Audacity Forum

I am trying to convert my vinyl and to this end i have brought a onyx blackjack analogue to digital converter and attached it to an output from my mixer and am trying to record the resultant signal on audacity 1.3.13. I have set input and output to the onyx device in the toolbar in Audacity (though i have also tried changing the output to alternatives) and played with the sample rate and the sample format. When checking the input monitor i get good signal initially - though it tends to lock up after a few seconds. On pressing record the program starts to record but then stops after about six seconds or less with the red line on the waveform image appearing to oscillate.

Is this a standard problem......help basically

thanks in advance

Did you run out of room? Audacity will not run into a full or highly fragmented hard drive. Sound (and video) takes up a lot of room and can run into speed problems. It doesn't matter how long it takes to calculate a huge spreadsheet or do a Gaussian Blur in Photoshop, but If Audacity can't find enough high quality, real-time space for your music right now, it's all stop.

There is a list of possible problems past that. Do you have aggressive Virus protection? Do you have a million things running at the same time? All can be killers to live production.

Koz

Look near the bottom of the Transport menu and ensure that "Software Playthrough" is OFF (not selected).

I didn't think Windows had "playthrough" options. Aren't they all handled in the Windows Control Panels?

Koz

Yes Windows does have a software playthrough option, and in some situations it should be used, but if the system is not set up correctly it can cause these symptoms.
Switching it off is not necessarily the cure, but if switching it off allows Audacity to record without stopping after a few seconds then it is a good indication that we are looking at a set-up problem.

Hi guys,

thanks for swift response. Hard drive was full of space and not fragmented. However there were a ridiculous number of processes running using up all my cpu - would this have caused the problem? Have now dleted all useless programs (except accidently my soundmax driver which i'll need to magically replace (any suggestionS?) for my audio output to work - hoping it doesn't affect input and audacity will still work) and played with system config and services so i'm down to 5% cpu being used. Will have another go recording tomorrow and see if it fairs any better. Also windows software playthrough wasn't checked so that wasn't the issue.

cheers

Hi Guys,

Right I've tried again with all my processing power available (only 5% cpu being used by other stuff in the system) and i have the same problem. Despite me ballsing up my soundmax driver the onyx imput is registered by audacity so that isn't the problem. One thing i have noticed is that the cpu usage peaks significantly just as the recording crashes. My laptop has a 1.8gb processor and 1gb ram - is that enough for live recording?

This is beginning to do my nut!

Thanks in advance for your help.

Just to clarify, Steve means uncheck Transport > Software Playthrough in Audacity.

What version of Windows are you on and is it 32-bit or 64-bit? What Service Pack? Have you installed the Mackie USB drivers ? The Blackjack manual suggests this is required even for an application like Audacity that doesn't have ASIO enabled (you can enable ASIO, but only if you compile Audacity and agree not to distribute that build to anyone else).

Your computer specs should be adequate as far as they go but is this a laptop or a desktop? Are you running other USB devices? Are you plugged into a spare USB port? Does it support USB 2.0? What sample rates have you tried? 44100 Hz (if all your other settings in Windows and Onyx are also 44100 Hz) should work.

If you have just deleted the SoundMax driver files you should be able to reinstall (at least) generic Microsoft drivers using Windows Device Manager. If you only find Microsoft drivers according to the Properties in Device Manager then I suggest you go to the web site of your motherboard manufacturer to find drivers meant for your particular motherboard and version of Windows. See http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Updat ... ce_Drivers .

If you have uninstalled SoundMax using Device Manager, reinstall the device using the drivers CD that came with the computer or visit the motherboard site as above.


Gale

Hi Gale,

Knowns:

Version of Windows is XP. Software playthrough in audacity transport menu was/is unchecked. I uninstalled soundmax so will go to the link you provided. The computer is a laptop. The usb port is the only one in action - I have downloaded the drivers for blackjack and the computer is happy with the hardware (uses it as a sound device in device manager and audacity registers the make and model in the input/output options) - not sure if this is the same as the Mackie USB drivers. I have tried both 44k and 48K sample rates (got a feeling blackjack is higher -will check later).

Unknowns:

Not sure whether windows is 32 or 64 bit or what the service pack is (or what a service pack is). What is an ASIO? Pretty sure computer supports USB 2.0 but not totally.

Will check up on the unkowns when i get home from work later.

Thank you for your time and help.

Gary

If you right-click over My Computer > Properties, you can see system details. If it doesn't say 64-bit, it's 32-bit. If it doesn't mention a Service Pack (a packaged collection of Windows updates), you are still on original XP (which is not wise). Any XP system should be on at least Service Pack 2, ideally 3.

You don't need to worry about ASIO (a lower latency interface protocol) except don't set anything in the Onyx settings that exclusively uses ASIO because then Audacity won't see the device. The Mackie USB drivers I gave you a link for are the same that are on http://www.mackie.com/products/onyxblackjack/.



Gale