Recording what I hear

[cowboy]

I'm sure this has been covered, but save me the looking and sorting through stuff trip...

I'm running Vista, and Audacity works fine for other things.
I'm trying to record what I'm listening to while streaming.

I looked in the Realtek setup and apparently the driver isn't set up for this.
So is there a work around ?

[waxcylinder]

Try this page from the Audacity Wiki: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... e_computer

The Vista article may also help you: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... s_Vista_OS

If you still can't make it work then it's likely that it will be down to your soundcard's drivers not supporting it (you could try searching t'interweb for updated drivers - but there is no guarantee this will improve things.

One workararound my be to get an external USB or Firewire soundcard and loop back the inputs tothe outputs - this is what I have to do on My Dell desktop PC - but curiously my new Dell laptop, with its onboard Realtek soundcard, records streaming audio a treat (but I did specify Dell to "downgrade" it from Vista to XP-Pro).

WC

[cowboy]

fyi

I did get the "stereo mixer" option set up on my sound card settings.
And then I saw it listed in Audacity under edit/preferences/IO ....

But for some reason the arrow/pulldown on the Mixer toolbar still doesn't list anything.

For grins I just hit record and I was seeing signal lines, I played back and it worked fine.

So, I'm not sure why it doesn't show on the Mixer toolbar ??

[waxcylinder]

I don't use Vista - but from what I remember reading other postings under Vista control isover the sound is passed from Audacity to the Sound services under Vista and your soundcard & driver s/w - so that's probably why it doesn't show the mixer toolbar.

WC

[cowboy]

So is this typical i.e. I shouldn't see the options on the pulldown ?

p.s. Not for this reason only, but in general, is it worth upgrading to 1.3.x...
is the upgrade seemless ?

[steve]

It is worth upgrading to Audacity 1.3.5
You do not have to uninstall 1.2.x first - you can have them both on your machine as long as you do not try to run both programs simultaneously.

Audacity 1.2.x projects will work in Audacity 1.3.5
Audacity 1.3.x projects will NOT work in Audacity 1.2.x

Information specific to Vista is available in the Audacity wiki (link at top of page). Just go to the wiki and type "Vista" into the search box.

[cowboy]

OK so another question, while recording (streaming from a radio program) it works fine.

What I'm wondering, is there a way to listen to other things while recording that?

[steve]

OK so another question, while recording (streaming from a radio program) it works fine.

What I'm wondering, is there a way to listen to other things while recording that?

Sure - switch on your TV or radio

The less flippant answer - When you are recording streaming media, you are effectively recording the audio that your sound card is sending to the computer speakers. This means that all and everything that comes out of the computer speakers will be recorded. "Creative Labs" (makers of "Sound Blaster" cards) call this "What U Hear".

[cowboy]

So it sounds like there is no way to do it ?

Another question, I have a project saved.
How is the best way to convert it to mp3 ?
I did get the Lame set up, but what are the specifics to convert ?
I do see the export mp3 selection under the file tab but it isn't high lighted....
maybe because I was playing the selection at the time ?


p.s. also, while playing the audacity project, is there a way to fast forward ?

[steve]

How is the best way to convert it to mp3 ?
I did get the Lame set up, but what are the specifics to convert ?

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... 472#p25472

(and no, as with most things, Audacity must be stopped to do this),

also, while playing the audacity project, is there a way to fast forward ?

Use the cursor keys.
Have a look at the other keyboard shortcuts in the "keyboard" section of the Audacity preferences.