Just wont record

[PHONEMAN]

Im using a Usb Mic, and a Hp Mini Netbook, and 1.3 verison Audacity.

When I click record I can see the wave form move as I speak into the mic, then I press stop, Go to start, and then Play and then
nothing, no wave form shows up, no sound through headphones, If I use Softwareplay through in Transport I can hear myself talking while Im trying to record, But no recording. Sound activated recording is off.

Im missing something really simple here.
Charles

[steve]

When I click record I can see the wave form move as I speak into the mic

You can see that where exactly?

[PHONEMAN]

When you click record, 2 boxes open up labeled 1.0, 0.0 -1.0 and when you click record a red pointer tracks across the boxes, left to right, when I speak into my mic, the wave form jumps, like it is recording, or at least sees the microphone, I do this for 10 secs or so. Click stop, click skip to start, then play.nothing, should it show you the waveform you just recorded and just start moving through it, as you listen ?

When I click play, it moves across the boxes with a green pointer, just like its does while recording, but this time the pointer is green and not red, but I dont see any wave form at all, It just moves across..nothing, no sound.

Its like I havent got it set up to record, or to save for play back?????????
phoneman

[steve]

when I speak into my mic, the wave form jumps,

That's the bit that I don't understand. Are talking about the VU Meters?
See here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ing_levels

[PHONEMAN]

The VU meters are moving also, sorry should of been more to the point,

When you click record what happens on your screen?

Above there is a picture that says Audacity (top of this page) and a set of headphones, inside of the
headphones Im taking as a audio wave form, this is what I see after I click record, and it tracks, left to right
and goes till you click stop, It expands as I speak into the mic, and it stays showing, until you click stop, it goes away
then you click play, and the green pointer again tracks across , just as it did to record, but since the wave form is
not present you hear nothing. ?

[steve]

Do you get a flat horizontal blue line across the track (like the first track below) or a squiggly waveform (like the second track)?

tracks000.png (11.58 KiB) Viewed 572 times

[PHONEMAN]

The 2nd track, as the pointer moves across in record mode, and you talk into the mic the wave form is shown as in the 2nd one, It is seeing the mic, but when I hit stop record, then skip to start, then play, the wave form is gone, An Im not sure actually what you should see when you hit play. Right now the pointer just moves across the same box, Im guessing since there isnt a waveform in the box, I hear nothing.

Im thinking maybe it stores the "recorded" sound to a temp file, then when you click play it recalls it and then plays it.

Maybe my computer isnt storing it to a temp, if thats the way it works, since Ive never gotten it to work it hard to say.

[PHONEMAN]

Great News.............Im recording Yea.............

How I got it to record, Was...Clicked... Edit/Scrolled down to /Preferences/ then in list of actions, clicked/Directories

Which showed you 2 options 1. Temporary files directory (top box) Left this one alone. ( audacity_temp) default.

2. Audio cache....2nd box........I checked , Play and Record using Ram (it stated

useful for slow drives). clicked OK, and now Im recording along with the rest of Yall.

Im just trying to record Thunder Storms............Now I can

[steve]

Audio cache....2nd box........I checked , Play and Record using Ram (it stated useful for slow drives). clicked OK, and now Im recording along with the rest of Yall.

That'll be fine if you're only recording short files, but recordings can only be as long as the available memory in your computer. It is better to use the hard disk for the temporary files.

1. Temporary files directory (top box) Left this one alone. ( audacity_temp) default.

That looks wrong and is probably the cause of the problem.
If you're on Windows XP it should be something like:
C:Documents and Settings<user name>Local SettingsTempaudacity_temp

[PHONEMAN]

I see what your saying about memory.

So you think " C:Documents and Settings<user name>Local SettingsTempaudacity_temp"

should be in the top box instead of " audacity_temp "

It would be easy to try anyway just to see. should I type in the box

just as you stated, underlined above.

phoneman