Recording through usb - only left channel

[pepineros]

Hi all,

my setup is as follows: Stagg mco-7w condenser mic (specs: http://www.lagom.nl/misc/stagg-mco7.html) goes to the input of an Edirol ua-25ex pre-amp (specs: http://www.rolandus.com/products/produc ... ductId=970), which is connected to my laptop (Acer Extensa running Windows Vista) through usb. When I record, Audacity only uses the left channel; I know this happens when using a line-in or mic-in port (which are mono ports, at least on this laptop), but I'd have thought the usb could handle two channels. The weirder thing is: this happens only when the mic is plugged into the left pre-amp input. When I plug the mic into the right input it doesn't pick up a signal at all. The left channel does record mono, ie on playback the sound comes from both left and right speaker. When I force Audacity to record stereo, the top track records as normal, but the bottom one is flat. Anyone know what's wrong here? Should I look into windows' sound settings, or Audacity's, or is something wrong in the pre-amp? Thanks for helping!

[steve]

I don't think there is anything wrong - this sounds normal for a high quality sound card (though I agree it does appear a bit odd the first time you see it).

What should happen is this (if this is what does happen, then everything is OK):

• With microphone connected to input 1 and Audacity recording 2 channel stereo >>> Signal recorded on left channel, right channel silent.
• With microphone connected to input 1 and Audacity recording 1 channel mono >>> Signal recorded and plays through both left and right speakers.
• With microphone connected to input 2 and Audacity recording 2 channel stereo >>> Signal recorded on right channel, left channel silent. (with some hardware this may not happen, but usually it does).
• With microphone connected to input 2 and Audacity recording 1 channel mon >>> Silence - no signal recorded (some hardware may record a signal, but that is unusual for high quality sound cards).
• 2 microphones connected to input 1 and 2, Audacity recording 2 channel stereo >>> Microphone in input 1 records on left channel, Microphone in input 2 records on right channel.
• 2 microphones connected to input 1 and 2, Audacity recording 1 channel mono >>> Varies, but often input 1 only is recorded. Some sound cards may mix the inputs.

So to record one microphone correctly, set Audacity to record 1 channel (mono) and use input 1.

If you specifically need a 2 channel track with the recording on both tracks (for example if you want to apply a stereo effect), select the track and make a duplicate ("Edit menu > Duplicate" or Ctrl+D) then click on the name of the upper track and select from the drop down menu "Make Stereo Track".

[pepineros]

Lol, you're good. Everything happened exactly as you said, so I suppose everything's alright. Thanks for the help

[steve]

You're welcome.