I have electronic drums plugged into an audio interface which is then plugged into my computer.
If I select the interface as the mic and the speakers, and plug headphones into the interface, I can hear the drums. I can even put an MP3 in audacity and play along with it.
However, when I try to play the MP3 and record a track with it, which is how I do it then drop the MP3 out…I get some 9999 error about can’t find a recording device.
Basically…I can’t play and record at the same time.
So it is worth checking that all the sample rates agree in Audacity, Windows, and on your device. Check the lower left-hand corner of Audacity. That should agree with: right-click on Windows > Sounds>Recording>‘your device’>Properties>Advanced>Default Format. That should agree with your “audio interface”.
44.1KHz is the audio CD sampling rate and is generally considered the default for home audio production. 48KHz is the video sound sampling rate. You might run into that if you’re using a preamplifier or interface normally associated with video.
I do voice recordings at 48KHz because I know my files are going up to the video editors and there’s less possibility of problems if everything matches.
Promotion and Publicity has their hand in as well. Now supports 192,000KHz Sampling Rate!!! looks wonderful on the package and in the ads, but an inability to support 44100KHz is product suicide. They all support the CD standard. Look down the product detail info.
We should also remember that whatever you choose, Windows has to support it. Audacity gets its sound from Windows, not the device, and Windows will not support silly or oddball sampling rates.
If you find yourself choosing high sampling rates for extra good quality, see if 44100 works first, then go crazy.
