Audacity Forum

hi,
ive recently moved to a new comp and re downloaded
audacity 1.3 stable.

on my old comp there was a drop down and the audio inputs
were there
line in
mic

and I think 2 others.
I could record mp3s from an audio input signal, say from a
radio tape deck etc

I could also record from internet radio on the comp
etc so it was very useful

Now though, I can t find that drop down,
when I click record there is a signal but its just dirty noise
from somewhere
I ve tried recording internet radio but the signal isn t
getting thru.

all I v e managed to do is far is import an avi file and export
it as mp3,
thanks for any comments.

<<<audacity 1.3 stable>>>

Or Audacity 1.3 Unstable or Audacity 1.2 Stable which are the only two available.

You're on Vista now, aren't you? You need to open all this up in the Vista Sound Panels, not Audacity. Once in the Windows record panel selections, right-click and the missing selections should be available. That's all about this I know because I'm not running Vista. We'll wait for one of the Genuine Windows Users to show us the way.

Koz

NO Im on xp I had the vista taken out
and replaced

as I say, there is a strange noise just running the software,
I could post an mp3 of it plus a pic of the
desk top

HERES the sound a white noise, jus having the
software open
http://www.mediafire.com/?jdxjjtgofxy

heres a pic of what I see

WOULD it be worth uninstalling the stable version
and go for the latest version instead ?

I would be opening up Windows' own software and see if that does the same thing.

Windows Sound Recorder
Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment

If it does, then you may have a bad sound module or hardware in your new machine. It sounds just like a broken audio amplifier.

Alternately, it could also be you are connected to the microphone amplifier and turned all the way up without a microphone connected. That will sound that way, too.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:Alternately, it could also be you are connected to the microphone amplifier and turned all the way up without a microphone connected. That will sound that way, too

That sounds very likely and matches with both the picture and the noise. With good ol' conventional sound cards, you need to look in the WINDOWS MIXER, as previously mentioned by koz.

Accessing the Windows Mixer: there are several ways in XP:
1) double click on the speaker icon in the sys tray (near the clock)
2) right click on the speaker icon and select "Adjust Audio Properties"
3) From the Windows Control Panel "Start > (Settings) > Control Panel > Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices > Sounds and Audio devices". From here you can check that the correct device is selected for playback and record. Clicking on "Volume" will bring up the Windows Mixer.

There's some pictures on this page to make it more clear: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... bar_Issues

Unfortunately, some modern on-board sound cards replace the Windows Mixer with their own "improved" interface that can be very difficult to navigate - a typical example is RealTek HD Audio sound cards. If you have one of these, you will need to search through the options to find where the recording inputs are selected.

What you are looking for is the place to select the recording input - you need to mute any input that you are not using, and in particular, if you are not using the microphone, make sure that the "microphone boost" is not selected.

With cheap sound cards, you will often get a little background noise, but muting unused inputs will minimize this.

THIS is the pic I get just doing a recording



the red bar top right going too and fro and the playback sound
is just one big fuzz
I went to the winows recorder, did a recording and got exactly
the same fuzz sound, so somewhere in the comp somethin ain t right
I went to sounds and devices and some of the vols were turned right up
I put them all to about 3/4 vol but that does nt seem to have cured it.

But going back to the audacity this still does nt explain why
I don t have the drop down inputs like in my old comp

with wav e
line in
aux
cd audio
microphone
sterio mix

the rectangular panel is there ( below the red record button )
but it is dead, no responce

just went to
sounds and audio devices properties

...audio

... sound recording

....volume

there are 3 meters there

recording

line volume

microphone

the button works ( slide up and down) for recording

but for line vol and microphone the button is there
but it is faded, theres nothing there for some reason
these two are nt working
( which maybe explains why the line in is nt showing up
on audacity ? )

silverstar wrote:But going back to the audacity this still does nt explain why
I don t have the drop down inputs like in my old comp

This is not uncommon - Audacity can only control your sound card as much as your sound card drivers will allow it to. The sound card drivers will over-ride Audacity, so you need to look at the computers sound system (Control Panel and Mixer) and set it up from there.

silverstar wrote:but for line vol and microphone the button is there
but it is faded, theres nothing there for some reason
these two are nt working

You may need to go in through the Windows Control Panel (as previously described) to enable or adjust these controls.

I don't think that you have so far said what sort of sound card you are using - if it's an on-board "RealTek HD" you could be in for a lot of messing around as from what others have said the user interface is not at all user friendly.