Audacity Forum

Hi,

I am using audacity 1.2.6 in windows XP home edition.

1.I am trying to record from my yamaha keyboard through headphone out connected to my usb external
sound card line in.The issue is i am not able to hear what i am playing ..Is having a external speaker from keyboards is the only option or is there any setup required to hear what i am playing.

2.Can i use audacity to record midi . if yes is it possible to record from yamaha keyboard connected through USB and i need to record the melody played by me and the sytle (accompanyment) supplied by the keyboard.

Please suggest.

Thanks
VC Rajesh

<<<is there any setup required to hear what i am playing.>>>

Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O > Those boxes at the bottom. You may need to restart Audacity to get them to "stick."

<<<Can i use audacity to record midi >>>

No. Audacity is not a sequencer. Most MIDI studios past one keyboard have a sound mixer somewhere and that's the output that you record in Audacity, assuming you're on a Mac, a DeskSide PC, or have a USB Sound Interface of some kind. PC Laptops with no help are a lot harder.

This is a MIDI conversation from earlier. It's strictly not your problem, but interesting.

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic ... IDI#p29459

Koz

kozikowski wrote:<<<is there any setup required to hear what i am playing.>>>

Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O > Those boxes at the bottom. You may need to restart Audacity to get them to "stick."

Since you are using an external USB audio device, you will probably need to also select "software playthrough".
Unfortunately there is an inherent problem with this - you will get a delay before you hear the sound come out. This could make this option unusable.

Many USB devices have a headphone socket on them for monitoring the input - that would be the preferred method (if available).

The third option would be to use a "splitter" cable that split the signal from your keyboard so that the signal goes to the USB device and also splits off into your amp/speakers.

The 4th option is to plug your keyboard into a mixer - use the "record out" or "main out" from the mixer into the USB device, and use another output (for example "control room out", "Aux send") to your amp/speakers, or if your mixer has a headphone socket, plug headphones into your mixer.

Thanks for the reply .

Option 1: I already tried and as you righly said it has dealy which makes it as not usable
Option 2 : I haven't tried it but i think i might need a speaker output instead to a headphone.
Option 3 : Using splitter , i already tried it , only issue i'didn't liked the external speakers
Option 4 : Can you pl explain little bit more on this ..what s mixer , how do i connect my keyboard to mixer ...and what is the advantage of having recording through a mixer.

Thanks
VC Rajesh

A mixing desk, (or mixing console), is at the heart of an recording studio. Whatever is being recorded will be connected to the mixing desk, brought up to line level if necessary, and may have Eq (tone controls) applied, before routing to the appropriate places. Multiple inputs can be "mixed" together into a single mono or stereo signal (hence the name).

Mixing desks vary in price depending on their size, quality and features. Some have built in digital effects. Some have the ability to split signals to different outputs (control room / main monitors / record out / Aux sends / ...) Some are very simple and have nothing more than a few inputs that are mixed into a single output.

There are pictures of some large professional mixing desks in this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mixing_console
If your budget does not run into thousands of dollars, there are smaller, less expensive versions that are designed for the home studio such as this: http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/beh ... -802/70282

I'm trying to mix my recording in to 4 tracks 1 for the voice,Guitar & drum machine & lead Guitar how do i do that in this program????

Please HELP

Tommy

You would normally record the drum machine first (having worked out exactly what rhythms you want through the piece).
The drum machine would probably be recorded onto a stereo track.

You would then probably go for the rhythm guitar, playing along to the drum beat - it may require a few "takes" before you get it just right.
You would probably record the rhythm guitar onto a mono track.

Then would come the lead onto track 3.

And finally the vocals onto track 4.

Once you have the raw tracks down, you can adjust the tone with the Equalizer effect, add a little reverb or any other effects, patch up any mistakes, and mix it all together.

Finally you would Export your finished masterpiece as a WAV file.
You can also Export as an MP3, but it is recommended to keep at least one copy in pristine WAV format.

The process is quite similar to what is discussed in this tutorial: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... h_Audacity

There are also some tutorials that are specific to Audacity 1.2 here: http://audacityteam.org/manual-1.2/tutorials.html

Good morning Steve,Thanks so much buddy for the help i noticed there is effects in Audacity but when i'm recording i can't Add any in. I don't have a Bass Guitar but I can Borrow one from a Friend on Mine. so I can bass on track 4 & Why would i have to record the Rhythm on an mono Track? the Audacity recorder is set to stereo!! But my Mixer is set to Mono but when i play the recordings back they sound Stereo Weird Steve I don't Any Effect Reverb.I Highlight the track I just Recorded & ENJOY MY SELF SINGING LOL. Anyways Steve. You Saved my RECORDING HOBBY : ) I Turned The guitar channel input down


TOMMY BENSON

Hi... ditto with vc rajesh.

Have tried all settings options but cannot hear anything through inbuilt speakers on PC.... Level meters on Audacity show varying input level activity from USB turntable and output also when playing vinyl, so must have seleceted right settings options on I/O choices.

Speaker volume and Audacity sliders show activity at mixer window but can hear nothing through speakers.. have tried all suggested fixes on help and tutorials for Windows Vista (Home Premium) but to no avail.

Works fine if I use phono to line-in on PC but wanted to use USB for clarity.

Can anyone advise if there is a solution or should I just abandon USB and use Phono?

Much obliged... Petbro

Petbro wrote:Have tried all settings options but cannot hear anything through inbuilt speakers on PC.... Level meters on Audacity show varying input level activity from USB turntable and output also when playing vinyl, so must have seleceted right settings options on I/O choices.

You have set the input (recording) setting correctly, but the output (playback) setting is probably incorrect.
On Windows, when you plug in a USB audio device, Windows will usually select it automatically for both recording and playback. However, in the case of a USB turntable, the turntable is a recording device only and you want the playback to come out through the computer speakers. In order to get the sound to come out through the computer speakers, you must go into Preferences (Edit > Preferences > Audio I/O) and change the playback device to your sound card (rather than the USB device).
You will probably want to select "software playthrough" (in the same section of Audacity Preferences) so that you can hear the turntable while you are recording. Note that playback using "software playthrough" is slightly delayed due to the processing time, but that should not be a problem.

If you still cannot hear Audacity playing, you will need to go to the sound cards volume control / Windows Mixer and check the advanced settings to ensure that the playback volume is turned up and not muted.

guitarman wrote:i noticed there is effects in Audacity but when i'm recording i can't Add any in.

The effects in Audacity are not "real time" effects. You apply the effects to tracks after you have recorded them. In order to apply an effect, you must select some audio (Click just below the track name to select the entire track), then select the effect from the Effects menu.

guitarman wrote:Why would i have to record the Rhythm on an mono Track?

It is not essential, but since the instrument is itself mono, there is little point in using 2 channels to record it. Recording in stereo will create twice as much data and require twice as much CPU as a mono track. For efficiency you can open up Preferences (Ctrl+P) and switch between mono and stereo as required.

guitarman wrote:the Audacity recorder is set to stereo!!

Yes, reverb is usually a stereo effect (as is "chorus"), though you can still use it on a mono track and in some cases it is desirable to do so. An example of when you may want to use mono reverb is with an electric guitar. It is quite common for electric guitar players to use reverb effects on their guitar cabs (many guitar amps have reverb built in), but because the cab is usually a single, mono speaker, the reverb is mono. When you do your "mixdown" of the song, you can use the "pan" slider on the track to position the guitar (and the guitar reverb) a bit to the right or left of centre stage. It is common to pan the guitar a little way to one side, and the bass a little way to the other side.

After recording all the tracks and mixing down, you may want to add a little reverb to the entire mix. Using Audacity 1.3.6 the way you would do this is to select all of the tracks (Ctrl+A) then create a mix-down copy (Ctrl+Shift+M). You would then apply the reverb to the mix-down track.

When mixing tracks together, note that the waveforms are "added" together, so you will probably need to reduce the volume of each track to avoid overloading the mix-down.

guitarman wrote:my Mixer is set to Mono but when i play the recordings back they sound Stereo

A mono track will come out of both speakers (unless you have it panned to the extreme right or left), but it should be the same sound that comes from both left and right speakers. If the sound from each speaker is different, it is possible that your mixing desk is doing something strange.