Stereo Mix

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

Hi, jimfox here, OS XP Pro, Audacity 2.0.5
I can find nowhere that explains why, in preferences, Recording, i should uncheck the box when recording “stereo mix”
Does this mean i can’t listen as i record? ( I haven’t tried it yet as i’m new to this.)
Thanks.

2

That’s a very old version of Audacity. The current version is 2.3.0 and is available via the Audacity website: Audacity ® | Downloads

I don’t see an option “Stereo Mix”.
These are the options that I see in “Preferences > Recording”: Recording Preferences - Audacity Manual

3

I can find nowhere that explains why, in preferences, Recording, i should uncheck the box…

I assume you mean the Software Playthrough box? If you don’t un-check it, you’ll get a feedback loop where the sound you’ve just recorded comes-out delayed and recorded again. You’ll get an echo and possibly a runaway-feedback condition where it gets louder every time and you end-up with a big noisy mess!

Does this mean i can’t listen as i record? ( I haven’t tried it yet as i’m new to this.)

No, you can listen. Stereo Mix records whatever is coming out of your soundcard, so if you’re not hearing anything you’re not recording anything.

4

jimfox here,
Thank you DVDdoug, have taken your advice on board.

Thank you Steve for your reply, but please, let me explain this.
My Cassette Capture device came from China with 2.0.3, ( 2013) on the installation disc. I looked for updates, &, because it states on the download site that XP is no longer supported, ( I know Windows does’nt support XP, but i assumed Audacity wasn’t either,) i just went to the legacy site & downloaded 2.0.5 just to be safe.
Now, of course you can’t see " Stereo Mix" because you are showing me 2.3.0. If you looked at 2.0.5 you would see it.
Thanks for the link to the download site … I shall try 2.3.0.
Cheers.

5

Sorry, I missed the fact that you are using Windows XP.
The final version of Audacity for Windows XP was Audacity 2.2.2. Old versions of Audacity may be downloaded from https://www.fosshub.com/Audacity-old.html

6

My Cassette Capture device came from China with 2.0.3,

So it’s got a USB connection?

In that case, don’t use Stereo Mix!

Choose the USB device as your [u]Recording Device[/u]. (It probably won’t show the name of the device but it should say “USB…something”.)

Then, you can turn-on Software playthrough so you can hear it.

…As I said, Stereo Mix records what’s coming out of your soundcard and it’s for capturing streaming audio from the Internet.