How to Upgrade to 2.0.4

[BuffoBill]

I'm new to Audacity, but I have used it a little. I have version 2.0.3 installed on my Windows 8 64 Bit PC, and I'm thinking about upgrading to version 2.0.4. I have read some of the post and I saw one were windows crashes with Blue Screen of Death, but they don't say on what Windows Op. Sys.? Also... if I upgrade to 2.0.4, what is the best method for doing so? Should I uninstall 2.0.3 and do a fresh install of 2.0.4? Or can I just install 2.0.4 over the top of 2.0.3? And if I install over the top, will my Lame MP3 Encoder plug-in still work?

Thanks for your help!
Bill

[kozikowski]

I would so stay with your working 2.0.3. 2.0.5 is under testing and may be more useful than 2.0.4.

Koz

[BuffoBill]

Thanks for the advice Koz! I'm having enough issues with Windows 8. I will take a wait and see approach for now until the bugs get worked out of 2.0.4.

[BuffoBill]

Hello again! Not sure if Koz or Trebor remember me, but I have a couple of Audacity questions that I need help with. But first of all... let me personally thank you both again for the help you provided me with a year ago, I really learned so much about mastering and fixing errors.

But what I’m wanting to achieve now, is to be able to simultaneous multi-track in Audacity. Currently I am running version 2.0.3, however I see that there is a Windows download for Audacity 2.0.6 installer? I have not upgraded my current version since I talked with you last year.

So first off I am assuming that I will need to upgrade the application? But I also asked this same question back on Monday Oct 21, 2013 12:19 PM, and Koz suggested I stay with the current version I had, because of stability issues. And really... if I can achieve what I’d like to with my current version 2.0.3, then I’m OK with that. I don’t need any additional headaches running the latest and greatest version. But then again, I may need to in order to accomplish what the recording task I have a hand? But I want your input before I do so...

I am running Audacity on my 64 Bit Windows 8.1 Asus Laptop. Processor is an Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU 202M @ 2.40GHz, Memory 4.00 GB (3.89 GB usable). I also own a Roland Octa-Capture sound card that will allow me to simultaneous record up to 8-10 inputs. But I need to be able to preset each recording track to its own individual channel. And then be able to record all channels and tracks at the same time. Can I do that with the current version or the upgraded version? And if so... how do I set up each track channel to correspond to my sound card?

In the past all I have experience in is, simple single track recording and Audacity has worked great for that. But I want to be able to capture a live band performance. So that’s why I need to know how to set up Audacity with my Roland Octa-Capture sound card. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Buffalo Bill

[steve]

Audacity 2.0.6 is the current version. There have been many bug fixes and feature enhancements since 2.0.3 so I would definitely recommend upgrading.
If you used the recommended installer for 2.0.3, then you will be able to simply run the recommended installer for 2.0.6 to upgrade to the current version.

Whether or not Audacity will support multiple channels for your sound card depends on the sound card drivers. Audacity does not support ASIO drivers out of the box (due to licensing issues. See http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... .html#asio). For Audacity (release version) to support multichannel recording, there must be multi-channel Windows (WDM) drivers installed.

Audacity does not have "channel mapping" for recording, thus channel 1 of the device will always be the first recorded channel, channel 2 of the device the second, and so on. Thus, if you wish to record channel 6 of the device you must record channels 1, 2, 3, 4 ,5 and 6. Any channels that you don't want may be deleted after recording.

[BuffoBill]

Thank you Steve, I will look into Roland's sound card drivers, but I am still hesitant to upgrade to the newer version of Audacity. My concern is more on the Windows 8.1 Op. Sys. side of the equation, rather than the bugs I may or may not encounter with Audacity. But I will definitely keep it under consideration! I might create a Restore Point' so if things get funky, I can just 'Roll Back' the new upgrade/install.

Even when I upgraded from Win. 8 to 8.1, I was not impressed with Microsoft and how they handled that. I works OK now... but for a couple of months until they patched just made things more difficult than they needed to be. Consequently, I still have not upgraded my other computer to Win8.1, it still has the original Op. Sys. Let alone upgrade to the new Windows 10. All the drivers for the different Apps get funked up and stuff...

But I do really need to read some documentation, so I can make a decision to take the plunge or not? And you say a “multi-channel Windows (WDM) drivers need to be installed. And that will be determined whether or not Audacity supports multiple channels for my sound card depends on the sound card drivers?

I can tell you that for single channel/track recording t works great. I just could not see how to map multiple channels, so that all my sources linked up correctly? I wonder if all I have to do is virtually select all of the channels, and then press Record/Pause until I have enough tracks to match my inputs? I’ll have to give that a try tomorrow. And... one last little thing... I hope, and then I will let you go.

I was recording a single track and I wanted to use a ‘Click Track’ to stay on beat, but I was not able to hear the ‘Click Track’ while I recorded my instrument? Is there a setting or dialog box that needs to be checked of on the ‘Recording’ or ‘Playback’ tab? For recording I checked off ‘Overdub: Play other tracks while recording a new one.” But that did not work for some reason. However, when I playback my instrument track, I can hear it while I add my vocal track? I even tried the other dialog box ‘Software Playthrough: Listen while recording or monitoring new track (uncheck when recording “stereo mix”) And I did record only in mono. And the ‘Playback’ dialog box looks pretty simple. So... I don’t understand why I could not hear that ‘Click Track’ and my guitar at the same time?

OK! That’s enough for today. Sorry if I rattled on and on...

I really do appreciate all the support you folks provide for the Audacity application, you truly are all awesome!

Thanks again!
Buffo

[steve]

I am still hesitant to upgrade to the newer version of Audacity

No need to be hesitant. If you needed to go back to the old version (which I very much doubt), then the old version is still available and can be installed "over the top" of the current version to "downgrade" back to the old version.

And you say a “multi-channel Windows (WDM) drivers need to be installed. And that will be determined whether or not Audacity supports multiple channels for my sound card depends on the sound card drivers?

If your sound card works at all with Audacity, then you already have standard Windows drivers installed. You may not have the latest drivers, or the best drivers, but you already have working Windows drivers, so don't worry about that yet.

I can tell you that for single channel/track recording t works great.

That's a very good start

I wonder if all I have to do is virtually select all of the channels, and then press Record/Pause until I have enough tracks to match my inputs?

Yes you should try that. Let us know what happens.
Audacity has settings for the number of channels that it will record in the device toolbar.

"Software Playthrough" should be OFF (not selected).
"Overdub" should be ON (selected).

[Gale Andrews]

If you have not already been there, here are the latest updates and drivers for your card: http://www.roland.co.uk/products/octa-c ... downloads/.

2.0.6 will have a later version of the PortAudio audio I/O "engine" that Audacity uses. You should use 2.0.6 for that reason if nothing else.

I wonder if all I have to do is virtually select all of the channels, and then press Record/Pause until I have enough tracks to match my inputs?

Yes you should try that. Let us know what happens.
Audacity has settings for the number of channels that it will record in the device toolbar.

What will probably happen if Audacity doesn't support multi-channel recording with your device is that you will have different devices to choose from in Device Toolbar, one device for each pair of channels. If that's the case, Audacity will only show a choice of 1 channel or 2 channels for recording.

If there is a "multi" device or similar listed in Device Toolbar, try choosing that. Try Windows DirectSound host in Device Toolbar if MME host does not enable multi-channel recording. Alpha builds of Audacity usually have more hosts enabled that might enable your device to record multi-channel without ASIO, but you should think carefully before using alpha builds.

Gale

[BuffoBill]

Hi Steve and Gale,
Thank you again both for your fast replies... OK, just so I’m clear on the order of the steps I need to perform, to upgrade Audacity... correct me if I’m wrong. First, upgrade Audacity 2.0.6 the current version with this or the Zip file link; http://www.fosshub.com/Audacity.html/au ... -2.0.6.exe

Second, upgrade the latest updates and drivers for my Roland Octa-Capture sound card at; http://www.roland.co.uk/products/octa-c ... downloads/. Next, reboot again and I should be good to go? Steve did mention that there have been significant improvements since I first loaded the Audacity 2.0.3 version I currently am running. However, he did not mention if there were any additional plug-ins or other downloads that I might need too? So... with that said, I’ll just wait for your GO FOR IT’ signal.

PS: I did try to virtually multi-select my I/O from the drop down menu. I tried ‘Shift’ and ‘Ctrl’, and I can only select two channels at a time. 1-2, 3-4, and so on. However.. on the Input side I have an option called, ‘Main’, but I do not see that choice in the 'Output' drop down menu. But my understanding of the terminology of ‘Main’ is for the speaker output? It’s confusing that Audacity would show this choice under the ‘Input’ drop down, and not the ‘Output’ drop down. However, once I have completed the new upgrade I’ll try this experiment again. Maybe with current Roland Octa-Capture drivers and the version 2.0.6 of Audacity, that issue and the drop down menu might look different?

Thanks again for helping get me through this..
Buffo

[Gale Andrews]

Hi Steve and Gale,
Thank you again both for your fast replies... OK, just so I’m clear on the order of the steps I need to perform, to upgrade Audacity... correct me if I’m wrong. First, upgrade Audacity 2.0.6 the current version with this or the Zip file link; http://www.fosshub.com/Audacity.html/au ... -2.0.6.exe

Second, upgrade the latest updates and drivers for my Roland Octa-Capture sound card at; http://www.roland.co.uk/products/octa-c ... downloads/. Next, reboot again and I should be good to go? Steve did mention that there have been significant improvements since I first loaded the Audacity 2.0.3 version I currently am running. However, he did not mention if there were any additional plug-ins or other downloads that I might need too? So... with that said, I’ll just wait for your GO FOR IT’ signal.

There are no extra mandatory downloads, but you will notice if you install 2.0.6 into the same folder that 2.0.3 is in that GVerb will be removed from the "Plug-Ins" folder. This is because there is a new "Reverb" effect built into Audacity instead.

Also if you use FFmpeg (for supporting extra import and export formats) you will have to upgrade it to FFmpeg 2.2.2 from http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/fa ... tml#ffdown.

I did try to virtually multi-select my I/O from the drop down menu. I tried ‘Shift’ and ‘Ctrl’, and I can only select two channels at a time. 1-2, 3-4, and so on. However.. on the Input side I have an option called, ‘Main’, but I do not see that choice in the 'Output' drop down menu. But my understanding of the terminology of ‘Main’ is for the speaker output? It’s confusing that Audacity would show this choice under the ‘Input’ drop down, and not the ‘Output’ drop down. However, once I have completed the new upgrade I’ll try this experiment again. Maybe with current Roland Octa-Capture drivers and the version 2.0.6 of Audacity, that issue and the drop down menu might look different?

From a quick look online the device's MAIN output jacks are OUTPUT 1/2, so for the computer that would be an input.

But yes I think you will just have to try it.


Gale