Audacity Forum

Oh man! all I want is to transfer my wedding cassettes onto a CD for a 15th anniversary present for my husband -- and yet, I can't get out of the starting gate. I have scoured all the wikis for help, and I am getting nowhere.

I am working on a MacBook running OS X 10.4.11, I've downloaded the Audacity software (1.3.8), I have plugged in the RCA red/white plugs into the cassette player, and the 1/8 inch plug into the in-line on my computer.

I go to System Prefs> Hardware> Sound> Input> Line in

I turn on the cassette player ... and I see nothing happening on my System Prefs Input level monitor -- no blue bars jumping around, nothing.

What am I doing wrong?

Without insulting you, you are absolutely sure you pushed the 1/8" plug into the Mac connector labeled with the little circle and two black arrows, right, not the other one? All the way in as far as it would go? An internationally respected animation supervisor got this wrong in our shop once.

Describe the cassette machine. Video? You didn't actually say that. Large cassette machines, video or audio also have an IN and OUT. The RCAs go to the OUT, right?

Have the RCAs on the cassette machine ever worked? Like you unplugged them from a sound system so you could use them for this.

The Mac Preferences panel has a volume control. Is that turned up?

I'll hit one more just for fun. Unplug the cassette machine and hold the RCAs by any plastic part. Watch the Preference Panel's little blue patch volume meter and touch one of the RCA metal tips with a finger on your other hand. Do the blue patches jump? Touch the other RCA tip. Does it happen again?

There's no shock hazard. We are intentionally creating buzzy interference to make sure the channel works.

Let us know.

Thanks for this -- here are my answers:

>>Without insulting you, you are absolutely sure you pushed the 1/8" plug into the Mac connector labeled with the little circle and two black arrows, right, not the other one? All the way in as far as it would go? An internationally respected animation supervisor got this wrong in our shop once. YUP; THE CIRCLE & BLACK ARROWS, NOT THE HEADPHONES ONE -- I LOOKED AT PICTURES OF THE PORTS ONLINE JUST TO BE SURE

>> Describe the cassette machine. Video? You didn't actually say that. Large cassette machines, video or audio also have an IN and OUT. The RCAs go to the OUT, right? THIS IS A MAGNAVOX AS 640 COMBINATION CD & DUAL CASSETTE STEREO SYSTEM. I DON'T SEE DUAL PORTS -- I JUST SEE ONE SET THAT I ASSUMED WERE THE OUT -- ONE RED AND ONE WHITE

>> Have the RCAs on the cassette machine ever worked? Like you unplugged them from a sound system so you could use them for this. HMMM, NO. THERE IS NOTHING GOING INTO THE RCA JACKS ON THE CASSETTE MACHINE, SO I DON'T KNOW IF THEY WORK!

>>The Mac Preferences panel has a volume control. Is that turned up? YES

>>I'll hit one more just for fun. Unplug the cassette machine and hold the RCAs by any plastic part. Watch the Preference Panel's little blue patch volume meter and touch one of the RCA metal tips with a finger on your other hand. Do the blue patches jump? Touch the other RCA tip. Does it happen again? YES - BOTH TIPS PRODUCE JUMPS IN THE BLUE METER.

SO, DO WE THINK THE RCA JACKS ON THE CASSETTE MACHINE DON'T WORK? IS THAT THE MOST LIKELY ISSUE?

THE ONLY OTHER CASSETTE MACHINE I HAVE DOESN'T SEEM TO HAVE RCA JACKS -- ONLY A HEADPHONES OUT JACK. WILL THAT WORK?

thanks for your help --
Stephanie

<<<SO, DO WE THINK THE RCA JACKS ON THE CASSETTE MACHINE DON'T WORK? IS THAT THE MOST LIKELY ISSUE?>>>

That almost has to be it.

<<<ONLY A HEADPHONES OUT JACK. WILL THAT WORK?>>>

Yes, but is it a large headphone jack or a smaller one? Whatever it is, you need an adapter cable to get from that to the 1/8" Stereo that plugs into the Mac. If they match, then something like this should work...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2102970

Koz

Okay, believe it or not, I still have not cracked this.

I have a new (to me) cassette player -- a Sony 60-CD, 2-tape deck thing -- with beautifully accessible RCA ports right on the front.

Still cannot get the volume meter to register any sound on the Preferences Panel when I play a tape.

Seriously, what are the odds that two different cassette players would have bad RCA ports?

Any other thoughts?

Signed,

Problem Child.

They're not bad. The intention is for you to apply audio to them in order to record it to a tape inside the machine. Not take audio out of them.

I think your best bet is the headphone socket. If it's a 1/4" stereo headphone plug and socket, you can easily get an adapter to convert it to 1/8" stereo and then on to that short stereo jumper cable I posted a while back.

This should do it...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2062468

Koz

>>They're not bad. The intention is for you to apply audio to them in order to record it to a tape inside the machine. Not take audio out of them.

Okay, I'm feeling thick here: My ultimate goal is to transfer something from a cassette tape onto a CD, via my laptop. So doesn't that mean I am in fact taking audio out of the machine?

<<<My ultimate goal is to transfer something from a cassette tape onto a CD, via my laptop. >>>

Yes, I'm perfectly clear what the goal is. Let's take this another direction. I'm finding it hard to believe you found two cassette machines with connectors that have no labels. Almost every sound machine, cassette or not has little labels like Line-Out or Stereo-out or something.

Cassette machines -- the big ones -- have the ability to record and play tapes, so typically, they have a set of stereo connections to put your sound in and another set to take the show out. Those are usually clearly labeled.

What do yours say?

Koz