Recording session

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

I have a Behringer UCA-202 USB interface (a kind of sound card) to record an audio signal from an external audio source, which is connected with it’s USB cable to a Windows 10 laptop. The analogue audio source is connected via a stereo audiocable to the UCA-202.
The UCA-202 does not require any software to install.
When I have Audacity (v 3.2.1) running and I click on the Audio setting button (with the Speaker Icon) and select Recorder, do I have to see the UCA-202 or anything else in the list from which I can choose the UCA-202 as the input source to record from?
I like to avoid that Audacity is also recording passing systemsounds etc.

It is true that when I have connected the USB cable from the UCA-202 to the laptop that I see green moving bars on the recorder level meter (the one with the microphone icon) during a recording.
But these bars are very short (-54 … -42 dB) although the sound of the external audio source is high enough.
I see also a very small rectangular icon in this level meter. Is this icon used perhaps to let increase the recording level?

2

Yes that is indeed a slider to control the recording level.

In earlier versions of Audacity there used to be a Mixer toolbar with sliders - but for 3.2.1 Muse removed that and moved the sliders to the Recording and Playback meters.

Peter.

3

Thank you, Peter. After using the slider in the Recorder level meter, the recording level was ok now.
This topic can be closed.

4

It’s interesting that
a) you spotted the rectangular icon (the slider), but
b) didn’t realize what it is for.

Muse kind of assumed that it would be “obvious” - for the next release the situation should improve as they are restoring the hovertext tooltips when you hover over the sliders to show the current value (just as earlier versions of Audacity used to do with the now-removed Mixer toolbar). And the tooltiip nicely updates dynamically as you move the slider.
Recording level tooltip.png
They may (but only may) also darken the sliders a tad to make them stand out more.

Peter