Audacity Forum

i have used audacity for a long time for basic in home recording studio. i recently got a new computer. which of course has vista. now for a few months all worked great, then one day nothing! could not hear sound playback only on audacity ..all other programs good. so i upgraded to a different version and then i could hear sound playback..but no sound playback through my headphones in recording mode..tried all verisons available. no go. what could this be? problem with vista? but it worked fine for a while! problem with my pc? but all other programs play sound great! someone please help!!

white dove wrote:so i upgraded to a different version and then i could hear sound playback..but no sound playback through my headphones in recording mode

So this is now an Audition 1.3.x problem?
Go into "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O" and check that you have the correct output device selected. Note that if you are recording with a USB microphone or turntable, they will often hijack the audio system and change the playback device (even though they are not playback devices).

Also see: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... bar_Issues
and: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... s_Vista_OS

If you still have problems, try posting in the Windows/Audacity 1.3.x board and give a full description of your setup, how you have your preferences set, and what measures you have already tried.

Good luck
Steve

thanks i learned a little bit more than i did ..that info was helpful to understand how to change those things around.but i have the same problem now with both verisons..1.3 beta and 1.2, i can hear playback of audio but in record mode cannot hear audio..although i cannot hear audio it does record and upon playback after record u can hear what was recorded..just no audio during recording . i have windows vista..realtech high definion auido..a samson c01u usb mic..well all works now execept the hearing the audio during record mode

white dove wrote:i have windows vista..realtech high definion auido..a samson c01u usb mic..well all works now execept the hearing the audio during record mode

No, you won't do. The Samson USB mic is a different device (not connected) to the Realtek sound card, so when you are recording there is no signal path between the two.

(Don't get excited) - There is a way that you can route the signal from the microphone to the Realtek sound card (this will now disappoint you) but there is a very good reason why it is not worth doing this. You can enable "software playthrough", which will allow Audacity to pass on the audio data that comes in from the microphone to the Realtek sound card, so that the Realtek sound card will play it. The problem with this is that it takes a noticeable amount of time for the audio data to get from the microphone, through all the audio buffers, and back out to the sound card. This results in a delay in the order of half a second, which makes it quite useless for monitoring yourself.

I only mention "software playthrough" so that you don't waste days trying to make it work without a delay, because the delay is inevitable.

If you want to try it (just to see how bad the delay is), the setting is in "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O"

"So if the delay is so bad, why has this useless feature been added?" you ask.
Well, this feature is only useless if you are wanting to record yourself with a USB microphone. If you are recording a record, or a cassette tape through a USB audio interface, or from a USB turntable, then it does not matter that there is a delay and it is useful to be able to monitor what is being recorded, even if it is half a second late.

this makes sense but then why did this happen cause it worked fine for well over 2 months i recorded 55 songs perfectly.then it just stoped working

While recording, you should be able to hear the playback of already recorded tracks without the delay problem. It's only if you want to hear the input from the microphone that you get the delay problem.

(If this sounds like the fix you are looking for, you can start to get excited now)

To play other tracks while recording a new one, go to "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O" and select "play other tracks while recording new one"

Make sure (on the same preferences page) that your Realtek sound card is selected for playback - as I said previously, sometimes the USB mic will hijack the audio system and you need to change it back manually.

If that still does not work, check again those links that I posted earlier - I should be able to help with the Audacity side of things, but I'm a bit stumped on Vista because i don't use it.

If you are saying that you could previously hear the USB microphone while recording without a delay, then I've no idea how you managed it because I don't think it's possible. You can do it with a conventional microphone that plugs into the sound card (because it is the same device for recording and playback), but I've not heard of anyone doing it with a USB microphone.

oohhhh

just to make sure im am stating my problem and needs correctly..i will try one more time..when i record i have no audio (music) to hear to follow along with to record the volcals..i can record them and i can hear the audio playback and the recorded volcals during playback..i just need to hear the song playing in the background to know when to sing the lyrics..if this changes anything .then let me know. i think i was describing my problem wrong and was misunderstood

Yes, I misunderstood initially, but my last post is addressing that problem.

You record track 1, then while you record track 2, you need to be able to hear track 1.

thank u...also for being patient..i went back a read ur last comments and figured it out..all works now...thanks alot