How to select proper Input source (v.1.3.7)?

[ImagoX]

SYSTEM: Running Audacity 1.3.7 on a Mac Air (running OSX 10.5.6 on an Intel Core 2 Duo chipset).

PROBLEM: The only input source in my drop-down box is "Internal Microphone". I can record sound, but it sounds tinny and Audicy picks up background noise, since it's not capturing audio right from the soundcard stream. I also tried looking at the Audacity Preferences, Audio I/O tab, but my only recording device is listed as "Core Audio: Built-in Microphone".

I WAS running the stable version (1.2.6 I believe) but was advised to go to the 1.3.x version, since I was unable to encode to MP3 with the LAME encoder with that version. The stable version allowed me to select the proper input device.

QUESTION: How can I select the proper input source with my version? MP3 encoding works fine now with 1.3.7, but that does me no good if my master source files are all tinny-sounding, naturally.

Thanks in advance!!

[ImagoX]

Anyone...? Anyone...? Bueller? Bueller...?

[kozikowski]

<<<Anyone...?>>>

Sorry. Day off.

<<<..no good if my master source files are all tinny-sounding, naturally.>>>

Naturally.

Macs since the first OS-X machines do not have provision for recording their own output or any other recursive pathway, but they can be forced to have one with additional software.

My favorite is WireTap which I am about to install on my new MacBook Pro. It connects into the Mac iCal system and allows scheduling and unattended recording.

A much less desirable way is the free SoundFlower download from Apple.com. All that does is provide the additional recursive pathways and it's up to you to manage them. My joke is SoundFlower makes Mac sound systems as unstable as PCs are all the time. You can get surprises with SoundFlower running, so remember what you did.

Koz

[ImagoX]

I'll check out WireTap, thanks! I don't need scheduled recording, just a way to manually do it on-demand.

So, is WireTap all I need, or will WireTap allow AUDACITY to record its own output? Maybe it will all be self-evident when I look at the WireTap dox.

Thanks again!!!

[ImagoX]

Wanted to try freeware at first (WireTap is $70, and I don't need to use Audacity more than a few times a month tops) so I downloaded SoundFlower.

I was able to get Audacity to record by selecting "SoundFlower - 2Ch" as the "Built-In Output". What's weird is that I don't even have a source drop-down box now (maybe because AudioFLower is overriding it?), and in order to record I have to boost the input volume ALL THE WAY UP (on my PC, I usually left it at about 70% tops to avoid blow-out). Audacity records from the stream and the resulting MP3 sounds pretty good, but it worries me that I have to crank the input volume all the way up to get to there.

Also... don't know if this is right or not... while running SoundFlower as the default 2-channel audio, I cannot mute or control the volume. Keyboard buttons just flash a speaker icon with a slash through it, and even the master volume slider at the top menu bar won't move (locked at 100%). This means that I can barely hear the output via my speakers. I'm not sure how Audacity is getting enough signal to make a decent recording because of this.

Does anyone out there know SoundFlower and can advise me on how I can get more volume out of my speakers while running it? I'd also like to be able to boost the signal for times that I'm recording a podcast or other low-volume source - music seems OK (it's hard to tell though without running tests on a variety of music), but I worry that not beng able to control the input strength will mess me up down the road.

[kozikowski]

<<<Does anyone out there know SoundFlower and can advise me on how I can get more volume out of my speakers >>>

Remembering that you're asking this on the Audacity help forum.

I tried SoundFlower and eventually gave up and took it off. It reminded me too much of the troubles I have with my Windows machines.

Koz

[ImagoX]

Actually, my Windows machine worked better with Audacity than this Mac so far... (sigh).

Is there a better stable version I should be using? I was able to record easier with the 1.2.x version - with the stable version, I was able to select the audio mixer properly. Strange that you say that it's always been a problem with OSX, when I was able to record properly with 1.2.x. The trouble I had with THAT version (and was why I went to 1.3.x) was that I couldn't encode to MP3 via LAME correctly with the stable version.

[kozikowski]

If you were running 1.2.6 on an Air, you had the wrong Audacity and that's why the Lame wouldn't load. Intel Macs take 1.2.5. Or used to. Leopard on Intel machines killed off Audacity 1.2.x. There are significant instabilities with that combination.

If the Air still has Line-In and Line-Out, you can connect them to each other with a short jumper cable...

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index ... Id=2102970

..or equivalent.

Tell the Mac to play out the built-in outputs and Audacity to record from the built-in inputs. You may not be able to hear what you're doing, but that does work. You can connect headphones, too, by using a "Y" cable instead of the straight jumper.

Those recursive sound pathways get Windows people in trouble all the time which is why Apple left them out. Windows Vista is suspiciously missing the same troublesome pathways.

Koz

[greenshecky]

ImagoX - I have found Sound Flower to be a weed.
Audacity is for editing and recording from standard inputs. Trying trick workarounds with Sound Flower will have you trying trick workarounds to make your computer behave normally.

Ehhhm Koz, this is an Audacity forum, you are correct sir. However, I have seen too many articles on using Audacity + Sound Flower for Mac sound card recording and not nearly enough articles against this practice.

Follow kosilowski get a $5 wire from Radio Shan*k or spend $70 on Wiretap (satndalone) or or spend $25 on http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/audio/tapedeck
which is also standalone and bone simple.