New Audacity user needs help to record his guitar

[sergeromero]

Hello all,

I'm very new at recording with the computer. I just installed Audacity, bought a Line 6 Guitar Port XT which basically is an interface to connect my guitar to my computer with a USB cable. I created an MP3 backup track but when I try to record myself nothing gets recorded. Basically I see a very thin blue line in the new track but when I replay it I can only hear the backup track, no sound comes from the other one.

How can I configure Audacity to pick up this signal.

Thanks for your help.

[steve]

I seem to remember this question coming up a few times previously, and from what I can remember the problem is that the Line 6 Guitar Port XT is designed to work with ASIO drivers, which are not supported by default in Audacity (due to licensing restrictions).

The easiest solution is to use the software that was supplied with the device for recording. You can still use Audacity for mixing and editing by exporting WAV files from the recording program and importing them into Audacity.

[sergeromero]

Thank you for the reply. I figured it out.

I went to Edit -> Preferences and in the Audio I/O tab in the Recording section I chose Guitar Port which is only available when the thing is plugged into the PC.

[steve]

Thank you for posting the outcome.
The Audacity developers try to make Audacity compatible with as much hardware as possible, but obviously they can not test it with all available hardware. In the end it comes down to user feedback to know whether specific audio devices work with Audacity.

If you have a couple of minutes perhaps you could post some information about the Line 6 Guitar Port XT here: http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=9477

[ABoltOfBlazingGold]

I've been desperately trying to find the answer to this question for more than a week. The closest I have found to an answer is this thread. You say "I went to Edit -> Preferences and in the Audio I/O tab in the Recording section I chose Guitar Port which is only available when the thing is plugged into the PC." But for me, GuitarPort doesn't appear as an option in Preferences. What do I do?

[sergeromero]

Hi,

Honestly I'm not sure what to tell you. I think you need to make sure that all the software is installed correctly on your PC, did you get the "Found new hardware" popup the first time you plugged it?

Try the following:
1. Open Audacity without plugging anything, go to preferences and see how many options you have on both drop downs.
2. Close Audacity, plug the guitar port and open Audacity again to see if you have any additional option.

If this doesn't work the only thing I can think of is that maybe the software isn't installed properly. For me it worked the very first time, of course after I found this preferences option.

Good luck.

[kozikowski]

Has it ever worked?

Koz

[ABoltOfBlazingGold]

The only two input options that appear are "Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input" and "Line in at rear panel".

It is quite possible that it's not installed properly - the software installation didn't remotely resemble the screenshots in the online user manual, but seemed to go fine, and when I connected the hardware (when prompted at the end of the software installation) the Found New Hardware wizard strangely didn't appear. For the week I've had it, however, it has worked fine in every other way. Should I just uninstall and try again?

Thanks.

P.S. I have found that if GuitarPort is plugged in first then Audacity, or for that matter any audio-related software like Media Player or GuitarPro, will crash on start-up. It does say in the manual to make sure that you start up your recording software before plugging in GuitarPort - so is this normal?

[steve]

With USB devices, the device does not exist until it is plugged in.
Audacity identifies available devices when it is first opened, so you can only select a USB device if it has already been connected.

A possible workaround would be to set Audacity to use the Windows Sound Mapper, then plug in the USB device, then go to the Windows Control Panel and select the USB as the default device for recording / playback (for XP this is in Sounds and Audio Devices).

[sergeromero]

Honestly I'm no expert, I can only tell you what I've experienced as a user. When I installed everything, as soon as I plugged the GuitarPort into my computer I got the "Found new hardware" message and I just followed the instructions.

I do have to say that in general I didn't like the experience of installing the software, but at least everything is working fine for me.

So far my Audacity has never crashed, neither Windows Media Player or ITunes or anything sound related, if I plugged my GuitarPort first.

Try uninstalling and installing everything again. If that doesn't work I would try their support line or something.