I’m using a Behringer USB-Audio interface to connect my cassette tape player to my laptop. The 2 channels of the cassette player output plug into the interface and then the interface plugs into the laptop via USB connector.
The interface has a monitor jack for headphones. When I play a stereo cassette, I can distinctly hear two channels. But when looking at the waveforms while recording in Audacity, the two waveforms look identical. I do have 2 (Stereo) recordings set in Audacity.
I’m confused as to why the waveforms look identical. Can someone explain?
Thanks,
Vic
Which one?
…But when looking at the waveforms while recording in Audacity, the two waveforms look identical.
Do they sound identical?
Try running the Vocal Removal effect (with the default full spectrum settings). It works by subtracting the left from the right so If both channels are digitally-identical you’ll get dead silence.
You could also unplug the left or right channel from the interface to see if you’re still recording-into two channels.
Go into the Windows control panels and see if there is a “mono” setting there by accident.
Right-click the speaker icon > Recording Devices.
Koz
kozikowski - all indicators point to stereo
The Behringer interface is model UCA202
DVDdoug - through the headphones jack on the Behringer interface they sound different; but there may be a subtle difference when playing back the track on my laptop. However what is very interesting is when I select “Swap Stereo Channels” I only hear the right channel. When moving the balance control to the left I get no sound at all.
DVDdoug
I applied the Vocal Remover and got flat lines on both channels. So it’s apparently recording in mono, not stereo.
If I pull the Left channel plug from the interface I get sound only from the Right headphone, BUT! the waveform goes flat!!
If I remove the Right channel plug from the interface I get sound only from the Left headphone and both waveforms are recording identically.
So now I don’t know if there’s a problem with the interface itself.
However what is very interesting is when I select “Swap Stereo Channels” I only hear the right channel. When moving the balance control to the left I get no sound at all.
That is “interesting”. 
You’re seeing two waveforms, but it’s like you’ve got two right channels… But I don’t know how that could happen accidently… And when you play it back, you’re hearing something in the left, and if you had two right channels you wouldn’t be hearing anything in the left… And I don’t get how moving the balance left could kill the left… Totally weird!!!
If you haven’t done so already, try exporting to WAV (or MP3, etc.). (You can’t have to right channels in a WAV or MP3.) Then re-open that in Audacity and see if you’ve got one or two waveforms. (You can also try playing in Windows Media Player to see if you’re hearing sound from both sided,)
And try this - Start recording and when you see the two waveforms unplug either the left or right form the interface and see what happens. Then, plug that one back-in and unplug the other one. We know what should happen… If you unplug the left channel you should loose the left (top) waveform and if you unplug the right you should loose the right (bottom) waveform. I suspect that’s not going to happen and I suspect one of the channels isn’t being picked-up at all. That wouldn’t explain everything but it would be another clue…
Nobody wrote you can’t have a manufacturing defect in the UCA202. A defect is unlikely but not impossible.
I don’t suppose there is a way to try a different computer?
Koz
DVDdoug, check my post for 6/14 @ 4:36. I did unplug each channel with the indicated results. Also, I loaded one of the WAV files into Audacity and it shows two waveforms, but they are still identical. Apparently the interface is recording one channel (the Left) into both the left and right in Audacity.
kozikowski, I found some info on the 'Net indicating that the drivers Windows 7 downloads for the model of interface I’m using are not good. Someone posted drivers they got from Behringer for both Win7 32-bit and Win7 64-bit. My OS is Win7 64-bit. So I tried installing the 64-bit driver the poster suggested and still got the same results.
I’ll try installing the 32-bit driver and see if that helps. But, frankly I’m not confident.
Bottom line is, just having some of my old favorite albums on CD, even tho only in mono, is Ok with me. It’s not ideal, but I can accept that.
Thanks folks.
Folks, I actually finally solved the problem.
In the Audacity manual, if you go to the index and then under the letter D select Recording Channels, it will inform you that most input devices on Windows default to mono. The last word in that section is a link to ‘instructions’.
If you follow that link, it explains that even tho you’ve selected 2 channels in Audacity, it “will merely duplicate one channel into both channels of the track, making it dual mono”. It then explains how to configure the input device to be stereo. I did so and lo and behold I got two distinct channels!
So problem is solved and I’m a happy camper. (Altho I’ll have to re-input the couple of tapes I already converted. But now I know what to do.)
Hope this helps others.
Thanks all,
Vic
Good news!!! (Koz had suggested that you check for that, so I thought you had. 
)
Thanks! I didn’t know that was in the manual and I remember only seeing that problem reported once, and in that case if a solution was found it was never posted/reported. I was assuming that if Windows was set to mono, Audacity wouldn’t allow you to select stereo. Now I know better.
Last night I was trying to duplicate your problem, and on my system there was no mono option for line-in on my soundcard so I couldn’t try it. I could switch Audacity to mono but of course I only got one mono waveform.
Someone posted drivers they got from Behringer for both Win7 32-bit and Win7 64-bit. My OS is Win7 64-bit. So I tried installing the 64-bit driver the poster suggested and still got the same results.
I’ll try installing the 32-bit driver and see if that helps. But, frankly I’m not confident.
Just FYI - Your interface is supposed to use the Microsoft-supplied USB audio drivers.
Behringer offers an optional ASIO4ALL driver, but that’s for “more professional” software that uses ASIO drivers. (Audacity doesn’t support ASIO). ASIO4ALL isn’t a “real” ASIO driver. I call it “half-ASIO”. It’s like an interpreter that allows ASIO applications to work with regular Windows hardware/drivers. It doesn’t work the other way around… It doesn’t make ASIO hardware/drivers work with a regular Windows application like Audacity.
It won’t hurt to have the ASIO4ALL driver installed on your computer but you won’t be using it unless you use some different audio software.
DVDdoug,
I thought I had checked for stereo as suggested by Koz. But I suppose I wasn’t as thorough as I could have been. The info in the manual was explicit enough for me to locate that option on the input device.
Yes, I reverted to using the Windows supplied drivers.
When I make a change on my PC I’m not comfortable with, I’ll create a restore point just before installing. If I don’t get the results I expected, I use the restore point to get back to where I was so I don’t have to worry about extraneous entries in the registry.
Thanks to all who replied with their suggestions.
Vic
Had same problem with a Parasound Zphono-USB phono preamp and digital interface. Decided to actually read instructions (!).
This is what it said, and it worked.
Works for Windows 7 or 10.
right click on the volume control in Windows.
select “sounds”
Click on “recording” tab
Click on “Microphone-USB Audio codec” and then “properties”
click on the “advanced” tab
“default format” should be set to “2 channel, 16 bit, 44100Hz (CD Quality)”
click OK.
cheers!