I am using windows 11 and Audacity 3.2.1 as of this message.
So basically what happened is I recently upgraded my dying alzheimer’s ridden laptop and got something really nice.
However, problems started to rear their ugly heads almost straight out of the gate. The first Issue was that after Installing ASIO4ALL and plugging in m BEHRINGER UMC22 with AT4040, Audacity only registered the…i do not know what’s the right term, the left side of the audio? (Basically only one of the tracks in stereo mode had sound), a problem I have never encountered on other laptops (To test this I even dug out my old, half dead laptop with windows 10 and it worked like an absolute charm). This forced me to resort to mono, but the problem was that with the mic recording volume being set at 70, my mono recordings started to clip at -6 DB. On one case it somehow began clipping at normal -0, but only once.
Then I started getting the Error code 9999 at random. Like, out of the blue it would not work with USB port 1 and 3, but would work with port 2. A restart could jumble it up completely, making Port 3 operational and not 2. Then one restart could render THEM ALL unusable. All drivers seem to be up to date, a reinstall of Audacity did not help and now I cannot even modify the microphone recording levels on any of the microphones!
If you have any ideas, I whole heartedly ask you to share them (Because Downgrading to windows 10 is definitely on the table, but I want it to be an absolute last resort.)
Thank you!
The first Issue was that after Installing ASIO4ALL
You don’t need that. Audacity is not an ASIO application. ASIO4ALL allows an ASIO application to work with hardware that doesn’t have true ASIO drivers. I call it “half-ASIO”
I’m pretty sure the UC22 works with the standard Microsoft-supplied drivers so you shouldn’t have to install anything.
the left side of the audio?
The mic should be routed to left and the instrument to the right.
This forced me to resort to mono, but the problem was that with the mic recording volume being set at 70, my mono recordings started to clip at -6 DB.
That’s normal. When you record in mono the levels are cut in half so when the mic and instrument input are combined you don’t exceed 0dB. The clipping indicators on the interface are correct.
Either way, you’ll need to fix it after recording. You should normally leave some headroom (to prevent accidental clipping) so you’ll probably have to boost the volume after recording anyway.
I cannot even modify the microphone recording levels on any of the microphones!
The knobs on the interface work, right? When you get clipping, it’s the analog-to-digital converter built-into the interface that clips so you need to control the analog level before it’s digitized.
Well these words are sure encouraging and informative. While I did suspect the whole 6 db thing,
Is there no way to circumvent that? I want to have clear visual indicators, and that 6 db is a bit too microphallic for me. So if I like record in stereo mode, even though it only records the left side, will it start clipping at 0 db and then I can somehow slice it so that it sounds like a proper mono recording? Like it used to fill both channels with my microphone audio, hell it does do that with other mics! I am asking all of this because until now I was but a blissfully ignorant chap as the machine did all of the bothersome bits.
However I have to disagree with the statement regarding recording volumes. Yes I still have to boost the audio but when its at 1.0 it hissess all over the place. And I found 0.7 to be optimal. For some reason today I could not manipulate the know in any way shape or form.
I wonder if this is genuinely the fault of Windows 11
