Audacity Forum

In the Trackpanel it is set from top to bottom 1.0, .05. 0. 05 1.0.
When recording the wave form does not go above or below the 0.5 line and if the input is too strong it flattens out on the .05 level.
Should I be able to adjust it so that the waveform falls between the 1.0 levels ?
Trust I have explained myself okay. Appreciate a reply.
I am using 1.2.6 for Windows - I do not seem to be able to change the 1.3 Beta shown on my screen
Thanks - John Pearson

You are overloading the sound card input.
My guess is that you are plugging a CD player or some other device with a relatively high output level into the microphone socket of your computer (probably a laptop PC), but because the microphone input is expecting a really tiny signal from a microphone, it is getting massively overloaded and clipping.

If you provide more details we can probably make some suggestions as to what you can do to fix the problem.

orpington wrote:I am using 1.2.6 for Windows - I do not seem to be able to change the 1.3 Beta shown on my screen

I don't understand what you mean.

Thank you Steve. My set up is actually a cassette tape player into my Amplifier (AUX sockets) then output via the Amp PHONES socket into the PC line in. I guess this amounts to the same thing as you predicted. I thought that maybe I had changed something, say in preferences, that was causing the problem. I felt sure that I had used the same set up before and not had the problem.
Again thank you for coming back to me - best wishes for Christmas - John

into the PC line in.

More English words. The Line-In on your large, deskside Windows Computer? Blue connector?

Many people post thinking the one audio input on their Windows laptop computer is stereo Line-In. It's not. It's perfectly normal for people who get this step wrong to complain of a show that will not go over 0.5 either direction.

Do you like to record internet audio? That can create problems. Have you tried to adjust the sound level (down) in Windows Control Panels?

If you go back there on hand and knees with a flashlight in your teeth and look, are you sure you didn't plug the sound into the pink connector by accident?

Koz

Thank you Koz
My PC is a desktop. I am correctly connected to the Line In. I will try adjusting the volume in the Window panel - Thanks John