Audacity Forum

Hello,
When I try to do a simple voice recording I am finding that the input level gradually decreases until it is nothing and the waveform line goes flat.
I and using Vista on a Toshiba laptop which has Realtek High Definition audio.
All settings for using the Realtek appear to be correct for both Windows and Audacity.
I am using a Sony ECM-MS907 microphone.
I tried uninstalling and then re-installing Audacity - no help.
Then I found an entry on the web that said how to reset the audacity.cfg file (because apparently the preferences remain even after a re-install). Doing that showed absolutley no change either.
When I first opened the newly installed Audacity, the recording was looking good - I could see the wave form of the voice and also the red bars on the input monitor. Then, after a couple of minutes, the red input bars started to get smaller and smaller until they finally disappeared - and the waveform line went flat and, of course, nothing was audible.
So I have tried doing everything I can think of - can anyone help??!!
Thanks!

Windows machines are business computers and are designed for audio and video conferencing to the home office in Switzerland. Because of that heritage, the sound channels frequently have automatic volume control and communications echo cancellation on by default.

Your job is to find it and turn it off. Run the Windows Control Panels and see if there's anything listed like "AGC," "Auto Volume" "Echo Canceling," etc. etc.

I've never seen a wiki page on that, but I'll look.

Koz

Thank you!!!
I didn't find any of the things you suggested like "AGC," "Auto Volume" "Echo Canceling," .
But in doing the search for these things on my computer, in Control Panel->Sound->Recording tab->Properties Button->Advanced tab, there are 2 "Exclusive Mode" settings which " allow applications to take exclusive control of this device".
These were checked as enabled. So I disabled them and that seems to have done the trick!
Never woulda thunk it!
Thanks, W.