Audacity Stops Recording

I am on Windows 10 and I am using Audacity 2.4.1.

I am recording from a tape recorder and I am trying to digitize my cassette collection. All of a sudden, Audacity will cut out during recording. It doesn’t seem to matter which cassette I am recording from when this happens. I have a powerful intel i7 machine, I am checking the CPU/RAM usage and Audacity doesn’t seem to be using tons of resources during recording.
I didn’t had this problem when I digitized to my previous computer a clunky 6 year old machine. I’ve tried a cold boot but this doesn’t seem to help.

Any ideas?

If you have Sound Activated Recording checked, Audacity will stop working if the sound drops below a certain volume.

Transport > Transport Options > Sound Activated Recording.

Koz

I do not have sound activated recording enabled.

In fact it often stops right in the middle of a song.

How are you getting the sound into the computer? if you are using a USB interface or a USB tape player, those can create problems if there’s anything wrong with the USB connection. If the USB data drops even for a second, Audacity may “forget” the player is there and stop recording.

There are many postings from people who bought affordable USB cassette players that stop working sooner than they’re supposed to.

Koz

There’s one other. Are you using Google Drive or other cloud storage? Audacity doesn’t like that very much because of the internet delays and erratic nature. The suppliers want you to think that doesn’t exist, but it does and it causes connectivity issues much like having a ratty USB connection.

koz

Yes, I am using a USB tape player, but no, it didn’t cause any issues when I used it with my other older computer.
Is there anything else I can do to try to mitigate this issue?

anything else I can do to try to mitigate this issue?

Does the maker of the tape player have a forum, help pages, or a help desk?

We have two strikes right at the start. I don’t have a USB take player and I’m not on Windows.

This is a forum. Users helping each other. I’m a volunteer. We can wait for another poster with the same problem.

Koz

Thank you, I appreciate your help on this.
Is there any way to rule out that this is a problem with Audacity, rather than the tape player?

Is there any way to rule out that this is a problem with Audacity

Record from your laptop built-in microphone. You may get feedback howling. That’s normal.

You can either:

Turn the microphone volume down in Audacity.
Turn the playback down in the computer.
Turn the playback down in Audacity.
De-select Edit > Preferences > Recording > [_] Playthrough.

The goal is to see if it keeps going, not to produce a show.

Koz

I did what you suggested and I got Audacity to run for an hour without any issues.

I then proceeded to change USB wires and the USB port that I attached the wire on.

I am still seeing the issue where the Audacity recording stops (although Audacity remains in ‘record’ mode). Its weird because it never stops in the beginning or at the end of a recording, but somewhere in the 15-25 minute range.

I had Task Manager open while I was recording and I saw a spike in CPU (the CPU was pretty low when Audacity was running). Is it possible that there is some conflict on my machine? Is there any way to determine what caused that sudden and quick spike in CPU?

I know I’m throwing a lot out there, but I’m not sure where to look right now.

I tried the other day recording an cassette to Audacity to my 6 year old computer. I had no trouble with the recording, unlike my 6 month old i7 machine. So that would seem to rule out something with the USB cassette recorder.

It seems like something running in the background must be interrupting the recording.
Is there any way to capture what might be happening?
I have a Dell Inspiron 15 5000, if that makes a difference.

I also had a problem with intermittent recording (a few seconds of recorded sound alternating with a few silent seconds).

I eventually found the solution: SWITCH OFF “AUDIO ENHANCEMENTS” for the input device

I’m using a Windows 11 laptop, converting from analogue (eg vinyl) to digital using a Sound Blaster HD via USB.

THE SOLUTION: open Windows Settings > Sound > “input”, or “All sound devices” (under Advanced) > Line USB Sound Blaster HD > Properties > Audio enhancements > OFF

Now it works fine.