I have a basic karaoke setup using one mono AKG mic and some headphones plugged into a Shure MVi connected via USB to my Win 10 PC. I typically load one backing karaoke track and record vocals on top. I’ve been doing this for years with a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 but the folks across the pond were never able to pin down the latency issues. So, I am switching to the Shure MVi.
I’m having problems getting my Shure MVi recording with Audacity. I believe I’ve tried all combinations of MME/WASABI/WindowsDirect vs SoundMapper/Microphone vs Mono/Stereo vs SoundMapper/Headphones. Usually, pressing record freezes the cursor until I hit stop.
There are a few combinations where I can hear that my mic is hot:
MMS/Microphone/Mono/Headphones
WASABI/Microphone/Mono/Headphones
There is one combination, WASABI/Headphones/Mono/Headphones, where I can record and watch the cursor but all that happens is that the stereo karaoke backing track is converted into a mono track. Input from the mic is not getting recorded.
I suppose I can contact Shure but I’d like to get this working in this thread so others down the road can simply search for “Shure MVi” and see what needs to be done.
I really believe that one of the following configurations should work but here is what happens when I try them:
WASABI/Microphone/Mono/Headphones - I can play the backing track just fine and my mic is hot but, when I press record, I get a crash and a zip file of debug logs (attached).
MME/Microphone/Mono/Headphones - I can play the backing track just fine and my mic is hot but, when I press record, the cursor freezes until I hit stop
WindowsDirect/Microphone/Mono/Headphones - I can play the backing track but it is totally distorted. I cannot hear the mic is hot. Audacity_dbgrpt-26028-20201222T110921.zip (106 KB)
OK, so I was able to fiddle with Windows reboot the box and get the “Microphone/Mono/Headphones” working for both WASAPI and MME but not well.
I can play tracks from within Audacity using both MME and WASAPI.
When I record using MME, the recording starts at the end of my backing track. Further, what gets recorded does NOT sound like my voice. It is much deeper and makes me sound like The Masked Singer.
When I record using WASAPI, I get a crash with error logs. I’ll attach them if anyone becomes interested.
There were times earlier today where I could record but get tons of “dropouts”. I’ve been using Audacity for 15 years and this is the first time I got dropouts.
Usually, pressing record freezes the cursor until I hit stop.
Actually, that can be a clue. Audacity can do that when it has a good stable connection, but no data.
what gets recorded does NOT sound like my voice.
And that’s a data problem. What Audacity thinks is there and what’s actually there are different.
You’re using Audacity 2.3.1 and not 2.4.2. That could be a problem.
The log file is a two page complaint that it couldn’t find FFMpeg. It would do that if you don’t have FFMpeg.
You don’t have to start a recording to test. Click in the recording sound meters > Start Monitoring. They will jump to your voice if everything is OK. That may only be available in Audacity 2.4.2. I don’t remember.
Nowhere in the post do you say which sampling rate or bit depth you’re using. 44100, 16-bit?
Audacity may be too far along. Do the Windows Sound Control Panels think everything is OK? You should be able to select your interface in the Recording panel and see the Windows sound meter jump if everything is OK.
Audacity gets its sound from Windows, not the interface.
Also, check that all of your sample rates match. In Audacity (lower left corner). In Windows: right-click speaker icon in taskbar in lower right-hand corner > Sounds > Recording Tab > (click your device) > Properties > Advanced > Default Format.
As it turns out, this whole issue was related to 2.4.2. As luck would have it, Audacity prompted me to upgrade to 2.4.2 on the very same day that I replaced my 6-year-old FocusRite Saffire Pro 14 with this new Shure MVi. To isolate the problem, I reverted back to 2.3.1, and all was fixed.
jademan was right. It had something to do with sample rate mismatches between tracks and the overall project rate. I buy audio tracks from karaoke sites and sometimes import reference tracks from CDs or YouTube. Some tracks are 44100 and other tracks are 48000. For all the years I’ve been working with Audacity, I’ve never had a problem mixing tracks with different rates in an Audacity project, however, with 2.4.2, this mismatch was suddenly causing a bit of havoc.
For now, I can stay on 2.3.1 but, out of curiosity, is there anything in the release notes since 2.3.1 related to sample rates that might tell me how to fix this in the future?
