Trying to get drum signal through Alesis D4 and into Audacit

Audacity Help Forum Windows
1

(Computer specs below)

I play African hand drums and wanted to hook up a piezo miked practice pad Through an Alesis D4 drum module and into Audacity so I can hear or record myself playing along with an MP3 file.

Signal from Alesis plays fine through its headphone jack, so signal is exiting Alesis from MIDI-OUT via MIDI-to-USB cable adapter into USB port in back of desktop.

Default recording device is - Stereo Mix, Realtek High Definition Audio. The Realtek Audio Manager shows Stereo Mix as a Tab, so the Realtek built in sound card sees the Win 7 Stereo Mix device. Win 7 Volume Mixer shows Stereo Mix device, however when Volume is increased above 40%, runaway feedback occurs.

To see if the problem is in the Audacity setup, I tried to record with Windows Recorder, but it does not record the Alesis signal so I assume the problem is with a Win 7 device setting

Needless to say, Audacity records nothing even tho Stereo Mix is selected in the Recording Device box. Audio Host is MME. No signal is seen on the Record Volume meter when trying to record. I’ve read many help and FAQ files, but there seem to be so many variables and work arounds that it’s not making sense to me.

Is Audacity the best program for what I want to do or can anyone suggest another mixer program.



Audacity Version = 2.1.0

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Model GA-990FXA-UD3
System Type x64-based PC
Processor AMD FX™-6100 Six-Core Processor, 3300 Mhz, 6 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F6, 3/30/2012
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 7.98 GB
Available Physical Memory 6.65 GB

Input device Alesis D-4 drum module

2

signal is exiting Alesis from MIDI-OUT via MIDI-to-USB cable adapter into USB port in back of desktop.

It’s nice that it’s doing that, but Audacity doesn’t speak MIDI. Audacity needs sound and MIDI isn’t sound.

I’ve been known to adapt the headphone connection of my keyboard to either my laptop directly or failing that, through a USB sound adapter like a Behringer UCA202. Picture my keyboard in place of my mixer in this picture.

My Macs don’t need that Behringer adapter in the middle. Your computer may have a Stereo Line sound connection (sometimes blue) or can convert what you have to Stereo Line. Some computers can. A lot don’t. Consult your computer instructions.

Koz

3

I tried a Behringer unit last year and it had too much latency even with the ASIO driver. So what’s the solution, different DAW program?

4

Audacity does not ship with ASIO support though it can be compiled with ASIO support.

You can’t listen to yourself with stereo mix without severe feedback, apart from listening to the actual output itself. So turn off Transport > Software Playthrough in Audacity and turn off “Listen to this device” in Windows Sound.

If you can record the audio output of the drum machine then you can import the MP3 into Audacity then overdub against the MP3 playback. Make sure Transport > Overdub is on in Audacity.


Gale

5

The simplest is to do as kozikowski says and plug your headphone output into your computer input. You could use another DAW but I doubt you’d get anything as good as Audacity without having to pay for it.

BTW the headphone out wouldn’t show that the MIDI out is working.

6

You were doing it wrong. The UCA202 is certified for zero latency perfect overdubbing, but you have to listen to it, not the computer.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_multi_track_overdubs.html

and

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Overdubbing_with_a_Behringer®_UCA202_Stereo_bidirectional_USB_Sound_Card

Koz