Audacity Forum

Wondering if anybody knows what could be wrong with the computer I'm using, I've figured out that it is definitely happening because of the computer. When recording in Audacity (also happened in Logic) after a few seconds of recording normally like it should, all of a sudden it starts recording at a much lower volume...The first time I came across it was in Logic, and I believed it was some sort of anti-clipping thing, but that wasn't it, and I checked all of my cables and stuff...Everything was fine. Today, I attempted to use the built in microphone and it does the same exact thing. Thanks :)

http://www.box.net/shared/yxpeazivn2 - here is an audacity project with the problem, i used the mic.

http://www.box.net/shared/1efk4y52s1 - here it is as an mp3.

Are you recording from a mic? If so dopes it have AGC (Automatic Gain Control - i.e.automatic record levelling) enabled?

If so, turn the AGC off.

Similar settings can be found in the Windows control panel - or the souncard management software for your particular soundcard.

You have not really given us enough information to work on - configuration, specs and model numbers are good ...

WC

Ok, same problem. I'm on a eeepc 1000HE, XP Home SP3 as installed by Asus a month or so ago, installed Audacity 1.2.6 as at a month or so ago and tried to record a lecture a few nights ago in an echoey room with an audio speaker system. the level in the final recording is terrible, it's gone up and down like a yoyo, too quiet to hear then suddenly too loud and severly distorted.
Suspected and looked for AGC in the usuual Windows Audio control panel, no. Looked in Audacity, no. Using the eeepc's on-board stereo mikes which work a treat in a normal office or home environment for skype etc.
Any clues, or need more specific diagnostic info?
Thanks
Rob

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I don't know the particular soundcard that you are using (you don't say what soundcard is installed in the m/c) - but may soundcards come with their own Driver/card management software which overrides the Windows Control panel settings. The Realtek on my laptop does this - where the pc arrived with the icon for the Realtek managemnt s/w pre-installed in the tool tray.

Many f these bespoke sound managers have various settings, not just as simple as AGC. I had to reset something like 3 paramaters on my Realtek to get it to function as an "unenhanced" recording device. You will need to read the manual for yours - and maybe do a bit og Googling.

WC

Thanks for the informative reply. The pc is an eeepc notebook and as such I don't consider that it has a "sound card" in it ... it's just the on-the-motherboard sound that is on the eeepc (1000HE), so I don't think I can take it any further on that one ... I was supplied no disks with the notebook by ASUS - it comes preloaded with the XP OS and all other drivers preinstalled, so nothing to add on that front.

I did google for about 20 minutes before posting to both here and the eeepc forum. I can google more but it has to be on the web at all for google to find it i can do more and see if it's deeper in the stack.

Any other answers still welcome, if you know what to adjust on the eeepc to turn off AGC.

First, the AUP file isn't a sound file, so you can take that one down and save the space.

It sounds exactly like a sound card that's throttling itself back so it won't damage the signal.

You didn't go into a whole lot of specifics about how you have the computer wired and to what. If you're using the Mic-In or microphone connection for anything but an actual microphone, then you're overloading the pants off the connection and it could be trying to protect itself. Where did the guitar come from? We also warn people against using a distorted Fuzz guitar as a sample to check for distortion. That was a fuzz guitar right?

Koz