Audacity Forum

Have been using a cheap Logitech USB mic and Audacity to lay a banjo track and then as that track is playing, record a second track for rhythm guitar - - both tracks have been in synch. When I upgraded to a pro-grade Samson C03U USB mic, the second track is now out of synch with the first ,something like a fraction of a second behind. Can't figure out why and what I need to do to remedy this. Any help appreciated!

Is it out by the same amount throughout the track (for example, a tenth of a second late at the start of the track, and a tenth of a second late in the middle of the track, and still a tenth of a second late at the end of the track)?

If this is the case, then the problem is with "latency".

I don't think that you can adjust that in Audacity 1.2, but in Audacity 1.3.6 there is an option in Preferences to adjust it if necessary.

If this sounds like your problem, then install Audacity 1.3.6 - the problem may go away immediately, but if not the adjustment is in "Preferences > Audio I/O tab." (see the Edit menu to get into Preferences).

tj3445 wrote:Have been using a cheap Logitech USB mic and Audacity to lay a banjo track and then as that track is playing, record a second track for rhythm guitar - - both tracks have been in synch. When I upgraded to a pro-grade Samson C03U USB mic, the second track is now out of synch with the first ,something like a fraction of a second behind. Can't figure out why and what I need to do to remedy this. Any help appreciated!

I've just started using one of these mikes & seem to be having trouble getting to computer/audacity to recognise it, this morning despite going through the motions it wouldn't recognise. Eventually I changed to a different USB socket and got it to record, have you experienced any such problems???? I haven't installed the supplied software as there was advise on here not to.
Stearman65

Thanks for the input. Yes, the time delay seems to be very consistent throughout the track - I'll install the beta version and see if this helps. Re: second response, so far, haven't had any problems with the USB or Audacity recognizing the Samson mic - - I did have some problems with the software applet from SamsonTech.com working correctly and tried to use the mic without it, however, without the capabilities of increasing the gain thru the software, the mic's sensitivity is considerably diminished when further than about 6" from the sound source. I had uninstalled the applet and reinstalled several times without success until I contacted Sansom and discovered that after installation you also need to go into Control Panel and under sound devices, uninstall the Sansom mic, then reinstall everything. Also, in Audacity Audio Preferences/Audio I/O /Recorder, everything seems to work if the default is "Microsoft Sound Mapper" rather than "Samson USB MIC". I still have the sound lag with multiple tracks but will keep working with it. Again, thanks for the input and feel free to offer additional comments.