unwanted mixing

We have a 2 channel .wav file that was generated in matlab. When we load it into Audacity 3.0, we can see both channels and they look great. However, when we attempt to play out the file as stereo [through lynxe22 card] and through 2 separate output channels, the channels are mixed. We have replaced the card, the cable, and changed computer slots. We are wondering if there is some default mixing that we don’t know about. thanks. yale

Audacity just plays the left channel of a stereo track through the left output channel, and the right channel of the stereo track through the right output channel. (No automatic mixing)

Like this?

Perhaps you want to post a screenshot.

If you have two mono tracks, they will be mixed. You could pan one to the left and the other to the right. Or, you can make one stereo track from the pair. See: Splitting and Joining Stereo Tracks

If you have one stereo track with a left and a right channel, you can try panning to the left or right to see what happens.

While Audacity is capable of reading from certain multi-track hardware, it cannot output to more that one (mono or stereo) track on one device.

hi all

thanks for the feedback. We have tried panning and they still seemed to be mixed.

to be clear and to give some more details:

  1. Each channel is very different: one contains the actual stimulus and one contains ‘triggers’ that tell us when certain auditory events occur. We are using this as part of an experiment in my lab.

  2. We have generated the 2 channels via matlab which creates a .wav file.

  3. the channels load correctly into audacity: we do not see any mixing.

  4. we then send out the stimuli to the lynxe card which has 2 outputs. The outputs are mixed.

  5. we have been doing this procedure for years on 3-4 other systems. The only thing different here is the version of Audacity and slightly new Windows OS.

thanks agian.

Please post a screenshot. Tools > Screenshot > Capture Full Window.

here is the requested screenshot can be found here:
thx!!!

WDobFgSw.png

Wow, that’s a weird waveform :astonished:

Everything else looks OK.

What happens if you export as a WAV file and then play the WAV file in another app?

we have used this .wav file successfully on 3-4 other systems using audacity and the lynxe card…we put together a new system and now run into these issues…so, we are clueless as to what is going on.

Try Effect > Normalize > Remove DC Offset.

Then take another snapshot.

I don’t think that answers my question.

You say that when you play the stereo track in Audacity, the playback has the two channels mixed.
My question is, if you play the same stereo audio, on the same system, with the same sound card, but with a different audio player, does the same “mixing” problem happen?

it didn’t seem to do much but see the screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rnac2a22zyvtv5t/DC_remove_offset_on.png?dl=0

OK, that is what I what I was afraid of. Try “Split Stereo track”, Normalize > Remove DC Offset, then optionally “Make Stereo Track”

will try and report back! thanks!!