Win7 revert, Record in mono

Hello, I’ve updated to 2.4.2 without knowing it may not be compatible with Win7-64. Had a few issues since updating.

  1. Resampling audio to lower freq changes the Tempo of the audio to higher pitch. Several down-sampled files were made without knowing what was happening.
  2. Caching while applying an Effect or exporting is slower and choppy.

Part 2
What’s the best way to revert? install over 2.4.2? I’m perfectly ok with going back a version or two.

Part 3
I’d like to record Mono radio shows in MONO, but cannot figure how to set that up, or find the correct keyword to search HELP.

Thx

If you want your exported file to be at a different sample rate, do not resample. All you need to do is to set the “Project Rate” (lower left corner of the main Audacity window) to the sample rate that you want the exported file to be.


What do you mean by “caching”?

Set the “number of channels” in the Device Toolbar to “1 (mono) Recording Channels”.


Yes you can do that, but be sure to “Reset Preferences” during the installation. However, I suspect that the problems that you have reported are not caused by the later Audacity version.

  1. Resampling audio to lower freq changes the Tempo of the audio to higher pitch. Several down-sampled files were made without knowing what was happening.

That shouldn’t be happening and I can’t imagine the Windows version (or the Audacity version) would make a difference.


Part 3
I’d like to record Mono radio shows in MONO, but cannot figure how to set that up, or find the correct keyword to search HELP.

How are you doing that? Is it Internet radio or do you have a radio connected to your soundcard? Is it a mono broadcast?

…You might have to record in stereo and convert to mono after recording.

If you want your exported file to be at a different sample rate, do not resample. All you need to do is to set the “Project Rate” (lower left corner of the main Audacity window) to the sample rate that you want the exported file to be

Yes, what I mean is setting the “Project rate” to 22 kHz to down-sample a 44 kHz audio.

Thx

What do you mean by “caching”?

By caching, I mean TWO things. 1) is Audacity holding-up the App until the export is complete, and 2) I have RAM caching software called Diskeeper. I’m finding the export is taking too long and it’s choppy. Apparently Audacity doesn’t play well with RAM cache software. Not an expert here. Thx

Set the “number of channels” in the Device Toolbar to “1 (mono) Recording Channels”.

Yes Thx, I tried those settings and it still records in stereo.

That shouldn’t be happening and I can’t imagine the Windows version (or the Audacity version) would make a difference.

It started around the time I upgraded to 2.4.2 — and assuming it’s because of incompatibly with Win7. Haven’t been using Audacity every day like I used to, so probably forgot a procedure. Have been recording streaming talk shows (mono) and ripping sound from videos—these videos are usually 44 kHz but a talk show doesn’t require 44 kHz rate. So I set the Project rate to 22 Khz, Export, and when playing back the audio, its tempo (or pitch) his high like a mouse and the overall LENGTH of the waveform is smaller in terms of Mins.

Thx

Yes you can do that, but be sure to “Reset Preferences” during the installation. However, I suspect that the problems that you have reported are not caused by the later Audacity version.

I’d very much like to KEEP the preferences the same. Is the new Preferences INI file different from the old? Thx

Device Error when trying to record in Mono mode.

Mono_mode_error.png
Thx

You can’t convert streaming audio between stereo & mono while recording. You are “capturing” the digital audio stream. And with WASAPI loopback I’m pretty sure you can’t resample on-the-fly, but I haven’t tried it.

But, you can change the Project Rate and/or convert to mono after recording.

That doesn’t surprise me. Audacity expects real-time read/write access to the storage medium. If there’s a large cache between Audacity and the disk then the cache will reduce performance. A cache is useful when relatively small amounts of data need to be accessed frequently, which is the exact opposite of the needs of apps like Audacity.


Ah - that’s a “special case” that you didn’t mention previously. As DVDdoug wrote, if you are using WASAPI then you probably won’t be able to record with a different sample rate / number of channels. Record with whatever settings work, then convert after recording.

If the show is mono, then the quickest way to convert a 2 channel (stereo) track to a mono track, is to simple split the track into two mono tracks (the two new tracks will be identical if the show was mono), then delete one of the tracks. See: Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks - Audacity Manual