Windows 7 and Audacity query

[steve]

how I can get some of the other options to appear where it says/shows "Master Volume",

You mean the "Mixer Toolbar"?
See here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ng_sources

I think that the latest Audacity will sometimes show you the recording sources on Vista (so probably also Windows 7) - you may need to switch to either MME or Direct Sound in "Preferences > Devices".

It is no big deal using the Windows Mixer to select the recording source - in fact I prefer to do it this way so that I can remove the Mixer Toolbar from the Audacity interface (View > Toolbars) and have more screen space for the tracks.

It is possible that the Windows 7 sound card drivers may not give you the option of recording Stereo Mix - if this is the case, there is a workaround, but it's rather ugly. The workaround is to use an audio lead to connect the output of the sound card to the input.

[happy37]

how I can get some of the other options to appear where it says/shows "Master Volume",

You mean the "Mixer Toolbar"?
See here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ng_sources

I think that the latest Audacity will sometimes show you the recording sources on Vista (so probably also Windows 7) - you may need to switch to either MME or Direct Sound in "Preferences > Devices".

It is no big deal using the Windows Mixer to select the recording source - in fact I prefer to do it this way so that I can remove the Mixer Toolbar from the Audacity interface (View > Toolbars) and have more screen space for the tracks.

It is possible that the Windows 7 sound card drivers may not give you the option of recording Stereo Mix - if this is the case, there is a workaround, but it's rather ugly. The workaround is to use an audio lead to connect the output of the sound card to the input.

Hi steve

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I have tried as you have suggested - I have now got a dropdown box showing all of the various recording sources - Wave Out, Aux, Line In etc.....

When I select Wave Out on the dropdown menu and press the Record button, a waveform starts to appear on the page, yet there are clicks in the recording, and it is very, very distorted.

So what do I try next? - shall I leave things as they are now and wait for the final release? - when will this be, please?

I would like a version where things will just "work out of the box" like Audacity 1.2.6 in Windows XP.

Any further tips and advice, please?

How come this exact setup works perfectly in Win XP and not in Windows 7? - I have also followed the tutorial in the weblink where it shows about selecting the recording source via Windows control panel to no avail.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ng_sources

Any further thoughts?

Thanks again for all of your help so far with this - it's much appreciated.

Regards

Happy 37

[steve]

I have tried as you have suggested - I have now got a dropdown box showing all of the various recording sources - Wave Out, Aux, Line In etc.....

When I select Wave Out on the dropdown menu and press the Record button, a waveform starts to appear on the page, yet there are clicks in the recording, and it is very, very distorted.

Well that's progress - it's basically working, just not very well.
I suspect that if you zoom in close on something that you record you will see that there are lots of little "gaps" in the waveform. Is that what it looks like?

and wait for the final release? - when will this be

I don't know the answer to that one. I suspect that the stable release for Windows 7 may be some time later than for other platforms. Windows 7 has only been recently released, and while it was still in beta, developing applications for it would be aiming at a moving target. In addition, there have been few people testing Audacity on Windows 7 (there are still very few Windows 7 users) and few of the developers have Windows 7 machines to test on. Also, going on past Windows releases it is likely that there will be hundreds of bug fixes for Windows 7 over the next year. (Before I get accused by anyone of "Microsoft bashing", the history of Win98>Win98SE, Win ME, WinXP>XPSP2, Vista>VistaSP2 is well documented).

I would like a version where things will just "work out of the box" like Audacity 1.2.6 in Windows XP.

Like Audacity 1.2.6 on XP SP2, or Audacity 1.3.4 on XP SP2, or Audacity 1.3.10 on XP SP2. Yes we all want that, but Windows 7 is probably not yet the best OS for "working out of the box". For Music work, Windows XP SP2 is my 2nd favourite operating system - dead stable, easy to maintain and pretty efficient. Vista is one of my least favourites. Not tried Windows 7 yet but I hope it will be substantially better than Vista.

Where to go now? Can you post a screenshot of your recorded track zoomed in? Alternatively, upload a short WAV file (just a couple of seconds) onto the internet and post a link? (sendspace.com/ is pretty good for posting WAV files). Also, what settings do you currently have in Audacity on the "Devices" and "Quality" tabs in Preferences? Hopefully this will give some clues to what is going on.

[Gale Andrews]

I think that the latest Audacity will sometimes show you the recording sources on Vista (so probably also Windows 7) - you may need to switch to either MME or Direct Sound in "Preferences > Devices".

The "Recording Device" tab in the "Devices" Preferences is the place where the different source devices like mic, line, "stereo mix" (if your device supports it) should appear. 1.2.6 and 1.3.10 will "probably" also show the sources in the Mixer Toolbar dropdown if you run Audacity in compatibility mode for XP - but there is no guarantee selecting them will work. We had already started work on improving the Mixer Toolbar for 2.0 so that it displayed sources on Vista and 7 as it does for XP, but it isn't clear now if we can do that for 2.0.


Gale

[happy37]

I think that the latest Audacity will sometimes show you the recording sources on Vista (so probably also Windows 7) - you may need to switch to either MME or Direct Sound in "Preferences > Devices".

The "Recording Device" tab in the "Devices" Preferences is the place where the different source devices like mic, line, "stereo mix" (if your device supports it) should appear. 1.2.6 and 1.3.10 will "probably" also show the sources in the Mixer Toolbar dropdown if you run Audacity in compatibility mode for XP - but there is no guarantee selecting them will work. We had already started work on improving the Mixer Toolbar for 2.0 so that it displayed sources on Vista and 7 as it does for XP, but it isn't clear now if we can do that for 2.0.


Gale

Gale and steve

Evening again - an update...

Thanks for your posts - I have read what you've said and also from reading around this forum, I came across this link:-

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9564

I have followed what osterac said in this post to the letter, and hey, guess what, recording from "the source"/Wave Out...i.e. the speakers now actually works, BUT there are instances in the recording where the audio speeds up and jitters for a second or too, and then drops back to normal???

(This is noticeable in the recording)

I have managed to achieve this result using version 1.2.6 under Windows XP 3 compatibility mode.

Although version 1.3.9 beta loads and so on, I still cannot record anything properly in that version yet.

So, what is going on here - I don't see this effect in Windows XP Pro at all - what can I try to eliminate this?

Can you please advise further? - Any further thoughts?

Thanks again for all of your help so far with this - it's much appreciated.

Regards

Happy 37

PS - EDIT - please see attached a screenshot of my soundcard and driver details.

Sound card driver details.png (98.96 KiB) Viewed 1784 times

[Gale Andrews]

from reading around this forum, I came across this link:-

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9564

I have followed what osterac said in this post to the letter, and hey, guess what, recording from "the source"/Wave Out...i.e. the speakers now actually works

OK, I have not tried Windows 7 yet, but just to note on Vista, there is no option in the system mixer to right-click on the device you want as your recording device and "set as default communication device." The only option is "Set as Default device" or similar. If that Windows 7 option sets the sound device for playback to be the same as that for recording, that would make sense, because the stereo mix source on a sound device can only record from playback of that device, not from that of any other device.

BUT there are instances in the recording where the audio speeds up and jitters for a second or too, and then drops back to normal??? Although version 1.3.9 beta loads and so on, I still cannot record anything properly in that version yet. So, what is going on here - I don't see this effect in Windows XP Pro at all - what can I try to eliminate this?

The drivers for SoundMAX aren't exactly up-to-date are they . So by definition they cannot be drivers for Vista, let alone Windows 7. Windows 7 is essentially based on Vista. Drivers for XP rarely worked well on Vista, so won't on Windows 7. Have you tried the "Update Driver..." button?

If the button does not find any later drivers, you want to get the motherboard details and go to the motherboard manufacturer's site to see if there are Windows Vista or 7 drivers for your particular motherboard and sound device. Read:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ce_Drivers

Changing the Audacity project rate (bottom left of the Audacity screen) to be the same as the "default format" for the sound device may be worth trying too. In Vista, that was an option in Sound (right-click over the device > Properties). But I strongly recommend you investigate more modern drivers in any case.


Gale

[happy37]

from reading around this forum, I came across this link:-

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9564

I have followed what osterac said in this post to the letter, and hey, guess what, recording from "the source"/Wave Out...i.e. the speakers now actually works

OK, I have not tried Windows 7 yet, but just to note on Vista, there is no option in the system mixer to right-click on the device you want as your recording device and "set as default communication device." The only option is "Set as Default device" or similar. If that Windows 7 option sets the sound device for playback to be the same as that for recording, that would make sense, because the stereo mix source on a sound device can only record from playback of that device, not from that of any other device.

BUT there are instances in the recording where the audio speeds up and jitters for a second or too, and then drops back to normal??? Although version 1.3.9 beta loads and so on, I still cannot record anything properly in that version yet. So, what is going on here - I don't see this effect in Windows XP Pro at all - what can I try to eliminate this?

The drivers for SoundMAX aren't exactly up-to-date are they . So by definition they cannot be drivers for Vista, let alone Windows 7. Windows 7 is essentially based on Vista. Drivers for XP rarely worked well on Vista, so won't on Windows 7. Have you tried the "Update Driver..." button?

If the button does not find any later drivers, you want to get the motherboard details and go to the motherboard manufacturer's site to see if there are Windows Vista or 7 drivers for your particular motherboard and sound device. Read:
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ce_Drivers

Changing the Audacity project rate (bottom left of the Audacity screen) to be the same as the "default format" for the sound device may be worth trying too. In Vista, that was an option in Sound (right-click over the device > Properties). But I strongly recommend you investigate more modern drivers in any case.


Gale

Hi Gale

Good morning.

Another update with regards to the soundcard drivers problem.

I have been told by ASUS, the motherboard manufacturer that there are no up-to-date drivers for the souncard and the motherboard as it was discontinued quite a while ago.

1. Unless someone else can find me a working (stable) Vista or Windows 7 driver that they have used and it works well on their PC, I would be very woilling to try that out as well to see if and how it works.

2. Otherwise, can you please recommend me a decent PCI soundcard that I will be able to use with this motherboard, please?

The motherboard is an ASUS P4PE:-

http://support.asus.com/download/downlo ... model=P4PE

Thanks again for all of your help so far with this - it's much appreciated.

Regards

Happy37

[Gale Andrews]

I have been told by ASUS, the motherboard manufacturer that there are no up-to-date drivers for the souncard and the motherboard as it was discontinued quite a while ago.

1. Unless someone else can find me a working (stable) Vista or Windows 7 driver that they have used and it works well on their PC, I would be very woilling to try that out as well to see if and how it works.

2. Otherwise, can you please recommend me a decent PCI soundcard that I will be able to use with this motherboard, please?

The motherboard is an ASUS P4PE:-

http://support.asus.com/download/downlo ... model=P4PE

If you are buying an add-on card, compatibility with the motherboard is rarely an issue, only with the operating system.

I don't have any experience myself with PCI cards. If you go for one, look for explicit information about Windows 7 compatibility. If your main concern is capturing the audio output, I would go for this USB card:
http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14134

It is compatible with Windows 7 and it does capture computer output (called "Sum"). You haven't given us an example of a Windows 7 recording, but if noise from inside the computer could be a problem, an external solution like this might be better.


Gale

[happy37]

I have been told by ASUS, the motherboard manufacturer that there are no up-to-date drivers for the souncard and the motherboard as it was discontinued quite a while ago.

1. Unless someone else can find me a working (stable) Vista or Windows 7 driver that they have used and it works well on their PC, I would be very woilling to try that out as well to see if and how it works.

2. Otherwise, can you please recommend me a decent PCI soundcard that I will be able to use with this motherboard, please?

The motherboard is an ASUS P4PE:-

http://support.asus.com/download/downlo ... model=P4PE

If you are buying an add-on card, compatibility with the motherboard is rarely an issue, only with the operating system.

I don't have any experience myself with PCI cards. If you go for one, look for explicit information about Windows 7 compatibility. If your main concern is capturing the audio output, I would go for this USB card:
http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14134

It is compatible with Windows 7 and it does capture computer output (called "Sum"). You haven't given us an example of a Windows 7 recording, but if noise from inside the computer could be a problem, an external solution like this might be better.


Gale

Gale

Good morning - thanks for your latest post.

This is the one that I have purchased...any comments/thoughts?

http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14319

Thanks again for all of your help/advice so far...much appreciated.

Happy37

[theAM89]

Hi,
I have a problem with the Trust 5.1 External Surround Sound Card SC-5500p, downloaded the 14134 driver for w7, but during install it asks to plug-in Trust USB Audio device. It is pluged, tried all ports, but nothing changed. Before the w7 driver was released, only 2 speakers and sub were working(windows installed some driver itself - I disabled them when installed 14134).

It would be great if somebody could help me with this problem.

AM
(windows 7 EC build 7100)