Audacity Forum

For quite some time I have been using Audicity to record sound from a cassette tape machine and it worked great....but all of a sudden it quit recording this afternoon out of the blue and no longer showed sound on the UV meter.

I tried another tape machine and still no recording input. Also tried a different input cord.

I then easily recorded Pandora streaming radio and it worked fine...recording that signal without a hitch.

I have been searching other posts for hours and am having no luck in resolving what I think is a very simple problem.

I even think that possibly the input jack of the computer is shorting out.

Would really appreciate any help. Thank. (Windows Vista)

202020 wrote: I tried another tape machine and still no recording input. Also tried a different input cord.

I then easily recorded Pandora streaming radio and it worked fine...recording that signal without a hitch.

Are you familiar with your sound card settings? (possibly accessed via a loudspeaker icon near the Time/Date on your Desktop, otherwise accessed through the Windows Control Panel). Have you switched the sound card recording input to the Line in (or whatever you use for recording from tape)?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, when recording from tape the sound card should be configured to use "Line in" (possibly "Mic" input if your sound card does not have a "Line in"). When recording streaming audio it should be set to "Stereo Mix" (may be called "Mix" or "What U Hear" or something similar). The sound card settings can sometimes be set using a "mixer" applet near the Time/Date on the Desktop, or from the Windows Control Panel.

I only have one jack on the front of this machine...nonetheless, followed up on your suggested procedure and still no luck.

If I max out the output volume on my tape player, I can hear bits of distorted sound but thats all...

I'm wondering if I'll have to open up the laptop (which will scare me) and replace that jack section...
is there a cord that will facilitate a usb plug for sound input?

There are a wide range of external sound cards (USB) available. The cheapest of these are "USB audio cables", but the sound quality of these tend to be quite poor.