Hi -i’ve been using audacity for a good while now and its great. My main problem has been how to get audio from my good quality jack input stereo mic into the computer. I thought ild solved this problem when I got hold of a Roland (now Edirol) UA 100, complete with effects processor. i downloaded drivers from Edirol site for Windows 2000 (had cd for windows 98) and managed to get it all working but can’t resolve constant popping, interference (on all audio- not just Audacity). Its a real bummer, cos otherwise it would a perfect companion for my audacity set up - reverb on vocal etc being not one of the easiest things to manipulate with the audacity effects. Have tried several Uninstall/reinstalls and the troubleshooter suggestions that came with the downloaded Roland driver but no joy. Any help out there?
to put it another way - does anyone know the Roland ua100? and could reccomend a good quality equivalent type thing? i have good quality stereo mic for recording vocals, live acoustic instruments and real sounds with normal size (not mini) jacks. how to get from mic to audacity…?
Does this popping occur when you record silence? I had a FireWire card that wasn’t up to speed that would add pops to my recordings when using a FireWire interface (I tried two different models with identical problems). I suppose a USB device could also have problems.
It’s unclear what you mean by a stereo mic, is it a single unit? Or is it two mics placed next to each other? Also, are you using a pre-amp or plugging into a soundcard with a pre-amp?
the stereo mic is a single unit with 2 big mono jacks- a sony ECM959dt -its an ex BBC mic used for Radio stuff with big portable DAT machines or even old reel to reel recorders. Also, as far as i know the Roland UA 100 acts as a soundcard (maybe with preamp?) -I have to select it on my computers audio preferences via control panel, instead of the existing realtek ac 97.
It was acting as soundcard for everything - Windows Media pLayer - Radio over the internet - pops on the lot! sound in and out through the USB connection.
My guess is that either the unit is defective, or the drivers are poorly written. Also, I can’t tell for sure, but I don’t think it has a built in mic pre-amp, so once you get it working you’ll still have to use a 2-channel pre-amp before the UA-100.
Does that mic have (2) 1/4" plugs? If so, you’ll need (2) 1/4" Female → XLR Male cables. Then you could plug it into a mixer or interface with 2 mic pre-amps in it. But I don’t know of any that have built-in effects. I’m sure they’re out there, but I like to record as dry as possible and avoid paying for outboard effects, so I haven’t researched the subject.