Where is the input selector in 1.3 beta?

[patrick160356]

I have happily used Audacity for many years. Today, however, I had the great misfortune to upgrade to 1.3 beta, since a friend had recorded something in that version which I needed to edit. Everything went fine until I went to record something of my own. Suddenly, there was no input selector on the toolbar! Where the HELL has it gone and WHY did you people change how to access it? GRRRRRRR!

I CANNOT find how to access the old "line in" command that was so helpful. All I can record is my microphone and I DO NOT want to record that!

Why do you change things that work just fine? You have cost me several hours of anguish and I now have a client mad at me. Why do you do this?????

Angry, angry, angry (and rightfully so!).

[kozikowski]

Edit > Preferences > Devices. It may or may not appear as a drop-down on the work surface. After you set this panel, OK, Close, and restart Audacity. It may seem counter-intuitive, but this way is stable and reliable, whereas the older menu system would occasionally leave you with no inputs or an undefined state. Trust me, this is better.

Koz

[kozikowski]

You might need to change it in Windows Control Panels. Audacity follows whatever the Operating System is doing.

Koz

[patrick160356]

Thanks for the ideas, but that's not the problem. The problem is the pull-down menu that used to be on the toolbar. You clicked that to choose recording via microphone, wave-out mix, line-in, etc. That pull-down is no longer in place and I cannot select which recording input I want to choose. I turned off the microphone in my sound card's control panel and have the line-in option selected, yet when I try to record in Audacity ONLY the microphone pickup is able to be recorded.

Very frustrating.

[kozikowski]

You mean this business...?

Screen shot 2011-03-29 at 10.48.02 PM.png (12.06 KiB) Viewed 1156 times

That's been deprecated in favor of the preferences settings, as far as I know. In any event, try the preference settings. Remember to restart Audacity if you do change anything.

Koz

[patrick160356]

Yep, that's what's missing. The other option does NOT work (how many times do I have to say it?)! And I have restarted. There is NO setting under Devices for selecting the input. You can select between the different sound packages (Windows or otherwise), but there is nothing to select the type of input you want to use.

Is the input selector still in version 1.2? If so, I'm going to dump 1.3, reinstall 1.2 and NEVER upgrade again!

[kozikowski]

If it doesn't work in Audacity Preferences, then you need to do it in Windows Control Panels.

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel


Audacity 1.2 is very old and no longer supported,
patched, corrected, or updated. Audacity 1.2 can
be unstable on newer computers.

You can install both audacity 1.2 and Audacity 1.3 on
the same computer, but only use one at a time.

Audacity 1.2 will not open projects made on Audacity 1.3.

If you use MP3 or some of the more modern audio
compression formats, get Lame and FFMpeg software
from the same web site. Do not use older software
or software from other web sites, even though they
may have the same names.

Koz

[patrick160356]

I tried that. It does NOT work. I have "microphone" muted, yet the ONLY pickup that is recorded is the microphone. I tried recording a CD and an MP3 and they are not registering. Only the microphone works (and that, even when it's muted through Windows Control Panel!).

My main question is why would the developers take away a simple way of changing input device and making it complex (or, as in my case, impossible)? Dumb.

I am reverting to 1.2 and will tell all the people I know who use Audacity to not upgrade or to revert, if they also made the "upgrade mistake." When the input selector is returned to the toolbar, I will upgrade to a newer version.

[steve]

I have "microphone" muted, yet the ONLY pickup that is recorded is the microphone.

By definition you do not have the microphone muted.

My main question is why would the developers take away a simple way of changing input device and making it complex (or, as in my case, impossible)? Dumb.

I don't usually bother replying to rude or angry people, but in this case I think you have a valid question.
The method of device selection was upgraded because on many computers (particularly modern computers with modern sound cards) the old method did not work. The method implemented in Audacity 1.3.12 has been found to be far more reliable and works with many more sound cards than the old method. However, in the process it did remove the convenience of the old method. The developers have been working on this over the past year and in the next release of Audacity (due out this month) the "Device Toolbar" will be reinstated as part of the default interface.

[patrick160356]

Thanks for the reply. I also don't reply to rude people, but angry people do deserve a reply, especially when they have a valid reason for being angry. When you use a tool every day then find that the tool has been modified and that it is no longer workable, it is very upsetting.

As to whether the microphone is muted, it is, as you can see below.

record.jpg (8.21 KiB) Viewed 1143 times

I sincerely hope that reinstating the input selector will allow me to again use the program. As I said above, I use Audacity every day and my business is now crippled because I can't do my work.

Again, thank you for explaining further what is happening with the next release.