unable to record streamed music

[andyhandbike]

Win 7.
Realtek HD Audio
Audacity 2.0.2

Is there any way of recording audio coming from a web site? I’ve followed various earlier posts and advice but end up with silence being recorded.
I’ve set MME and Stereo Mix

[waxcylinder]

Yes, your best bet is to use WASAPI loopback in the Device Toolbar.

See this Tutorial in the Audacity Manual: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_audio_playing_on_the_computer.html

WC

[andyhandbike]

Thanks. I’ve seen and thought I had followed that tutorial already, without success. I understand the tutorial to say that WASAPI loopback is used for recording when a USB device is used. I am using a sound card.
I don’t see WASAPI in any case.

[waxcylinder]

You need to follow the link on that page to the Windows specific instructions: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tutorial_recording_computer_playback_on_windows.html

See also the Device Toolbar page: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/device_toolbar.html

Or do you mean that you don’t see WASAPI available in the host dropdown in your Device Toolbar?

It should work fine, I do this two or three times a week on a W7 laptop with a Realtek card.

WC

[Gale_Andrews]

@andyhandbike

Audacity 2.0.2. […] I don’t see WASAPI in any case.

WASAPI host requires 2.0.4 or later. I suggest you update to the current 2.0.6 from Audacity ® | Download for Windows.

1. In Audacity 2.0.6, open Device Toolbar .
2. In the first (Host) box of Device Toolbar, choose “Windows WASAPI”.
3. In the second (Playback Device) box in Device Toolbar, choose the Speakers or Headphones that you are using for listening.
4. In the third (Recording Device) box in Device Toolbar, choose the (loopback) input for the same device you chose in step 3. For example, if you chose “Speakers” in Step 3, choose “Speakers (loopback)” in this step.
5. In the fourth (Input Channels) box in Device Toolbar, choose mono or stereo.
6. Start playing the audio you want to record.
7. Press the big red Record button in Audacity.

Gale

[JeffB]

@andyhandbike

Win 7.
Realtek HD Audio
Audacity 2.0.2

Is there any way of recording audio coming from a web site? I’ve followed various earlier posts and advice but end up with silence being recorded.
I’ve set MME and Stereo Mix

I love using Audacity to record streams off of the internet. I used it for years on Windows XP & may have had to play around with it a bit, but it was well worth it.

When I got a new laptop, however, I had issues trying to get it to work again. I think Microsoft changed things around a bit, I think some felt they were deliberately trying to make it difficult/impossible to record streams directly. But I did eventually get it to work with Windows 8.0 & after the 8.1 update.

I don’t know if your issues are related to the ones I had to overcome, perhaps not, as I couldn’t get the “stereo mix” option to show on the drop down list. Once that showed up, I was good to go.

Here’s a link to page two of the thread here where I was trying to figure it out: Missing stereo mix in Windows Pro 64bit - Windows - Audacity Forum

Here’s a link to the post where I described what I did to get that stereo mix option to show up in Windows 8:

Missing stereo mix in Windows Pro 64bit

Wow! I had opened the Control Panel → Hardware & Sound → Manage Audio Devices window earlier but couldn’t find anything that looked like it would help. I was getting ready to shut everything down and turn off the computer for the night and browsed around again for a bit. The Playback tab showed only 1 item - Realtek Speakers. The Recording tab also showed only one item, the Realtek microphone. I just happened to right click within the window which showed some options which included: an uncheck…

Here’s a link to a post by kozikowski about a Behringer UCA 202 which I eventually did purchase so that I could also record from a stereo system. It may be an option for that loop that they’re talking about, where you plug your audio out into the Behringer & then back into your computer via a USB port:

Missing stereo mix in Windows Pro 64bit

Audacity will record anything presented to it by the operating system. You can jack the Headphone Out of a personal radio or the Stereo Line-Out of a larger radio or music system to your computer Stereo Line-In (usually blue) or in the case of a Windows Laptop, you may need to add a Stereo Line-In USB sound device similar to the Behringer UCA202. http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/peaveyUCA202Lenovo.jpg I do that with radio shows in Los Angeles that either don’t stream or stream badly. P…

Hopefully I’m not confusing things more than helping. I’m just a novice myself, but maybe there’s something in all of that that might be helpful.

[andyhandbike]

Thanks all, especially Gale.
Windows WASAPI is mentioned in the tutorial that was quoted, but the crucial information I supplied seems to be that I was using 2.0.2. I think Waxycylinder missed this. I cannot see in the tutorial that WASAPI is not part of 2.0.2
The solution I stumbled across was to download 2.0.5. Thereafter the tutorial works because WASAPI then appeared.
I’m now working. Thanks again.

[Gale_Andrews]

@andyhandbike

I cannot see in the tutorial that WASAPI is not part of 2.0.2

How it works is that if you get the EXE installer for your version of Audacity, you will have a “Help” folder containing the Manual specific to that version of Audacity. You can access that installed Manual from Help > Manual in that version of Audacity.

If you go to the online Manual Audacity Manual that is only the Manual for the current version of Audacity, so 2.0.6 at the moment. It’s not generally practical to make a Manual that includes details for previous Audacity versions.

Gale