Recording straight from audio output

Special Interest Groups Recording Techniques
1

Hope I wasn’t too vague with the topic name!

I’m trying to record music from some SNES games using an emulator. The problem is that for me to do this, I have to connect a TRS cable from my pc’s audio output to it’s recording input, this makes it troublesome for me to hear what I’m recording.

So I tried switching the recording device in audacity preferences to the output device so I could record without the use of any cables. The problem is that audacity doesn’t give me that option, it only lets me choose my recording device or ‘‘Microsoft sound Mapper - Input’’

I already tried using the beta version of audacity, but it has the same limitation. Is there any way around this, so I can record straight from my output dvice?

I am currently using the stable 1.2.6 version. My sound device is an onboard Realtek ALC883-GR 6-channel CODEC (Asus M2N-X motherboard). OS is Windows XP Home SP2

2

Leave the recording device set as the actual recording device and open up the Windows mixer (double click on the speaker icon in the sys tray (near the clock). In the Windows mixer, go to the recording settings page and select “Stereo Mix” as the recording source (may be called “What You Hear” or just “Mix”).

3

Thx for the reply steve, I was able to record but with a problem, the right channel is completely silent.

I tried recording different things, and all had the right channel completely mute, the left recorded with no problem.

I checked audacity’s configuration and it was set to record in stereo. I tried switching the number of channels to more but then I would get a message telling me to check Audacity’s configuration before trying to record again. When I set it to mono it still only recorded sound coming from the left channel.

I tried changing the volume and balance sliders for stereo mixing but I can’t seem to change them, they don’t respond to my mouse drags

4

Check in the Windows Mixer and see if there is a balance/pan control there that is affecting it.
Failing that it could be a driver issue, so it would be worth checking to see if there is an updated driver available.

5

Updated my audio driver but the balance/pan sliders for input still don’t respond, the right channel is still silent.

Anything else I can try before I try doing this in Linux?

6

Are you sure that it’s a stereo source that you are recording? If not, just record in mono.

7

I tried recording the sound from an avi video that definitely had stereo sound and only got the left channel

Here is a picture of how the recording looks:

http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/2276/exqc0.jpg

The problem with recording in mono is that because of my problem, I’m only getting sound from one channel instead of both mixed in one. The recording stays drastically different from the original

8

Let’s back track a bit -
You were saying that you were trying to record with Audacity from SNES games using an emulator.

Is the problem specific to recording from the emulator? (When can you record in stereo and when can’t you?)
Have you tried recording with other software (Microsoft Sound Recorder)?

9

No, I already tried recording an avi video with the same problem, I can’t record in stereo regardless of what I’m recording (except regular recording with a microphone)

Yes, I tried Microsoft’s sound recorder, it also has the same problem

10

Yes, I tried Microsoft’s sound recorder, it also has the same problem

In that case you either have a driver problem (still) or a hardware problem (much less likely, but possible).

Since fixing the driver issue may well be impossible and you already know how to use a loopback cable to record with, you might want to buy enough cabling to be able to plug both the speakers and the Line In into your Line Out jack. Then you can listen and record at the same time using the Line In as a source.

I’ve posted about this before:
http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6806#p6806

You likely already have the loopback cable, so you’ll probably only need the one from Amazon.

11

Ok I’ll try that

Thanks for your time steve and alatham

12

You know the Mic-In on a sound card only has one channel, right? Are you sure you’re plugged into the Line-In?

Plug a special cable into the Line-In of your sound card, launch Audacity pretty much like you have been and click once inside the red recording meters. This will make them active without actually starting a live recording.

This is the magic cable:

One end is Ring, Tip, Sleeve Like the top illustration here:

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audioconnectors/audioconnectors.html

The other end should be male RCAs. (No pictures. Sorry.)

Touch first the tip of one RCA with your bare finger and then the other. First one red Audacity meter will light up and then the other. This is an old trick to quickly figure out where an audio signal is being damaged or lost.

Koz

13

I think that you have mis-read the post. The problem is the other way round: works ok using loop back, but only one channel when recording “Stereo Mix”.