Audacity Forum

I recently found out that I have Stereo Mix hidden in the recording tab. I enabled it, and I also checked the "Listen to this device" box in the Stereo Mix Properties. I did a little fiddling around with the volume options and got mixed results. Sometimes, Stereo Mix doesn't work at all. Othertimes, I get it to work, but the volume is really low, I here a light "buzzing" noise that gets louder when I try to raise the volume on Stereo Mix, and I lose the ability to play downloaded music or videos on my computer. (Media on the Internet works.) (Restarting my computer fixes my music/video loss.) Here are a couple of pictures that should hopefully help you understand the problem better.






Other bits of info that might help:
- I use Windows 7. (I never had this problem with XP.)
- I mostly use headphones.
- I want to record audio played off of my computer.
- My computer is a HP Pavilion Slimline.
- I have 6 GB of RAM.
- I have a 64-bit Operating System.

Can anyone help me figure out this mess?

There is a tutorial on recording computer audio.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

Koz

kozikowski wrote:There is a tutorial on recording computer audio.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Recor ... e_computer

Koz

I have the right recording device chosen. That's not the problem.

DarkRyeU wrote: I use Windows 7. (I never had this problem with XP.)

I wish I had $1 for every time I have read that.

It may be worth checking if there are updated drivers available for your sound card (there have been very many reports of strange things happening due to bad audio drivers on Windows 7)

steve wrote:

DarkRyeU wrote: I use Windows 7. (I never had this problem with XP.)

I wish I had $1 for every time I have read that.

It may be worth checking if there are updated drivers available for your sound card (there have been very many reports of strange things happening due to bad audio drivers on Windows 7)

I tried, and I hope I did this right. I went to Device Manager, and I picked the 3 sound icons circled below.



I right clicked on them and picked "Update Driver Software...", and it says I already have the best update for all 3 of them.

Check the website for your computer manufacturer for sound card driver updates.

I can see that you have at least one "add-on" device - the WinTV card. Is that the only add-on device?
Note that Stereo Mix will only work for sounds playing through the sound card that has "Stereo Mix". You cannot play sounds out of the WinTV card (if it has audio out) and record them using Stereo Mix on the RealTek device. Only sounds played from the Realtek device will be recorded by Stereo Mix on the RealTek device.

I had same problem with hp presario cq, windows 7.
Fixed it by disabling built in microphone, set stereo mix as default, speakers as normal (not headphones), also unchecked the Listen box.
I think disabling the built in mic might have been the key.

taurusgd wrote:I had same problem with hp presario cq, windows 7.
Fixed it by disabling built in microphone, set stereo mix as default, speakers as normal (not headphones), also unchecked the Listen box.
I think disabling the built in mic might have been the key.

I tried what you said...and it works!! It seems if I want to record audio, I have to set my speakers as my default device if I want to record. Thank you thank you thank you!!

steve and kozikowski, thank you for trying. I appreciate it.

You're welcome DarkRyeU, and thanks for letting us know which solution eventually solved the problem.
The thing I hate about this question (which comes up time and time again) is that there are so many different things that cause the same symptoms, and all we can do is work through them until someone hits the right one. It's almost as frustrating for us as it is for you, but the relief and satisfaction comes when we see those words "it works!!"