Monitoring doesn't work

[lpvmc]

Hi,

I use a Samson Q1U usb mic to record to my computer. Everything works fine on my Vista Home Premium Acer Aspire computer and Audacity 1.2.6. Trying to do the same on my Toshiba Satelite (XP SP3) and Audacity 1.3.10-beta doesn't: cann't monitor the input, cann't record. After trying this I cann't even close a track.

Uninstalled, reinstalled: no difference!!

Any ideas? Or should I stick to 1.2.6 for the moment??

Thanks in advance.

[steve]

If you need to monitor the microphone input through the headphones you must use "Software Playthrough" (as there is no direct hardware route between the microphone and the sound card) but this has a major drawback of being slow. Thus the monitored sound is delayed before you hear it. On Audacity 1.3.x the delay is considerably greater than on 1.2.6 so while the delay bay be bearable on 1.2.6 it is likely to be unusable for this purpose on 1.3.x. One of the developers is looking into this, so hopefully a solution will be found. For now, if you have it working with 1.2.6 I would suggest that you stick with 1.2.6 for the audio capture. If that's the only problem, you could then use Audacity 1.3 for post-recording editing.

I would not recommend the 1.3.10 version because a bug has crept into this version which makes "Export Multiple" and "Export Selection" export the wrong length. Audacity 1.3.11 is due out in a couple of weeks, or you can get it now from here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... tly_Builds

[lpvmc]

Hi stevethefiddle,

Thanks for the quick response.

In 1.2.6 I need to monitor the levels (see them in the meter) before being able to record, and it works fine. This is what doesn't work in 1.3.10. Didn't work for me in 1.3.9 (if that was the former version) neither.

But I should get rid of the latest beta, right?

[steve]

In 1.2.6 I need to monitor the levels (see them in the meter)

Oh right, if you don't need to monitor through headphones then that solves a major headache.

The link that I posted is for 1.3.11 alpha. We don't usually recommend alpha versions, but we're making an exception this time because a) the current beta has a known bug that makes it unusable for many people, and b) quite a few of us have been testing it out for a while and it's really good.

The 1.3.11 alpha version does not need "installing" as such. You just extract the contents of the ZIP file onto your computer, then create a shortcut icon from the audacity.exe file to your Desktop. Double clicking the shortcut icon will then launch Audacity.

Before you attempt to run Audacity on the Toshiba, go to the Windows Control Panel and check that you have an audio device enabled for recording. See here for details: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ng_devices

[lpvmc]

Will try the alpha version and report possible bugs.

Thanks for your help!!

[steve]

Don't forget to check in the Windows Control Panel - in fact, that whole page is worth a read.