Audacity Forum

So far we've been struggling with Self Recording which is a chore to troubleshoot because by definition, all the sound services, both directions, have to be running properly and at once in order to work. I would kill for you to split the system up and record something that didn't originate on the internet or already on your hard drive. Do you have an iPod or other music player? Portable Radio, Portable CD Player, anything standalone that makes music with a headphone connection? A guitar would work. Another computer with a Headphone Out.

Plug that into your sound card with an 1/8" to 1/8" jumper cable and make a Straight, Vanilla, Uncomplex recording. Does That Work? I expect that to fail. Even if you mismatch the sound volumes and produce overload or other distortion, those problems are perfectly normal and we know exactly how to prevent them. If your personal recording runs off-speed, then we've nailed it down to a bad sound card. Full Stop.

Koz

BartmanJax wrote:With it being a new computer with an I7, Quad Core, 3.2gHz and 12GB ram with a 120gb SSD drive, I don't think system resources are an issue. My old one (a couple of weeks ago) was an old P4, 3.02gHz single core with 1GB RAM and a WHOLE LOT MORE BS software installed ran Audacity just fine. The big difference is the old one was XP Pro (32 bit) and now I'm running W7 Pro 64b bit. I have almost ZERO software installed on this new one.

What sound device did the old computer user?

Do I take it the new computer has no motherboard sound device?

There is nothing to stop you buying a cable and connecting audio out on the new computer to line-in and recording from line-in. It would show if the line-in is recording correctly.

But since Windows Sound Recorder can record OK, I think the problem must be with Audacity. There is good sense to download the YouTube videos or use Sound Leech. You get better quality even if your stereo mix was recording properly in Audacity, no system beeps, and it is usually faster than real-time recording if you download.



Gale

kozikowski wrote:So far we've been struggling with Self Recording which is a chore to troubleshoot because by definition, all the sound services, both directions, have to be running properly and at once in order to work. I would kill for you to split the system up and record something that didn't originate on the internet or already on your hard drive. Do you have an iPod or other music player? Portable Radio, Portable CD Player, anything standalone that makes music with a headphone connection? A guitar would work. Another computer with a Headphone Out.

Plug that into your sound card with an 1/8" to 1/8" jumper cable and make a Straight, Vanilla, Uncomplex recording. Does That Work? I expect that to fail. Even if you mismatch the sound volumes and produce overload or other distortion, those problems are perfectly normal and we know exactly how to prevent them. If your personal recording runs off-speed, then we've nailed it down to a bad sound card. Full Stop.

Koz

Koz,

I don't have a that cable, but I'll get one in the next few days and give that a try and let you know what happens.

Fingers crossed....

Gale Andrews wrote:

BartmanJax wrote:With it being a new computer with an I7, Quad Core, 3.2gHz and 12GB ram with a 120gb SSD drive, I don't think system resources are an issue. My old one (a couple of weeks ago) was an old P4, 3.02gHz single core with 1GB RAM and a WHOLE LOT MORE BS software installed ran Audacity just fine. The big difference is the old one was XP Pro (32 bit) and now I'm running W7 Pro 64b bit. I have almost ZERO software installed on this new one.

What sound device did the old computer user?

Do I take it the new computer has no motherboard sound device?

There is nothing to stop you buying a cable and connecting audio out on the new computer to line-in and recording from line-in. It would show if the line-in is recording correctly.

But since Windows Sound Recorder can record OK, I think the problem must be with Audacity. There is good sense to download the YouTube videos or use Sound Leech. You get better quality even if your stereo mix was recording properly in Audacity, no system beeps, and it is usually faster than real-time recording if you download.

Gale

Gale, my old PC used a "Sound Blaster" sound card.

The new PC has on board music, but the RealTek drivers SUCK! I spent DAYS trying to get it just to play ANYTHING through the speakers. When I finally gave up on that, I tried my old Sound Blaster card, but it was so old, there weren't any drivers for it for Win7 x64. Got the new card, popped it in, updated the drivers and PRESTO, everything played just fine.

I'm to the point now that I'm just going to use either Sound Leech or Sound Recorder to capture what I need, import that into Audacity, make any necessary edits and then export the files.

It was fun learning though. If you have any additional words of wisdom, please let me know.

Bart

Bart,

It is difficult to draw any conclusions here. Clearly if the Realtek device did not play, something is not right. Have you been to the motherboard manufacturer's site to obtain Windows 7 64-bit audio drivers for that motherboard?

It would be good for you to experiment with that cable to see if other inputs are the same in Audacity.

Until then we'll probably have to write Sabrent off as one of those cards Audacity has trouble with.



Gale

Gale Andrews wrote:Bart,

It is difficult to draw any conclusions here. Clearly if the Realtek device did not play, something is not right. Have you been to the motherboard manufacturer's site to obtain Windows 7 64-bit audio drivers for that motherboard?

It would be good for you to experiment with that cable to see if other inputs are the same in Audacity.

Until then we'll probably have to write Sabrent off as one of those cards Audacity has trouble with.



Gale

Gale,

The Realtek device drivers not playing well with the ASUS X58 board is a known issue. Those that have used the board, some of them have gotten several RMA's to replace the board and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. I frankly don't want to go through the hassle to uninstalling and re-installing the motherboard just to get the onboard sound to work. It's just to much of a PITA!

Regarding the Sabrent sound card, yeah, that could be the entire problem. As opposed to spending $80-$120 on a "real" card, I opted for something that didn't have all the "bells and whistles" and would just play music (in stereo). Maybe one day, I'll upgrade my sound card, but at this time, it just isn't one of those high priority things to do.

Thanks for all your guidance and input.