Please help I'm stuck!

[johnny1967]

Audacity was working fine for the first day or so. I plugged in a second interface. My guitar pedal. And shortly after that, not immediately, that's when the problem started. The second interface didn't require a driver and worked normally for a while. So i unplugged the second interface, the one requiring no driver and restarted the computer and that seemed to fix the problem. But then the problem came back.

The problem is when I start recording. The bar that travels across the screen as you record pauses and then goes again in irregular patterns and makes it impossible to record. I really don't know what to do except to keep restarting the computer and seeing if that fixes it. I really shouldn't have to do that.

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this disastrous problem permanently? I have a brand new computer. An acer with windows 7, 64 bit processor, 6 gigabit ram and 1000 giga bit hard drive if that helps.

Thank you very much.

[steve]

Is there anything here that helps: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Tips# ... Recordings

[johnny1967]

not that i can tell.

[steve]

That's me out of ideas then. Everything that I can think of that might help with the problem is in those pages.

[DVDdoug]

So....What's the difference between the two setups???

What was the 1st interface?

How is the pedal plugged in? Is it plugged into the computer's mic input? In that case, Audacity shouldn't see any difference between a mic and the pedal... The interface/routing inside the computer are the same. Audacity should never directly "see" a guitar pedal. It only sees the interface (soundcard).

Recording programs interface with the soundcard driver. The "soundcard" could be a regular soundcard, a special USB/firewire interface, or a USB microphone. I think you have some sort of driver problem. When a "rare" problem shows-up, it's usually a driver or a CODEC. (And, no CODECS are involved at this point.)

If you are having trouble recording with Audacity, you will probably have the same issues with different recording software. But, it wouldn't hurt to experiment with of another program (perhaps the trial version of Total Recorder or GoldWave). If you have the same/similar issues, we know it's a driver problem. If the other software works, its a setup/configuration problem with Audacity (or a bug! ).


BTW - This is (probably) unrelated to the problems you are seeing, but a guitar (or pedal) usually shouldn't be plugged directly into a computer. It doesn't properly "match" the level/impedance of a soundcard's analog inputs (line or mic), and you usually don't get the right "tone". Typically, you'd use a DI box to boost/convert the signal to line level, or you can get a guitar->USB interface with or without an amp simulator (to simulate the sound of a guitar amp & cabinet).

[johnny1967]

the first interface is a tascam 122L. And the guiuitar pedal goes in via usb. I did restart the computer and it seems better for the moment. Lets cross our fingers.

[johnny1967]

i tried it out again and its screwed up again.

[johnny1967]

having it on MME was screwing it up.

[johnny1967]

now its off ansd on and if i restart my computer that temporarily will fix it.