Audacity Error Opening Sound Device

[7ZSX4]

I'm currently using Audacity 1.3.11 Beta Unicode and I've been using it for some time. The first computer I used this same version of Audacity on worked perfectly. However, I recently bought a new one and after installing Audacity to this new computer I run into this error: Error while opening sound device. Please check the output device and the project sample rate. I know that many people have run into this error before and that there have been several solutions posted, but after trying each proposed solution, nothing seemed to work. Basically, what I'm doing with Audacity is I'm plugging in my mp3 player into the front panel USB port. I open Audacity-->File-->Import Audio-->make my selection-->successfully imports--> click play and then the error shows up. This is a list of my Preference settings:

Interface
Host MME
Using: PortAudio V19-dlevel

Playback
Device: Speakers (Realtek High Definition)

Recording
No devices found
Channels: 2

Please let me know if there's any more information needed.

[steve]

Thanks for being so thorough with your description - it saves a lot of time. Unfortunately you've missed one detail that is quite important - your operating system - Vista?
(You also posted in the Audacity 1.2 part of the forum, but I'll move it to 1.3 when I finish typing).

On Vista it is frequently necessary to enable a recording device in the Windows Control Panel before you can use Audacity. See here for instructions how to do this: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel
It may be necessary to plug a microphone or something into your sound card to allow you to enable a recording input - this depends on your sound card and how awkward Windows wants to be.

I'm plugging in my mp3 player into the front panel USB port.

Just so that I'm clear - this is so that you can import files from the mp3 player?

[alexftw]

So I'm having a similar issue. I'm wanting to record incoming audio from my speakers into a WAV format for one of my songs and I can't do that. I've tried everything from changing the project rate to the channels switching. I still click record and it brings up "Error opening sound device. etc." WHAT DO I DO!?? I'm running on Windows XP btw.

[steve]

@ alexftw
right-click over the speaker icon in the System Tray > Adjust Audio Properties.
Or you can click Start > (Settings) > Control Panel > Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices > Sounds and Audio devices.

First, click on the Audio tab, and in the "Sound Recording" panel, select the correct "Default device" from the dropdown list and click "Volume".
Then select "Stereo Mix" (may be called "Mix" or "What U Hear" or "Sum") by putting a mark in the check box, and turn up the volume slider:

There is a description with pictures here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel
In this description "Stereo Mix" is called "Sum". (the name varies depending on what sound card you have).

[7ZSX4]

Oh yes. Sorry for the long wait and not posting OS. I use Windows 7 Home Premium.And yes, I plug in my mp3 to import the .wav files.

[7ZSX4]

Any answer would be appreciated mate. Still having this problem after a while.

[steve]

Did you check out the link in my reply to your original post?
Did you get stuck somewhere with that?

There must be both a playback and a recording device enabled in the Windows Control Panel, or Audacity won't work properly.

[prouddad]

Hey Steve,
I'm having the same problems as Alex and 7ZSX4. I'm using MS Vista on my Dell laptop. I was using Vista with Audacity 1.2.6 with no problems until I just reformatted my hard drive. I had no problem recording online material (ie. YouTube), either. I installed version 1.3.x when I reinstalled my Vista OS. I followed all the directions that you pointed Alex and 7ZSX4 to, but to no avail.

When I open the Devices section of Audacity Preferences, the only Device choice I have on the pulldown menu is "No devices found."

When I open the Sound Devices Control and click on the Recording tab, the only hardware I see listed is Microphone, even after I click on "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices." This is particularly odd, because I've played a CD and a DVD on the laptop since I reinstalled the OS. So there's got to be a sound device on the unit.

Do you or any other fellow user have an idea of the next step I should take?

Thanks.

Robert

[steve]

This is particularly odd, because I've played a CD and a DVD on the laptop since I reinstalled the OS.

These will be "Playback" devices, which are on a different tab to the "Recording" devices.

When I open the Sound Devices Control and click on the Recording tab, the only hardware I see listed is Microphone, even after I click on "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices."

That will be why you can't record sounds playing on your computer (ie. YouTube). You need an option for "Stereo Mix" (may be called something different such as "Mix" or "What U Hear").

You may need to update the sound card drivers to make this option available. Do you have all of the installation disks that were used for the original (working) installation?

[prouddad]

Thanks for your reply, Steve. I logged onto Dell's website last night and downloaded all the audio drivers for my specific model. I installed everything and still............

I opened the computer's Device Manager, looked under Sound, Video and games and found "High Definition Audio Device".
Although I found it unusual that the device had no additional identification beyond that, I tested it and was told that "Windows has determined the driver software for your device is up to date." I did the same exact thing for the "High Definition Audio Controller" which was in System Devices.

Yikes! I'm sitting here scratching my head wondering what I'm missing here. Do you have any ideas about what I should try now?

Robert