Signal is cutted at -0,6 dB

[kozikowski]

<<<And I don't get the clip light on the front of the M-Audio! I'm not stupid>>>

But wouldn't you feel stupid if that's what was wrong? We're flying blind from thousands of miles away. It doesn't pay well to ignore any possibility.

<<<Yes I installed the latest driver (release date: 22.08.2008, brand-new >>>

It may be a little too brand new. Can you back up to earlier drivers? Audacity is a complete slave to whatever Windows does. We wouldn't be shocked to learn that driver updates caused this problem.

Koz

[kozikowski]

We need to address another problem. Your error is not 0.6 dB. That's a percent scale. That's 0.6 proportion or 60%, given that full up is 100%. You're losing half your signal which is 6.0 dB. That's a magic number. Fairly standard things in the analog world cause 6 dB errors.

Bad terminations on a broadcast sound line will drop the signal or increase it 6 dB.

I wouldn't be surprised if a single bit in the stream could cause that problem.

If you're really pleased measuring in dB, you can convert the timeline to dB from percent with the black down arrow on the left. Then, you'll need to make the timeline taller by grabbing the bottom and pulling.

You can also float the meters to make them easier to see.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/Audacity1_full.jpg

In dB, you can see why we say 6dB isn't much of a change. It's just audible. You can also see why percent scales are pretty useless for audio. Half volume to your ears is about 18 dB. On a percent scale, that would be 12, or 0.12 on the Audacity meters. Can you even see that? And the show is only half as loud. You can go half again about twice before the show vanishes.

Welcome to the wild, wacky world of sound.

Koz




Koz

[thyme]

Hm, ok I tested what you have said...

This is the result:

The line is between 5 and 6.



Of what avail is it?

[kozikowski]

<<<Of what avail is it?>>>

None. I'm merely correcting an incorrect definition of the problem which, on occasion can lead to incorrect diagnosis. 0.6dB can be normal for your sound card. One of the other helpers' sound card routinely clips at some fractional dB value. I'm sure mine does, too, but I've never measured it. -6.0 dB (approximately) is half the signal vanishing and that is clearly broken.

You still need to back up the drivers to an earlier version. There may be something else wrong, but I'm switched if I can figure out what it is.

Koz

[kozikowski]

Does windows Sound Recorder work?

Windows Sound Recorder
Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment

You have an odd problem in that at least one of the Windows® helpers is on holiday in Europe. He would be on vacation, but they don't have vacations in Europe.

Koz

[thyme]

The windows Sound recorder works... but with the same problem

I used a driver from 2004 before. Recently it was the latest driver.
On 22.08.2008 a new driver was released and I installed it but I haven't seen any effect to the problem... I haven't seen any improvement that comes with the new driver... just new design of some setting windows...


By the way: Is my english readable? I'm from germany...

[waxcylinder]

Yes your English is very readable much better than our Deutsch would be

You still haven't told us what model of PC you are using, or whether it is a laptop or desktop/deskside - or which version of Windows you are using.

When you plug in a USB device like this Audacity hands complete control of the sound services over to the USB device itself - so as mentioned above your sound levels are a complete slave to the onboard soundcard ADC in your M-Audio and its associated drivers - so I agree with the other posters to this thread that it is most likely to be down to the drivers (confirmed by your report that it works the same with Windows Sound Recorder).

I note from looking at the picture of the rear of the M-Audio device, that there appears to be a 3.5mm stereo line-out jack in addition yo the USB - have you tried using that linout to connect directly to the PC (i.e. not using the USB). This will of course bypass the onboard soundcard in the M-Audio and will use instead the soudcard in your PC.

I note also from reading the manual for your device that the decice is class-compliant abd will run perfectly well on Windows XP (it doesn't mention Vista) without using the drivers that M-Audio provide - i.e you can just plug-and-play. Have you tried using it in this mode? Can you un-isnstall the drivers and then try just plugging the USB?

I also note the M-Audio drivers provide ASIO support - Audacity does not work with ASIO (mainly due to licensing restrictions).

My external sound card (Edirol UA-1EX) comes supplied with drivers like this with full ASIO support etc. - but I never installed those, the device seems to work fine on the pre-installed Windows drivers.

By the way - you have not told us what the actual recorded sound actually sounds like when you listen to it - does it sound ok or does it sound clipped?

WC

[thyme]

The recorded sound sounds like the picture shows clipped!

Yes the device is class-compliant. I deinstalled the M-Audio drivers and tried the Windows drivers: Same problem

By the way: Under Linux everything workds fine (there I use Audacity too). So the device must be intact.

My Computer:
- PC
- Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo P (Siemens is a german company but I think you know it...)
- Pentium 4 / 3066 MHz
- 1GB RAM

[kozikowski]

<<<The windows Sound recorder works... but with the same problem>>>
<<<Under Linux everything workds fine>>>

Clearly a software problem. You join a very large club of people suffering from bad Windows software.

<<<By the way: Is my english readable? I'm from germany...>>>

It's perfectly obvious you're not a native English speaker. You don't make enough mistakes.

Koz

[waxcylinder]

thyme,

are you running this PC under Vista or XP or even an earlier version of Windows?

WC