My Windows XP computer went belly up recently. Yeah, I know. Dinosaur. So, I’m using Audacity on my Windows 7 now. But, this was the first time I opened the program on Windows 7. I wanted to record sound coming from my browser…something that I did often on XP. On XP, I just picked “Wave” from the microphone drop down list and hit “record”. But, “wave” is not there anymore. I have been searching for the answer to this for about an hour. Even checked the manual from Audacity and cannot find the answer to this. So tired or reading that I thought I’d just go to the source for the answer. Thanks for your help.
“Wave (out)” also goes by the name “Stereo Mix”.
Recording via WASAPI is better quality … Tutorial - Recording Computer Playback on Windows - Audacity Manual
I’m sorry. Don’t understand. I’m talking about recording using “wave”. Wouldn’t that be “wave in”? I’m trying to get a song that is playing online to record in Audacity. Like I said, it used to be in the mic drop down as an option along with my plugged in microphone. That (record with) Wave option is not there now. Can you please walk me through how to record from a website that is playing the audio I want to record using Audacity as, it seems quite different with Windows 7. Thanks.
Not that WASAPI won’t start recording until there is an audio stream (it can be a silent stream). So, you may have to start playback before you hit Record.
IDK. Maybe this is a little used feature in Audacity but, I used it so much on my Windows XP in Audacity. Anyhow, perhaps a picture will help. I just took 3 jpgs of the three options I have. I hit the “upload” icon so, I assume they will be visible when I post this.
OK so, with MME selected, you can see in the mic drop down menu selection my web cam mic and Microsoft Sound mapper but, no wave (where I can record from the internet browser as I always did in Audacity on Windows XP).
Then, I selected WASAPI , as you can see in the mic drop down menu only 2 instances of "Speakers (High Definition Audio Device) show up as my options but, not even my Web cam mic shows up AND no wave option to record from the internet.
I then select “Windows DirectSound” and my options in the mic drop down are: my web cam mic and Primary sound Capture driver. In all instances, I played the song I wanted to record from my browser first before hitting record and, it only recorded from the web cam mic the sound coming from my speakers…a poor substitute to getting it direct from the sound source.
Bummer. Doesn’t work for me. But, thanks for trying. Boy, do I miss this feature. I had the exact version of Audacity installed on Windows XP and, “wave” was in the mic drop down. Don’t know why it’s not here on my windows 7 machine. I did some more searching and, I found something in the Audacity online tutorial just now. It’s exactly what I suspected. It said:
" Step 1: Set up devices to capture computer playback
This is often the hardest part of the overall task, being dependent on your computer operating system and audio interface. Many manufacturers are making it increasingly difficult to record streaming audio by deliberately removing or hiding this functionality due to copyright concerns."
I was hoping there was a work around or, hack of some kind but, I followed the instructions in the article but, still no dice. Anyhow…
Wave-out’s alter-ego stereo-mix, (aka What-u-hear),
may be a hidden disabled device …
https://www.howtogeek.com/39532/how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio/
Audacity cannot “see” devices unless they are enabled in Windows sound.
Crap. I don’t have either of those options (Stereo Mix or What U Hear") and, the “howtogeek” article (and thanks so much for sending that) explained why.
“The short answer: The audio drivers for your sound card don’t support them, or your sound card itself does not support it. There usually isn’t much you can do about that, unless you happen to find a different version of the drivers that have those features, or you write your own drivers.”
And, Windows will not allow me to update the sound driver so, that’s that then. A “HARD No”. I can take it. Now, I can get on with the rest of my life:). Thanks for the time you took to try to assist me in this. Boy, do I miss XP:)
They say WASAPI method is possible on Windows 7 …
[ I never had W7, so cannot confirm ].
Thanks again but, nah. Didn’t work. I installed Audacity 3.3.3 cause I was using Version 2.0.5 and it didn’t have the “Audio setup” button. Even though you could make the same selections in version 2.0.5 in different menus, I wanted to “cover all of my bases” but, again, no dice. The image below shows a picture of how it looks when I hit the record button doing what howtogeek instructed. There is no movement on the bar. It just stays there.
There has to be sound playing on the computer for the WASAPI method to begin recording …
I should have mentioned that. There was no movement on the progress bar even though the song was playing first before I hit the record button in Audacity.
This topic was automatically closed after 30 days. New replies are no longer allowed.