Audacity Forum

I WOULD LIKE TO "TEST" AUDACITY BY "LISTENING" TO THE SOUND "BEFORE" RECORDING. I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CONNECT IT ON TO DO THIS. I ALSO DON'T KNOW IF I NEED TO PLUG IN THE RCA-TYPE AUDIO PLUG INTO THE COMPUTER. I DON'T HAVE RCA-TYPE PLUGS ON MY TOSHIBA LAPTOP. THERE ARE RCA CORDS PROVIDED WITH THE "GRACE TAPE1USBII DIGITAL AUDIO CASSETTE MACHINE. ONE HAS RCA-TYPE PHONE PLUG AT ONE END AND AT THE OTHER END HAS RCA-TYPE PHONE PLUGS. THE OTHER HAS RCA-TYPE PHONE PLUGS AT ONE END AND AT THE OTHER END HAS A MINI PHONE PLUG. WHICH ONE IS FOR LINE IN AND WHICH ONE IS FOR LINE OUT? YOUR MANUEL SAYS NOTHING OF THIS. DO I NEED TO PLUG ONE OF THOSE INTO THE MICROPHONE JACK INTO THE COMPUTER? HOW DO I GET THE AUDIO SOUND OUT FROM THE MACHINE AND PARTICULARLY HOW CAN I "TEST" THE "DIGITAL" SIGNAL? I NEED A PLUG DIAGRAM.

OR, DOES THE USB PLUG TAKE CARE OF THE AUDIO OUT TO THE LAPTOP...SOME AUDIO IS TRANSMITTED VIA USB PORTS, SO I UNDERSTAND. IF THIS IS THE CASE, I'M READY. BUT I'M STILL NOT GETTING THE AUDIO.

I HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM. ALTHOUGH I AM ABLE TO "RECORD" FROM THE "OUTPUT" OF THE GRACE TAPE2USBII RECORDER, I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO CONNECT MY REEL TO REEL TAPE DECK TO THE PREAMP OF THE RECORDER. THE SOUND COMES IN VERY NICELY FROM THE REEL TO REEL, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO "RECORD" FROM THE "REEL TO REEL" SOUND SOURCE THAT COME "INTO" THE GRACE TAPE2USBII RECORDER AND HAVE THE COMPUTER TRANSFER THE ANALOG SIGNAL TO DIGITAL JUST AS IT CAN BE DONE "DIRECTLY" FROM THE GRACE TAPE2USBII RECORDER TO THE COMPUTER. CAN I DO THIS? IF SO, HOW? THANK YOU. RD Sent: Wed Jan 18, 2012 13:37:45

You should avoid YELLING at us.

If you open Audacity and click once on the red recording meters, they will wake up and monitor the incoming sound. You can set Audacity Recording Preferences to [X]Playthrough and the playback side of Audacity will run as well, letting you hear the work. This will give you both the green and red meters bouncing.

Past that you need to select the USB device on the Audacity Input Dropdown, or, if it's not there, you need to select it in the Windows Control Panels > Sound > Input.

Koz