Hello, all. I’m returning again for help on an issue I first wrote about back in February. Since then, I’ve noted a number of other Audacity users reporting more or less the same problem, but the solutions suggested to them are not working in my case.
The problem I am having is are actually two: low pitch on recording an initial track, and dropouts (as well as low pitch) on overdubbed tracks. These problems arise when using an audio interface with my mics; in my case, an Alesis io2.
Until today I was using an older Audacity release, 2.1.2. I had been using that version for several years with very satisfactory results until my last successful recording project in October. My next project, this past January, was the first time I encountered the present problem. Between the two dates, there was no change to the recording hardware (mics, interface) or the computer I was using—an HP Envy running Windows 10.
Today I upgraded to 2.3.3 hoping that might provide a solution, but it didn’t. The only benefit Is that the new version definitely diagnosed the problems with the overdubbed tracks as dropouts, and suggested possible causes in a pop-up window: that other applications are competing with Audacity for processor time, or that I’m saving directly to a slow external storage device. To address the first possibility, I shut down all other programs and applications and disconnected from the internet; there was no improvement. Regarding the second possible cause… well, I’m not recording to an external device, I’m recording to the same computer hard drive I’ve been using for years.
For the others reporting essentially the same low-pitch/dropout issues, either together or separately, I’ve seen suggested solutions like changing the project rate from 44100 to 48000 (or vice-versa), increasing the buffer size/latency, using a different USB port in the computer, even unplugging the USB cord from the interface and plugging it back in. Such fixes may have helped the others, but none worked for me.
The only change on my computer between last October and January was that I subscribed to a VPN in November. I don’t know why that might have made a difference; still turned it off it just like all other applications so that Audacity was the only thing running, but the results were the same.
I’m completely lost. I’ve searched the manual, the forum and the wiki for solutions but am coming up empty. I made sure Windows was updated and I individually updated every driver I could think of. I don’t know what else to do.
If someone knows what’s causing this problem and how to fix it, I would be very, very grateful. Thanks for any advice.