No matter how I try to connect to the computer, the sound is cut off at a low volume. And it’s not a very soft volume. I tried different methods of bringing the sound into the computer and it had not effect. The chord I attached was played loudly. It stopped recording quickly, but I heard the guitar make the sound for over ten seconds longer. THis is Windows 10 with 2.3.1
You may have Windows sound processing running. Sometimes those tools try to suppress background noise assuming you’re talking on a conference call to the corporate offices.
https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq_recording_troubleshooting.html#enhancements
There’s another hidden problem. Do you leave Skype or other chat program running? Super bad idea. Restart the machine and don’t let anything else start when you bring it back up.
As we troubleshoot this, note any change good or bad. All results tell a story.
Koz
You’ve also got some pretty serious [u]clipping[/u] (distortion) which generally means your analog signal is too “hot”.
Guitar players often like some distortion so if you like the sound it’s OK. But, guitar amplifiers usually clip a little more gently than an analog-to-digital converter.
What he said. The silent stretches are not the only problem. Turn on View > Show Clipping. All the red marks are distortion where the sound got too loud.
The blue waves are never supposed to go up (or down) to 100% (or 1.0).
Koz