Audacity Forum

Hey all, I've been using Audacity for a long time. Suddenly today when using it, when I click on "record" the program will halt for a few seconds, then start recording. The same happens with stopping, and almost anything at all to do with the interface, like changing audio sources. This does NOT happen on my laptop, which is a weaker system. It also never happened before today, nothing that I can think of has changed between yesterday and today.

I uninstalled the program, deleted all file folders (including the hidden one at %appdata%) and reinstalled, same problem.

My system is air gapped (does not have an internet connection) so it is not a virus. Similarly, my CPU usage is normal under task manager. Although just to be sure, I ran Malwarebytes, AVG, and the built-in Windows Security scanner, no results. (These programs are NOT the cause, they are disabled when not in use)

I am running Windows 10 with a Ryzen 5 2600. My drivers are up-to-date or near up-to-date, not that that would matter considering Audacity hasn't been updated and this was running fine yesterday.

Any ideas would be appreciated, thank you.

Also the program is installed to an NVME SSD, and other recording programs (such as windows default recorder and OBS) don't have any issues, it's only Audacity at the moment.

I am scratching my head as well...

So, since you are air-gapped, I take it you haven't had any Windows updates for quite a while.

You don't say what version of Audacity you are running. Nor do you say what you are recording.

Are you using WASAPI? If so, recording may not begin until audio is present at the source.

Do you have Sound-Activated-Recording enabled? See: Transport Menu: Transport Options

Are you running short on disc storage space?

Have you checked FAQ:Recording - Troubleshooting

My Windows is relatively up-to-date, probably a month or two ago was the last time I updated it. That said I updated it last night to see if that resolved the issue, no dice. Windows has a method of updating offline systems, you download the updates on a different computer to USB and then install from that. (Not that the Windows version should matter, as this was working two days just fine on the same system)

I'm recording voiceovers. This large delay is happening even with nothing in the timeline, so it isn't a problem of having a large file taking time to read.

My SSD is only using 30% of its total capacity. Also it's a Samsung 980 pro, so it definitely isn't an issue of it being slow.

My version of Audacity is now 3.0.2, I updated it when I reinstalled. Again, no dice.

Sound activated recording is disabled. I'm using MME, not WASAPI.

I just finished looking through the FAQ, it didn't turn up anything obvious that I could spot.

I appreciate the reply, I think I'm just going to nuke the issue entirely by wiping the drive and re-installing windows. I have a secondary drive storing everything important so it's not a big deal. Now if this STILL happens after a full OS wipe and reinstall, then I'll really be scratching my head!