certainly not new to Audacity,worked fine on every laptop i’ve owned.Just bought myself a Yoga flex2 .Audacity records ok till i plug the ear phones in to monitor recording, then the level bars drop to zero and recording stops.I know the headphone socket is a combined mic as well,but my last laptop had the same socket and worked fine.Very grateful for any ideas.
Sounds like your computer thinks that your headphones are a microphone.
Strangely enough, headphones will work as microphones, just not very well. Try yelling into the headphones while audacity is recording and you may get a weak recording.
What are you actually trying to record?
Thanks for taking an interest and your very quick reply.Trying to record a conversation on you tube.Always managed to record anything coming through computer speakers ,and can still do it on my other laptop.I agree in thinking that it is something to do with the headphone socket.Maybe the socket in the Lenovo is slightly smaller than usual and the headset plug is grounding the signal.What do you think?
The decision tree on this machine is different from your old machine. On this machine, Someone plugged in a microphone takes priority from Recording YouTube.
Self Recording has never been a high priority on Windows machines and Microsoft has been making it harder and harder to do through the versions. Windows machines are business machines and plugging in a microphone (even if it’s not a real one) means you may need to conference with your office, so that connection goes straight to the top of the stack.
So I think your machine is perfectly normal and you may need to figure out a forced routing change to make it stop doing that. Like make it forget that connection has a microphone in it would probably be a good start. Will control panels let you do that?
People who upgrade from XP machines are horrified how hard it is to self record now.
Koz
And no, I don’t think it’s the difference between a 2.5mm and 3.5mm plug. They won’t cross.
I would have expected the system to know there was no microphone connection in the plug, but. Well. Windows.
Koz
Some people have found this to help:
Headset adapter for headsets with separate headphone / microphone plugs - 3.5mm 4 position to 2x 3 position 3.5mm M/F
Here is from this same page:
Have you recently purchased a newer laptop or Ultrabook and now you can’t figure out where to plug in your favorite headset?
Most new laptops and Ultrabooks come equipped with a single 3.5mm 4-position (4pin) audio port that supports both audio input and output. A great number of headsets on the market come equipped with two separate headphone and microphone connectors that are not compatible with this new configuration.
The MUYHSMFF headset adapter features two 3.5mm 3-position ports that provide a separate headphone and microphone connection that can be connected to the single audio port on your laptop. Alternatively, you can also connect a separate microphone and powered speakers if you prefer to use Skype or chat online without using a headset.
The idea of a splitter plug to two separate sockets did cross my mind,and I have indeed ordered such an item off eBay,and will tell everybody the results.Many thanks to every one who has taken such an interest in this problem.
It could also be that you are changing the playback device from built-in speakers to headphones or similar name when you plug in the headphones. If the speakers and headphones are seen by Windows as two separate playback devices that could well be the explanation.
If that was the case the recording would work if you plugged in the headphones before starting to record.
Gale