sonds like its under water

[musicianmaker]

When I record using a line in mic or the built in mic in my lap top< the playback sounds good for only a second then the rest sounds as though the flange and phaser settings got turned on (there not of course). Makes the whole thing sound as though its speakers are under water. My students who i recommended this program to are also experiencing the same problem. This did not happen with the older version. Suggestions:

[steve]

Check that you do not have "Software Playthrough" selected in "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O"
Also check that you have selected the microphone in Windows Mixer (rather than "Stereo Mix")

[musicianmaker]

Thanks Steve, the mic setting in "windows mixer" seems to be working except for static.
The sound is clear but with background static when using the built in mic.
I'm toying with adjustments but can't seem to get rid of the static.
Almost there, anymore advice.

[steve]

It's difficult to know what that "static" is without hearing it myself.
One possibility is that it is just a poor built-in microphone (which would not be surprising).
Another possibility is that it is "glitching" due to the data stream being interrupted.

Do you have any other audio inputs on your machine, such as a "line in" (usually available on desktop PC's but not on laptops). If you do, then see if you can record through the line in socket (you will need a higher signal level than you get from a microphone, so you could try recording from a CD, tape or MP3 player. If that works OK, then it indicates the problem is with the microphone, but if the "static" is still there then we are probably looking at resolving a glitching issue.

[musicianmaker]

I've tried that too , even plugged my electric guitar to mic-in chose line-in when prompted click record and nothing. Wave immediately drops to -5 and flat-lines there. Line-in is also chosen in the audacity drop-down, I've also tried the others, they don't work. sigma tel audio is the chosen recording device in audacity preferences, the other doesn't work either. I've tried all the preferences combinations i could with same results. I never had a problem with the older version audacity on my toshiba satellite but am having all sorts of trouble with 1.2 on my dell inspiron 1520. No luck with Kristal audio engine either. so I'm guessing it's no the program.

[steve]

Wave immediately drops to -5 and flat-lines there.

That should not happen - with no signal it should flat-line ot 0.0
This is almost certainly a hardware or driver problem.

I never had a problem with the older version audacity on my toshiba satellite but am having all sorts of trouble with 1.2 on my dell inspiron 1520.

I'd say the difference is down to the different soundcard rather than the different version of Audacity. If you want to use your dell for recording you will probably have toi get an external audio device. I use a Behringer UCA-202 which is a cheap USB audio in/out device and it works very well for me.