 3 things for me.
Browsers almost never have options to choose their output device but you can go to Windows Sound (Playback tab) to make the Tascam S/PDIF the default output then Internet Explorer (if that is what you mean) will play to that output.
