Audacity with Creative Fatal1ty HS-1000 Gaming Headset?

[nikodemus]

I have a problem with my Creative Fatal1ty HS-1000 Gaming Headset.
When ever I start recording with Audacity it doesn't record what I hear, it only records trough my mic.
No matter what settings I use in Edit > Preferences > Devices it records only trough my mic.

The headset is an USB headset so it doesn't use my sound card at all, it has its own virtual one.
I think this problem can be solved somehow, because I can record what I hear with Xfire and Fraps. (Video recording while gaming).

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated and I hope I can get this fixed and start recording.

[steve]

Which version of Windows and which version of Audacity are you using?
What exactly is it that you want to record?

[nikodemus]

Windows 7 32-bit and Audacity 1.3.12 Beta.
I want to record what I hear, and not what I speak to my mic.

It seems that I accidentally posted this in the wrong section.

[steve]

It seems that I accidentally posted this in the wrong section.

No problem, I've moved it to the right place.

I want to record what I hear, and not what I speak to my mic.

And what is it that you are hearing? Is it a CD? Is it an Internet radio station playing in your web browser?
Don't be worried about giving too much information - the details are important and too much info is better than not enough.
I'd like to be able to go out and buy a set up just like yours, connect it all up the same as yours and get exactly the same problem that you are getting - how do I do that?

[nikodemus]

When I press the record button it starts recording trough my mic. If I speak, it records it.
What I want it to record is what I hear, for example if I would be listening to music I could record it instead of my own speech.

[steve]

for example if I would be listening to music

Music from where? from a CD? from an Internet radio station playing in your web browser? from a USB cassette player? somewhere else?

[nikodemus]

No CDs or cassettes or so, just all the other sounds I hear trough my headphones. YouTube, Winamp and what not.

[steve]

Ah right - you want to record audio streaming from the internet and that kind of thing.

With WinAmp you don't need to record it - WinAmp can write directly to disk - it used to be called the "diskwriter plug-in" - I think it's now built directly into WinAmp. Basically, it just sends the audio data to your hard drive instead of to the sound card or headphones. This is faster than recording and better quality because it is not having to go through the sound card.

For recording from your web browser, you need to record from the "Stereo Mix" input of your sound card. It is unlikely that your headset will have the option of recording "Stereo Mix", but your normal sound card probably will.

To set the recording inputs you need to go into the Windows Control Panel and set it there. If you set "Stereo Mix" as the default recording source then Audacity will probably pick that up automatically when you next open Audacity. If it doesn't, then just go into Audacity Preferences "Edit Menu > Preferences > Devices" and set the recording device the same as you have set in the Windows Control Panel.

If you need some guidance making the Control Panel settings, see here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... es#vistacp
Vista has a few "peculiarities" that make it less than helpful for recording, especially for recording "Stereo Mix", but most of the issues that you may come up against are covered here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windows_7_OS
This section may be particularly relevant: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Windo ... d_playback

[nikodemus]

Yeah well the problem is I don't have stereo mix, as my headset doesn't plug into my sound card, it doesn't need it in order to work. It has it's own drivers and virtual sound card or so.
That's why I haven't touched my sound card drivers since I reformated my computer and upgraded to Windows 7.

[steve]

the problem is I don't have stereo mix

I suspected that would be the case with the USB headset. There's no guarantee that your computer sound card will have the option either, but it may have. So now it depends on whether it's worth the effort to start messing round with the sound system (which currently works in all other respects) to see if you can get the internal sound card to record from Stereo Mix. If you decide to have a go it may be worth creating a restore point before you start.