Audacity Forum

I have just purchased a behringer uca202 for recording vinyl records to the computer. I run windows XP and have the stable upto date version of audacity. Now i am brand new to this today but after not being able to get it to work and having a look through forums i see that i should have the audio I/O options (In preferences) set to something similar along the lines of 'codec usb' BUT the only 2 options i have are 'c-media wave device' & 'microsoft sound mapper' (For both in & out) there is no option for the USb device at all. Now i know the USB port is working and i know that i am receiving audio to the UCA202 (As i can plug into the headphone socket and monitor whats coming in) but i just don't get the option in the audio input section.
Any body have any suggestions???
Cheers steve

For USB audio interfaces it is necessary to have the USB device connected, switched on and recognized by Windows before you start Audacity.

As far as i can tell windows is recognising it, the first thing i did was plug it in and windows recognised and came up with new hardware found, i then went to the behringer site and downloaded the latest driver for it which seems to have been installed fine and correct (its on my program list anyway) also the green LED on the uca202 is on so the connection is fine (There is no on/off switch on the device).
Anything else that you can think of?? ANY help is much appreciated.
cheers steve

In the "Sys tray" (bottom right corner of your monitor screen) do you have the USB icon? (the icon for "safely disconnect device")
If you open this icon, is the UCA202 listed as a connected device?

No it wasn't showing so all i basically did was uninstall the behringer driver and then replugged the uca202 back in and it reappeared on the audacity preferences list.
I am at last getting audio in but now when i save it as a .wav file and try and replay it on something else (Real player or nero etc) i just have a blank clip. All i can tell is the clip real player is trying to play is of the same length but there just isnt any audio there. This maybe an easy problem that i can fix or find an answer for elsewhere on the forum but if you are still looking at this and have a quick and easy answer then please go for it!
Thanks fo your help so far.

nocomply wrote:No it wasn't showing so all i basically did was uninstall the behringer driver and then replugged the uca202 back in and it reappeared on the audacity preferences list.

Good. That's one problem solved.
(Each time you intend to use the UCA202, remember to plug in the UCA202 and allow it to initialise before you start Audacity).

nocomply wrote:I am at last getting audio in

So you are able to record in Audacity, and play back what you have recorded in Audacity, but exported wav files do not play in other media players? Is that correct?

There are many types of wav file, and not all types are supported by all players. The universally accepted "standard" wav file is: "16 bit, 44.1 kHz Microsoft PCM WAV"
This is the format that is used for audio CD's, and is probably the most widely supported digital audio format in history.

Selecting this format is actually easier in Audacity 1.3.x, but it's not too difficult in Audacity 1.2.x either, so here goes.

Audacity 1.2.x will export using the same sample rate as has been used in the project, so first we will set the default format for the project as "16 bit 44.1kHz"

Open Audacity, and go to "Edit > Preferences > Quality",
Set the "Default Sample Rate" to 44100Hz
Set the "Default Sample Format" to 16 bit.
Click "OK"

Now, when you record something, the recording will be in the format "16 bit, 44.1kHz"

So now, when you have recorded something, you want to Export it as "16 bit, 44.1 kHz Microsoft PCM WAV"

Click on "File > Export as WAV"
Browse to the folder where you want to export the file to,
Type in a name for the file,
Make sure that "WAV (Microsoft) files (*.wav)" is selected in the box below where you typed the file name,
Click on the "Save" button.

The resulting file should play correctly in just about any media player.

Ok one last question, i have now managed to get my clips recorded in audacity and exported as .wav files to play on real player or nero BUT i have to unplug the uca202 from the usb before it will play the clips back through my speaker monitors. I don't have to change any settings but if open the clip in real player with the uca202 plugged in it won't play, if i open the clip in real player without the uca202 it plays fine without doing anything else or changing settings. Any reason why you think this might be as its a bit of a pain to have to unplug when i want to listen to the clip on anything but audacity.
cheers

It's because when you plug in your USB souncard, Windows assumes that you want to use it for both input AND output (note that this isuue really befuddles USB turntable users!!).

All you should need to do is to go to the Windows control panel for Sounds ans Audio and re-target the output onto your internal soundcard. I have a simular USB device (the Edirol UA-EX) and it works fine like this.

WC

As an alternative to WC's suggestion, you could leave the UCA202 permanently connected to your computer and with an appropriate lead to connect the UCA outputs to powered speakers or a hi-fi amp, use it for both input and output. The playback sound quality is excellent.

Indeed yes Steve - that's exactly how I plan to use my Edirol soundcard when my new laptop arrives (I have a nice pair of Wharfdale Active Diamonds that need to be pressed into use again).

WC