Audacity Forum

ive been trying to record audio through my computer (XP machine) straight through, not through an outside mic. however on the mixer tab the drop-down tab has been grayed out, ive updated my drivers and checked the little audio box that says "stereo mix" under the audio properties, ive got a realtek sound board and i really hope thats not the problem. any help out there?

<<<not through an outside mic.>>>

I don't thnik you have any choice. Very few Windows XP machines came with internal microphones like the Macs have. If you want to record live voice, you're going to have to buy, borrow, or somehow get a microphone connected to your sound card--or it's possible to buy a USB microphone and not need your sound card at all.

Koz

my computer actually has an internal mike, but what im hoping to do is record audio played by my computer, to make single tracks out of parts of multiple songs and such, i want to do this without having to purchase a audio cable to plug into my mic port and into the speaker port, but unless i hear much here that looks like my only choice

That may not work too well anyway. The sound level between those two is very different. The sound level at the speaker output will blow the pants off the electronics at the microphone input. Buzzy Sound City.

If you can't figure out the two Windows Sound Panels (s'OK. I can't either.), then you are a prime customer for Total Recorder. That's a program that sits in the operating system and captures any bitstream just before you hear it. Works with any sound your machine makes and it comes with a timer so you can record internet shows when you're not there.

http://www.highcriteria.com/

The Mac version of that is WireTap Pro.

Koz