Audacity Forum

System details:
HP tx2500z, AMD Turion X2 Dual Core
3MB ram, 2ghz
Realtek HD Audio sound card
Windows Vista, 32 bit.

I am trying to use a Samson C01u condensor USB microphone with Audacity 1.3.14. For some odd reason, my amplitude maxes out at +/- 0.5. Turns out that the mic input volume control in Audacity is also controlling the main system input volume (in control panel) for the mic. And the amplitude at which my recording maxes out varies directly with the input volume.

ANYBODY know the solution to this? I have seen similar questions in forum which are still unresolved. Maybe an audacity expert can help address this situation!

nikhiljo wrote:System details:
HP tx2500z, AMD Turion X2 Dual Core
3MB ram, 2ghz
Realtek HD Audio sound card
Windows Vista, 32 bit.

I am trying to use a Samson C01u condensor USB microphone with Audacity 1.3.14. For some odd reason, my amplitude maxes out at +/- 0.5. Turns out that the mic input volume control in Audacity is also controlling the main system input volume (in control panel) for the mic. And the amplitude at which my recording maxes out varies directly with the input volume.

I assume you mean 3 GB RAM.

It's correct that Audacity is controlling the system slider directly. The achieved input level and the levels of the input slider do not correlate so that slider on maximum means maximum input volume on the meter.

When you go to the "Recording" tab of Sound in the Windows Control Panel, right-click over the mic > Properties. I assume you have looked at the "Levels" tab. Is there any "AGC" or "Advanced" button that boosts the mic volume? Is there any such control on an "Advanced" tab?

Do you have the Samson Pre Applet which is discontinued and buggy but which gave extra controls?

Are you close enough to the mic?



Gale

Gale,

3GB is right. Sorry about that.

Yes, I have looked at the "levels" tab, and that is in fact the slider that Audacity is controlling. And this happens only for the Samson USB mic, not for any other mic I input through the microphone jack. I can separately control the system input and audacity input for non-usb mics. For the Samson C01U properties, there is an Advanced tab (not button), that only allows me to change the sample rate, but no boost.

Samson Pre Applet isn't available for download anywhere.

I am always within 4-8 inches of the mic. But I don't think proximity (or lack thereof) is the problem). It slices off everything to the top and the bottom of +/- 0.5, so the end product is not a sharp, clear recording. See attached for sample. The two tracks are recorded at two different input volumes. The first track was an input volume of 0.2, maxing out at the 0.5. With an input volume of 0.3 (for the second track in the picture), it maxes out just below full amplitude.

And this was just a simple acoustic guitar chords being recorded, nothing inherently loud.

Forgot attachment in previous post. Here it is now.

Anybody? No?

Sigh, another unresolved post about this issue.

Nikhil

@Nikhil, Can you give links to the "other unresolved posts about this issue"?

There is a known problem that some USB interfaces will never produce more than a half volume track in Audacity if choosing mono recording in Audacity and connecting to only one input of a stereo or multi-channel recording device. This isn't your problem, which appears to be that the mic clips (produces flat-topped waves) long before the input reaches 0 dB. If you record at 0.4, presumably you exceed 0 dB?

If you zoomed in until you saw the sample dots and made a screenshot of that, it might give a little more clue, but this would appear to be a hardware problem (the USB port or the mic) or (remote chance) the USB audio class drivers. Are there any yellow exclamation marks in Device Manager in the Windows Control Panel? Are you connecting straight into an empty USB port?

The other inputs should not really behave so that moving the Audacity input slider does not move the input slider in "Sound".



Gale

Here's a couple links:
http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... =maxes+out

http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... t&start=10

First of all, I didn't mean to sound like a whiny kid, when I said its an unresolved issue. Its the issue itself I'm frustrated with, and not the audacity staff, developers, or the program itself. Soundforge and its people have been fantastic, so no complaints there.

Now to the issue. Seems like, anything above an input of 0.3, the amplitude tops out on the track. What is odd is, I tried this mic with Cakewalk Sonar LE (on the same computer), but it doesn't repeat the problem. So, apparently, not a hardware problem. I want to continue to use audactity, cakewalk's too complicated for me.

No yellow warnings in device manager. And yes, I'm connecting directly to a USB port. I have tried all the ports on my computer with the same result. This samson mic is supposed to be a plug and play device, so I've not thought of investing in a preamp or anything so far.

I will post a zoomed in screenshot later in the day.

Hi,

Thanks for the links.

The second one http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... t&start=10 is in fact the issue I was talking about - not being able to record at more than 0.5 when recording mono from multiple channels - see Kizzume's follow-on at http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 066#p52066 .

nikhiljo wrote:I tried this mic with Cakewalk Sonar LE (on the same computer), but it doesn't repeat the problem. So, apparently, not a hardware problem.

What input level is the Windows slider on to get a non-clipped but high-level recording in Cakewalk, and does any Cakewalk input slider operate independently of the Windows slider? Is it possible also to export a WAV from a Cakewalk recording and show a screenshot of the WAV in Audacity for comparison (not zoomed in)?

A zoomed in screenshot of the Audacity recording would be appreciated too (as you offered).

If you record at 0.1 on the Audacity slider, do you get flat tops? You can use Amplify to see the result more clearly. Also you can set the input slider between 0 and 0.05 by double-clicking the slider (though this may not affect the levels).

USB inputs are not infrequently found to be too "hot" on Vista and 7 machines - this could be part of the explanation.

Note: You could try selecting "Windows DirectSound" as "Host" in the Audacity Device Toolbar. I wouldn't be optimistic but it's a simple change.


Gale