Audacity Forum

which devices do you have selected on the "devices" tab under preferences?

you say it worked the first time, so if you wish to reset to defaults and run it again as the first time you can delete the preferences file:

I am having a similar problem with Audacity 1.3 detecting my computer microphone for recording. The slider display is greyed out. My default setting in my sound control list the recording method as Internal Audio analog stereo and the hardware as internal audio / 1 output / 1 input. It list two types of methods...ALSA & OSS. Nothing I put it on, weather it be default or any other listed device descriptions will enable the microphone recording feature to work. I use Audacity in my windows setup on the same computer [ 1.2 version ] and it works perfectly. What is the solution...John I am using Linux 10.04 version Kubuntu..

jhaskins75 wrote:I am having a similar problem with Audacity 1.3 detecting my computer microphone for recording. The slider display is greyed out. My default setting in my sound control list the recording method as Internal Audio analog stereo and the hardware as internal audio / 1 output / 1 input. It list two types of methods...ALSA & OSS. Nothing I put it on, weather it be default or any other listed device descriptions will enable the microphone recording feature to work. I use Audacity in my windows setup on the same computer [ 1.2 version ] and it works perfectly. What is the solution...John I am using Linux 10.04 version Kubuntu..

ALSA is usually preferred. The fact that the mic slider is greyed out doesn't mean there's a problem... it means audacity can't take control of the mic input level... It's a normal behaviour on Linux. You have to adjust the mic volume on sound card control panel. You also might need to select the mic as the recording input device on the sound control panel. If you can't achieve this through kde's control panel, try running alsamixer on a terminal window. I don't remember by memory the shortcut keys for alsamixer specially the one to select the recording input and I don't have a linux computer with alsamixer at the moment but you should be able to find that on the alsamixer manpage (type 'man alsamixer' on the terminal and also before that make sure alsamixer is installed)

Audacity program mike signature list ALSA: HDA intel ALC*** Digital (hw:0,1 ) as the sound card / audio device and my installed ALSA Mixer says the same with all volume and boost controls at near maximum setting. I noticed it states front mike, as I have dual inputs and currently my mike is plugged into the rear input, which is the default. My audio control panel has a microphone monitor display which shows my mike is active and records the speech in it's display area. I will transfer the input to the front and let you know the results.

I transferred the input to the front connection, and the results are no mike recording with in Audacity.Here is a captured picture of my ALSA Mixer!

My audacity readings:

Do you have an option for Analog on the devices?

Something like "HDA Intel: ALC888 Analog (hw:0,0)" or similar? If so select that option.

I'll be camping for the next 3 days so I won't be able to reply until tuesday... Hopefully Steve or someone else might be around to give some more advice.

Good luck.

Yes, I do have that option and I will try it and let you know the results. Thank you...John

I was able to successfully use the analog feature and now I can record, but now on the playback, the sound is muted as i do not have a hDA analog listed for speaker playback, just digital, which I can hear no sound with the digital feature. If I put it on ALSA default, I can hear the sound but it is very low. I went to my ALSA Mixer and boosted the sliders to full output as well as my sound program, but this allowed me to hear the hiss produced by a fully boosted mike input. I am getting closer to figuring the problem out, but any suggestions will be highly appreciated...John

Hiss on standard built-in soundcards is normal... don't expect to have a crystal clear sound from the mic input.

Digital output is usually for S/PDIF output on your card. You're probably not using that... For speakers and everything else you should be wanting all analog.

Try selecting Default on the interface. I'm not a Ubuntu user, but AFAIK ubuntu uses pulseaudio to control de audio. Try installing pulseaudio's volume control (I think the name of the package is pavucontrol). Search the forums there are some similar threads where Steve gives some hints for ubuntu users.