Audacity Forum

Additional info -

1. I should have said INTERNAL mic in the previous post

2. Now I have also successfully recorded directly into Audacity (WITHOUT Sound Recorder) using a quality EXTERNAL mic

Sooo.... the problem seems to be ONLY when I attempt to input audio from other sources: CD, wav, mp3.

rshaw wrote:Sooo.... the problem seems to be ONLY when I attempt to input audio from other sources: CD, wav, mp3.

That's what we refer to as "Recording sounds playing on the computer" or for short "Recording Stereo Mix".
The Windows Sound Recorder can do this IF...
a) The computer sound system supports this feature
b) The computer sound system is configured to record Stereo Mix.

Note that I did not mention configuring Sound Recorder - it's all about configuring the sound system (the sound card or on-board audio). Sound Recorder will record whatever audio is being sent to it from the sound system. If no audio is being sent, then it will record nothing.
Audacity is somewhat more sophisticated than Sound Recorder (with all of its editing features and so on), but with regard to what it records and where it plays it's the same principle. Audacity will record whatever the sound system sends it.

As is described here, some computers can't record Stereo Mix. Others can record stereo mix but hide the Stereo Mix recording input.

Thanks for posting back, but I guess I'm not sure what you're telling me. Given that I CAN still record directly into Audacity with a mic, and I get good results... but I canNOT "record sounds playing on the computer," as you put it, without distortion of both the waveform and the sounds... WHAT exactly is happening, and how do I fix it?

I've re-read through this topic and I'm quite confused about what you are actually asking as the question appears to change from one post to the next.
Let me recap and see if I've got it right.

You can record with a microphone and it sounds fine, but if you record sounds that are playing on your computer, then the recording is distorted.
Is that the problem?

If it is, try turning down the playback volume of the thing that you are recording.

Yes, I have done that, right as soon as this all started. Doesn't change anything.

To recap, it's not just that the audio is distorted, but also the waveforms are visually chopped off too - seems to me those two facts would be related, or am I off base on that? When I say chopped off - I mean that's how they look, like a flattop haircut both at top and bottom. And when Koz asked me yesterday if the waveforms were vertically centered, i.e., the middle of the waveform is on the time line, my answer was yet, but oddly today I had an experience where the recording started out fine = for about 2 seconds, literally - then the waveform kind of did a "slinky" and got chopped off again, only THIS time the waveform was not symmetrical = it was indeed vertically off center, and the bottom of the wave didn't look like the top -- this is different from what I got yesterday.

If you're getting this sort of effect:
it indicates that something is being overloaded, probably the recording input.

How exactly are you making these recordings?
Tell me step-by-step what I need to do to reproduce the problem.

First of all, computer is Gateway NV59 running Windows 7; Audacity version is 1.2.6.

Preferences are all set at default (except for input selection, which I have set at Stereo Mix for this type of recording).

What I am recording is one of:

wav or mp3 from Internet
wav or mp3 from my hard drive
audio CD running in my computer
(All play perfectly in WMP)

To initiate recording I hit the record button - which causes the audio track to appear - and then I hit Start on whatever audio I am inputting. I have played with the input volume slider, anywhere from 0.1 to 1.0. Changing this setting affects the amplitude of the waves but not the clipping effect nor the distortion.

Interestingly - I do note that the input METER shows RED, not green, even when the meter is showing only a tiny bar at the left of the graph. Could this be related?
I just noticed this now - normally I don't use the meter - decided to click on it as I was writing this post. I checked the playback meter and it shows green (unless I intentionally pin it by boosting the output),

Anyway, that's the process. And although you may find something in what I'm doing that can and should be corrected - obviously I'm hoping you will ! - I have to say that I've used 1.2.6 in exactly this manner for months with no problem at all... and I love the program... so I hope I can have it back!

I don't think we are going to be able to offer help or support for Audacity 1.2.6 on Vista. It is known to have multiple problems and bizarre behaviour on Vista so none of us use it.

Not running Vista, running Windows 7! Please reply.

Got same problem, and the response seemed to be "nothing can be done about it" So seems to be a case of wasted my money. Said on the wrapper that Vista compatible, but seems not.