Audacity Forum

I was having the same problem with Audacity and a Realtek AC'97 sound card. The recording source I was using was the stereo mix with 2 channels. But it was producing the "Error while opening sound device..." error. So I changed the number of channels to 1 and it now works. It's strange because a stereo mix should really be two channels...oh well, it works.

Hi everyone,

We recently got a new computer and Audacity ran fine on the old one but won't do anything on this new one. I get the 'Error while opening sound device. Please check the output settings and project sample rate' message when I click record.

I've gone into Edit - Preferences - Audio I/O and this is what i have:

Playback:
Device - Realtek Digital Output (Realtek...it's cut off there. There are a couple of other options as well, namely microsoft sound mapper - output and speakers (realtek high definition...and then it's cut off there too.

Recording:
Device: none - there is a drop down menu but it is completely blank
Channels - set at 1

Can anyone help? I just don't know what to do.

quackaquacka wrote:We recently got a new computer and Audacity ran fine on the old one but won't do anything on this new one.

And this new computer is running which flavor of Windoze - help us out a bit ....

WC

Ah, sorry! Somehow forgot that not everyone knows everything in my head.

It's Windows 7.

In which case try this sticky thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 12&t=16871

WC

Hello,
I am trying to record mixes with traktor3 le and the Numark total control USB plug in device. I dowloaded Audacity and followed these directions.....After connecting the USB cable of the turntable to the computer, set up Audacity by going to the Devices tab of Preferences and:
In the "Recording" section, select the USB device from the "Device" popup menu. Set the "Channels" popup menu to "2 (stereo)".
In the "Playback" section, select your inbuilt sound or sound card by name from the "Device" popup menu. Do NOT choose "Microsoft SoundMapper" if you are on Windows.
Switch to the Recording tab of Preferences and:
Check "Software Playthrough" if you want to hear the turntable through the computer speakers.
Click the "OK" button to accept the settings you have made.
Go to the Mixer Toolbar and turn up the left-hand output volume slider (by the speaker symbol). The right-hand input volume slider (by the microphone symbol) does not function with USB turntables, so it is not possible to vary the input level into Audacity. If you are on a Mac, you should also click on the Mac hard disk, then Applications > Utilities > Audio-MIDI Setup. Click on the Audio Devices tab, then on the left-hand side, select your USB device in the "Default Input" and "Properties for" dropdowns. If you are on OS X 10.1 or earlier, go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Sound, click the Input button and select USB Audio CODEC.
Make sure that your Project Rate bottom left of the Audacity screen is set to 44100 Hz.
Then, ignoring any instructions in the manufacturer's guide to select "stereo mix", simply press the red Record button in Audacity to start recording from the turntable. When i hit the record button it reads error while opening sound device.

Native Instruments have designed the software so that you need to use the "Pro" version for recording.
The Numark total control USB plug in device is not a USB audio interface (which is what those instructions are for), it's a "control surface".

It may be possible to "cheat the system" by recording from "Stereo Mix" but you need to have Audacity set to record from your sound card, not the Total Control.
How do you hear the sound of Traktor3 ? Where does the sound come from? Whatever sound card that is using, that's the one that you need to use with Audacity.

There's no guarantee that this will work - it's been designed for recording using the Pro version of Traktor3.

I have all the same symptoms as described here but I am still unable to get Audacity to work at all. Error message still keeps appearing despite trying all the suggestions made here. I have had it working but only able to record one vinyl album then it stopped working. I am using a USB turntable to load to my PC, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME

colin.jones wrote:I have all the same symptoms as described here but I am still unable to get Audacity to work at all. Error message still keeps appearing despite trying all the suggestions made here. I have had it working but only able to record one vinyl album then it stopped working. I am using a USB turntable to load to my PC, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME

Fist I would recommend upgrading to Audacity 1.3.12 http://audacityteam.org/download/beta_windows
Then follow the instructions here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/USB_turntables

If you still have problems, please start a new topic.

I finally figured this out!

I was not getting any sound when trying to record through Audacity or CamStudio.

Finally I went to my Realtek HD Audio manager and started poking around and noticed my Default Format for my speakers was set to CD Format which was 24 bit, 44100 Hz (studio quality). Not sure how that was set but I set it to 16 bit, 44100 hz (CD quality). I then re-launched Audacity and it worked like a charm!

I hope this helps!

Jasiu