Audacity Forum

I have major STATIC not like background static, but like there would be a speaker wire going out or something...
now it will come and go with new tracks in recording off soundcard's stereo mix. You can't tell when it will be there and not. You have to record a whole track and then see if it's good.
I just clicked 'remove all tracks' option and it recorded fine in a test, but as soon as I tried to record again, bam!, major static is back.

it's killing me. help.

Once I slid the volume control up and down and that fixed it.
Usually closing the program or restarting does nothing.
I'm stuck. Don't have any idea what is causing the problem.

Are you using a USB sound card (or similar device)?

What's your recording source? Does that only happen with stereo mix?

I am experiencing the same sort of problem.
I am attempting to record from my cassette player to the computer.
I monitor the song as its recorded and it sounds fine. When I play it back it has periods of a few seconds where it sounds as though the signal is being bounced or lost momentarily. It occurs in the first ten seconds of the song and then corrects for several seconds and then it might recur or it might not. I have recorded complete songs without the problem but it seems to be occuring more frequently. Im using 1.3.12 Beta.
Any suggestions.

db113 wrote:I am experiencing the same sort of problem.
....
it sounds as though the signal is being bounced or lost momentarily.

Not sure what you mean "bounced or lost" - that doesn't sound like the same sort of problem as "massive noise on tracks".
Could you clarify what you mean.
Also, it it a USB cassette player - if not, how is the cassette player connected to the computer?
Is it a laptop computer?
Which version of Windows?

Windows XP.
The cassette player is a Yamaha K-720 with stereo outputs on the back and being fed into the computer through the "Pink" mic input on front of a HP desktop computer.
The sound I described as a bounce is as though the signal is being interrupted like there is a short in the cord for a few seconds and a "noise" is created by the bouncing effect. There does not appear to be a short in the cord.
I tried the same songs with the 1.2 version of Audacity and is was better but still some mild defect.
I closed all other programs running on the computer.

db113 wrote:Windows XP.
The cassette player is a Yamaha K-720 with stereo outputs on the back and being fed into the computer through the "Pink" mic input on front of a HP desktop computer.
The sound I described as a bounce is as though the signal is being interrupted like there is a short in the cord for a few seconds and a "noise" is created by the bouncing effect. There does not appear to be a short in the cord.
I tried the same songs with the 1.2 version of Audacity and is was better but still some mild defect.
I closed all other programs running on the computer.

Pink mic input is designed for mic level signals not line level signals...

Mic level signal are very tiny signals which need a lot of amplification. Line level signals (such as the output of your cassette player) have a greater amplitude and usually connecting it to a mic input doesn't produce good results...

If your laptop doesn't have a line input (blue one), consider buying an external usb device such as the behringer uca-202. It's cheap and highly rated among the users of this forum.

The pink input is for a microphone. It is not suitable for a line level signal such as the output from a cassette player.
Look for a light blue input socket.

[Edit] You must have posted just as I hit the post button bgravato

steve wrote:[Edit] You must have posted just as I hit the post button bgravato

Probably, but I got mine first so I win the candy!

Thanks guys for the help.
I found a blue input in the back of the computer and I get sound through the computer speakers. Sounds good.
But, I dont get any action in Audacity. How do I configure Audacity to find the music. I dont see a "blue" input option. I see green and black offered but no blue.
Im getting close I think.