Audacity Forum

Yup. The same issue that many others have had; but mine is a little different.

I'm using XP Pro SP2. In my Volume Icon located in my system tray, in the RealTek HD Audio Input tab, nothing is muted, yet the volume controls for everything but "Recording" can't be moved. They are grayed out. They can be muted, but it makes no difference.

In the "Sounds and Audio Devices Properties" window located in <Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices>, under the "Audio" tab, the Sound playback device is set to "RealTek HD Audio output", while the Sound Recording device is set to "RealTek HD Audio Input". Also, this is the weird part for me. In the Voice tab tab, when I click on "Test hardware", the Recording part is detecting music being played. And it comes out smoothly. But when I click on Next, The Playback part makes indescribable noises, even when there is no music playing.

Now in the RealTek HD Audio Manager icon in my system tray, nothing is muted except for the "Microphone" feature located in the "Playback" part. In the "Record" part, nothing is muted, but like I've said before, every bar is grayed out. That would be CD Volume, Line Volume, Mic Volume, and Stereo Mix. In the "Mixer Toolbar" for both Playback and Record, I have "Enable recording multi-streaming" unchecked since it seems to do nothing for me but add a new audio device.

That's pretty much my setup, and Audacity isn't working. Help please? Thanks.

Dark_Forge99 wrote:Yup. The same issue that many others have had; but mine is a little different.

They are all "a little different", I think RealTek issued a different driver and a unique user interface with every chip (just for a laugh).

Dark_Forge99 wrote:nothing is muted, yet the volume controls for everything but "Recording" can't be moved. They are grayed out. They can be muted, but it makes no difference.

That's the same as the one I use at work.
I mute all the inputs except for the one that I want to use (so that they don't introduce any additional noise) then use the knob to the left of the sliders to adjust the level. (the sliders don't move or do anything, they are just "dummy" sliders). The knob is "turned" by clicking on it with the mouse (keep the mouse button pressed) and drag the knob round.

Dark_Forge99 wrote:But when I click on Next, The Playback part makes indescribable noises, even when there is no music playing.

Is this a laptop?
Is there a built in microphone?
Are you using headphones or speakers?
Try muting all the inputs except the one that you want to use, and try using headphones.

The RealTek control panel is a bit of a monster, with several pages, and bits hidden behind other bits, so if you need further help sorting this out, could you post screen shots showing all of the pages and settings. (I know that's quite a lot to do, but as I said, they all seem to be a bit different).

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... led2-1.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled3.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled4.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled5.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled6.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled7.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled8.jpg
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled9.jpg

I won't use IMG tags on them otherwise they would be a bother, but here are the links to pictures showing my settings.

That's great DF, I think that will help a lot.

stevethefiddle wrote:Is this a laptop?
Is there a built in microphone?
Are you using headphones or speakers?
Try muting all the inputs except the one that you want to use, and try using headphones.

And which recording input are you wanting to use?

Oh sorry, forgot about the other questions.

I am using a Desktop PC.
No built in microphones.
I am using speakers (4).
Can't quite use the headphones right now.

I want to use What U Hear.

Dark_Forge99 wrote:Can't quite use the headphones right now.

Why is that?

Dark_Forge99 wrote:I want to use What U Hear.

So I presume that you want to record streaming media of some sort?
Have you been able to record from other sources yet? If not, then I suggest that we give that a go first and then move onto "What U Hear".

Do you have a computer microphone, or a CD player or anything that you can try recording from (and the appropriate lead)?

The microphone was in use by another person back then, but right now it's free.

So uhh, you want me to try to record using other sources. Is that right? Just tell me what to do and I'll provide the results.

Starting with everything set as in your pictures:

• Mute all the Record inputs except for the mic input: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... led2-1.jpg
• Plug your microphone into the pink socket on the back of the computer (sometimes front sockets are not connected, so it's safer to use the ones on the back of the computer: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled3.jpg
• Turn down the Playback volume for the microphone to minimum (zero), then un-mute the mic: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled9.jpg
• Preferably use headphones (plugged into the green socket), or if you have to use speakers be very careful with this next step to avoid howling feedback noise.
• Make some sound into the microphone (put it next to a radio or something like that) and gradually turn up the Playback volume for the microphone. At some point you should hear the sound coming out of the headphones/speakers.

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Assuming that the above worked as expected:

• Mute the mic playback volume: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... itled9.jpg
• Open Audacity and go to "Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O" and select the Realtek device for Recording and Playback, then click "OK"
• Click on the recording meter (Input level meter) to activate it - you should see the meter respond to sound going into the microphone.
• Use the Record level knob to adjust the record level: http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a59/Da ... led2-1.jpg
• Click on the "Record" button and record something, then click on the "Stop" button.
• Click on the "Play" button to play back the recording

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I have my fingers crossed for you. Let me know how you get on.

Well, everything worked fine until the 5th step where I make noise into the microphone. Followed every step before that, but I still couldn't hear anything coming from my microphone. The headphones worked, but not the microphone. I don't know if it's just the headset that may be the problem, but I'll get a new pair pretty soon and try that out.

In the meantime, does this mean anything?

It is a "conventional" headset isn't it (plugs into the sound card sockets - not USB)?