After all of this - no sound output

challey · Post by **challey** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 8:46 pm

I'm a recent Audacity user and so far have only used it to make a compilation CD file from various WAV and MP3 files stored on my HDD. It worked perfectly for that purpose, both recording and mixing things and exporting the final product as an MP3.

I'm now have a problem that seems to be way above my very limited troubleshooting capacity.

I would like to record directly from streaming audio sources as well as YTube. Since I have Vista Home Basic, it has been difficult and I've spent hours reading through the varuous postings on this and other forums. I've tried various combinations of changed settings finally using the following:
For the Sound settings in Recording, I have "Stereo Mix - Realtek HD Audio" checked "working" and the other devices disabled. For Playback, I have "Speakers - Realtek HD Audio" also checked "working".
For Audacity, under Edit/Preferences/Devices I have "MME" selected as Host (the other option is Windows DirectSound) - the box directly under that says "Port audio V19-devl (built Mar 29, 2010 . . .", for Playback/Device I have "Speakers (Realtek HighDefini)" selected, under Recording "Stereo Mix (Realtek High Defini)" and under Channels "2(Stereo)".

This particular combination - unlike what I tried previously - seems to actually be recording the audio directly from YouTube that I testing with. What I mean by this is that is that I actually get a L/R waveform that seems to correspond with the audio (prior to this, the waveform was essentially flat). The problem is that when I play the Audacity recording back, I get no sound. I've tried exporting the file as an MP3 and playing it back - again no sound. The sound card itself works properly - I hear the audio I'm trying to record.

Is this just a rookie error and I'm overlooking some setting in Audacity or is this an extension of the nightmare trying to get Vista and a Realtek device to work properly with Audacity. Any help would be appreciated!

Post by **steve** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:11 pm

How are your speakers/headphones connected to the computer?
If you play the recording in another program (example Media Player) does it play?
Does Media Player play other files?

challey · Post by **challey** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:32 pm

Update: I unistalled, then reinistalled Audacity. Still no sound.

The default playback device upon reinstallation was "Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output", which was one of the permutations of the settings I'd played with yesterday. The result after reinstalling was the same though - no sound. Changing the playback device to "Speakers (Realtek HighDefini)" also was unsuccessful in producing sound from Audacity.

Everything appears to work as expected - I can import a file, edit it (with great difficulty since there's no playback), store it, export it successfully (as an MP3, which must mean that Audacity found the lame.dll that I downloaded and stored). When attempting to play back in Audacity, the output level meters seem to working properly (both are animated and the levels approach 0 db). I've also made sure that the volume slider is up nearly as high as possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated since without playback, Audacity is not really useable.

challey · Post by **challey** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:35 pm

I should have added that this problem is peculiar to Audacity - that is, there is normal sound output using WMP or when viewing a YouTube video, etc.

Post by **steve** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:38 pm

Please read the replies to your posts.
From the other thread:

steve wrote:challey, reinstalling Audacity is very unlikely to fix anything.

From this thread:

steve wrote:How are your speakers/headphones connected to the computer?
If you play the recording in another program (example Media Player) does it play?
Does Media Player play other files?

challey · Post by **challey** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:45 pm

Thanks for the replies - I hadn't checked the other thread.

The external speakers are connected to the laptop through the headphone line out jack. Playback using anything other than Audacity is fine (streaming audio via the web, WAVs or MP3s using WMP, etc).

The problem seems to be limited to Audacity.

Post by **steve** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:22 pm

You've missed out one crucial point.

Does the MP3 file that you recorded in Audacity play correctly in Windows Media Player?

challey · Post by **challey** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 3:07 pm

Yes it does.

Post by **steve** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 5:44 pm

That's good.
What are the available options in Audacity:
"Edit menu > Preferences > Devices" for the Playback Device?

challey · Post by **challey** » Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:07 am

Yes - the available options in Audacity for Playback are as you stated:
"Edit menu > Preferences > Devices"

There are 2 choices for Playback"
1) "Microsoft Sound Mapper - Output" and
2) "Speakers (Realtek HighDefini)"

I've tied each but neither has any effect on the sound, i. e., regardless of which option is selected, there is no audio during playback in Audacity.

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