Recording stops randomly

[Raygberg]

Just got Audacity 3.6.3 yesterday. It was required software for my new Reshow Cassette Converter tape player. I’m digitizing my cassette tapes.

Twice now, when I’m recording a cassette to digital, the recording has stopped and a window comes up that says:

Warning
Recorded audio was lost at the labeled locations. Possible Causes:
Other applications are competing with Audacity for processor time
You are saving directly to a slow external storage device

However, I don’t find any labeled areas on the recording. I tried diagnostics, and the log.txt contains the following:
15:05:09: Audacity 3.6.3
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-61.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-59.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-58.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-57.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:09: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-61.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-60.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-59.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-58.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-57.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)
15:05:11: Error: Failed to load shared library ‘avformat-55.dll’ (error 126: The specified module could not be found.)

Any ideas? The cassette device is a relatively cheap “RESHOW CASSETTE CONVERTER” with a USB port, which connects to a USB port on the laptop. I have WhatsApp, Microsoft Phone Link, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft 365, and nothing else (as far as I know) running at the time.

Windows 11 Pro Version 23H2
Audacity 3.6.3

[DVDdoug]

There is a program called LatencyMon (free for personal use) that may able to identify whatever is interrupting/hogging your system.

Your computer is ALWAYS multitasking and interrupting, even if you’re only running one application.

There are buffers to that allow the audio to keep flowing in-and out smoothly when it’s interrupting but if something “hogs” the system for a few milliseconds too long you get buffer overflow (recording) or buffer underflow (playback/monitoring). Whatever is interrupting doesn’t necessarily have to be using lots of CPU cycles, it just has to hog to too long.

…Those avformat “errors” are not actually errors. and they are not related to recording. It just means that the optional FFmpeg Import/Export Library isn’t installed. FFmpeg is only used for importing/exporting formats like MP4 that are not built-into Audacity.

[Raygberg]

Thank you for your reply. I’ll try this.

[Raygberg]

Update: I just discovered that the same thing happens (recording stops suddenly) when I try to record a cassette onto MP3 via Goldwave. I know this isn’t a Goldwave forum, but I’m wondering if it’s the cassette player I’m using (it’s a RESHOW CASSETTE PLAYER, and is cheap, abour $41).