cannot get audacity to record on ubuntu 10.10 x64

[alquery]

I am using ubuntu 10.10 64-bit.

I cannot get audacity 1.3.12 (Ubuntu only provides a package for beta, and I can't seem to install 1.2 for 64-bit) to record from my sound card. This worked in ubuntu 10.04.
When I run audacity from the command line, I see:

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Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server socket
jack server is not running or cannot be started
Expression 'stream->capture.pcm' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 3653

I read a post about someone with a similar problem here: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 18&t=29979
They seemed to fix the Expression 'stream->capture.pcm' failed" error, which I think is the problem with recording, by reloading the sound card module.

If you type into a terminal;

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lsmod

you will get a list of loaded modules. "snd-ens1371" should be in the list.
If it isn't, you can try reloading the module with;

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modprobe -r snd-ens1371 && modprobe snd-ens1371

I do not have that sound card, however.

Here is the output of aplay -l:

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[email protected]:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 1: STAC92xx Digital [STAC92xx Digital]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Here is the output of lsmod | grep snd:

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[email protected]:~$ lsmod | grep snd
snd_hda_codec_idt      64667  1 
snd_hda_intel          26051  1 
snd_hda_codec         100919  2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6660  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                89104  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi            5932  0 
snd_rawmidi            22207  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      7291  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                57544  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              23850  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          6912  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd                    64117  11 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               1240  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          8588  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

Does anyone know if my sound card is in there? Is this even the problem, or is it something to do with "Cannot connect to server socket err"?
I didn't think that was it, since that started appearing a ways after the original problem. But any help would be appreciated, including telling me I'm way off base.

[steve]

Ubuntu only provides a package for beta, and I can't seem to install 1.2 for 64-bit

Audacity 1.3.12 is the correct version for Linux. The 1.2 version is really old and requires many obsolete libraries in order to build, and even then it is likely to be highly unstable.

When I run audacity from the command line, I see:

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    Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
    Cannot connect to server socket
    jack server is not running or cannot be started
    Expression 'stream->capture.pcm' failed in 'src/hostapi/alsa/pa_linux_alsa.c', line: 3653

Yes, I get that as well, but it's nothing to worry about.

Do you have a standard Ubuntu installation or have you customised the sound system?
Do you have Pulse Audio Volume Control installed? (should be available through Synaptic as "pavucontrol")
Also useful to install "padevchooser" (also available through Synaptic).
Restart your machine after installing these two apps.

padevchooser puts an icon in the upper panel that provides easy access to pavucontrol.

If you import a file into Audacity (or generate a tone from the Generate menu) does it play?
What are you trying to record?
What happens when you try to record?

[bgravato]

Also please state which options do you have selected and available in Preferences -> Devices, for Host, Playback and Recording.

[alquery]

Do you have a standard Ubuntu installation or have you customised the sound system?

I might have customized it a bit trying to get some midi apps working, but honestly I can't remember. Not very helpful, I know.
What changes would be of consequence?

Do you have Pulse Audio Volume Control installed? (should be available through Synaptic as "pavucontrol")
Also useful to install "padevchooser" (also available through Synaptic).

I have installed both.

If you import a file into Audacity (or generate a tone from the Generate menu) does it play?

Yes, that works fine.

What are you trying to record?

I am trying to record some wma files which came from a CD which has broken. I want to do this so I can export them to
.ogg and tag them (I can't tag the .wmas in Linux, and I find .oggs easier to handle in Linux anyway.)

I have tried playing them in both rhythmbox and totem and then recording, but neither works.

What happens when you try to record?

I see the red record bar moving across the screen, but nothing is being recorded but a silent line.

The options I have for:

Host -- ALSA
Device -- HDA Intel: STA92xx Analog (hw:0,0), HDA Intel: STA92xx Analog (hw:0,1), front, surround 40, surround 51, surround 71, iec958, spdif, pulse, dmix, default
Recording -- HDA Intel: STA92xx Analog (hw:0,0), pulse, default

Here's a screenshot of my Preferences -> Devices:

[steve]

I might have customized it a bit trying to get some midi apps working, but honestly I can't remember. Not very helpful, I know.

That's fine, just checking that you not made any major changes.

I am trying to record some wma files which came from a CD which has broken.

Are you able to play the files and if so do they sound OK?

Here's a screenshot of my Preferences -> Devices:

That looks good - don't change anything.

I presume that you now have the Pulse Audio Device Chooser (padevchooser) showing in the panel, and if you click on it you can select "Volume Control"?

(I'm taking this slowly step by step because it's quite tricky to describe and it all needs to be done in the right order. It's late here now so I'll check back tomorrow).

[bgravato]

What are you trying to record?

I am trying to record some wma files which came from a CD which has broken. I want to do this so I can export them to
.ogg and tag them (I can't tag the .wmas in Linux, and I find .oggs easier to handle in Linux anyway.)

I have tried playing them in both rhythmbox and totem and then recording, but neither works.

So you're not really trying to actually "record" (as in recording from line-in or mic), but converting from one format (wma) to another (ogg vorbis). You're trying to achieve that by "recording" what's playing in the computer (as in stereo mix recording). Am I correct? If so then you probably found the most complicated way of converting file formats You don't need all that...

You just need some app that will decode wma's and encode ogg vorbis. You can achieve this in many ways. Some apps will be able to do this in one step (I think ffmpeg can read from wma and write to ogg vorbis). You can also do it in two steps: first convert from wma to wav (for example with mplayer) and then encode to ogg vorbis with oggenc). This are all command line tools.

If you prefer a graphical app you can use soundconverter, which should be available on ubuntu. I'm not sure if soundconverter will read wma, but I bet it does.

I'm not sure about this but I believe you can tag wma's. If you want a lossless format look at FLAC, which can also be tagged. As for tagging my favourite command line app is eyeD3. But there are many other. Just search the ubuntu's repositoires...

On this thread at linuxquestions you can find many tips and suggestions on converting wma to ogg vorbis on linux: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... gg-226230/

[bgravato]

I forgot these two command line scripts for converting audio formats which are available on Debian (so should be on Ubuntu too): pacpl and dir2ogg

I'm a big fan of pacpl It's simple to use and it works! (and can convert a lot of formats)

The most simple form would be: pacpl --to ogg yourfile.wma

It can also convert all files inside a directory with one command. See the manpage ('man pacpl' on the command line) for the complete list of options.

[steve]

You just need some app that will decode wma's and encode ogg vorbis

That's true, but as we are so close to getting Audacity working it would be nice to complete the job.
(yes "Sound Converter" can convert WMA to OGG, but I prefer your other recommendation "pacpl")

Just waiting for a response on the last two questions, then I think we can complete the job of setting up Audacity to record sounds playing on the computer:
1) Do the WMA files play OK?
2) You can access PA Volume Control via the PA Device Chooser icon in the panel?

[alquery]

Yes, the audio files play fine and I can access PA Volume Control.
I unmuted "Internal Analog Stereo", and Audacity "records" fine. Is this all I have to do?

The reason I wanted to record them in audacity instead of using a converter is that I thought that converting would lower the quality of the sound recording.
Now I've realized that I'm saving in a different format and lowering the quality anyway, so it doesn't matter.

[bgravato]

Yes, the audio files play fine and I can access PA Volume Control.
I unmuted "Internal Analog Stereo", and Audacity "records" fine. Is this all I have to do?

The reason I wanted to record them in audacity instead of using a converter is that I thought that converting would lower the quality of the sound recording.
Now I've realized that I'm saving in a different format and lowering the quality anyway, so it doesn't matter.

Recording throught "stereo mix" will probably lower the quality more than using a converter.
If you convert to a lossless codec such as FLAC you won't lower the quality. It will be exactly the same.