Audacity & Windows 8 & Allen and Heath

[LCC STAFF]

I have been trying to use Audacity on my windows 8 and have been having issues. There are times that the program won't record the whole time and stop on its own. I have also enountered issues with the program even recognizing my recording device (or cable). Sometimes it connects to my recording device and stome times it doesn't. I am connecting audacity to a ZED 24 channel Allen and Heath mixer.

Thanks!

[kozikowski]

Which Audacity? The whole number.
Koz

[kozikowski]

What's the computer? Model number? Laptop?
Which Virus Protection?
Is there anything magic about the halts? Always after 13 hours?
Koz

[LCC STAFF]

The comptuer we are using is the Lenovo U430 Touch. We are using Audactiy 2.0.5. Nothing consistant about the halts at all. I am wondering if there is compadibility issue amongst some of the softweare on either end... Audacity version, computer or channgel mixer.

We were currently recording with Audacity via the same mixing board a few weeks ago, but we were using a different comptuer and it was Windows 7. We used that set-up for serveral years without any issues. As soon as we transfered to the new comptuer, we haven't had conistency at all.

[kozikowski]

Aggressive virus protection can do that. Disconnect from the network and pause or close the virus software.
Koz

[kozikowski]

Sometimes it connects to my recording device and stome times it doesn't.

That's a darn good place to start. Audacity is a slave to whatever the computer is doing. If the computer "forgets" how to access its recording hardware, Audacity might well halt.

Go into Windows Control Panels and see if the device connection is consistent.

ZED 24 channel Allen and Heath mixer

That's probably not a USB mixer, right? How are you getting into the computer? An extraordinarily common mistake is to plug headphone out or Line-Out into a laptop Mic-In.

Koz

[LCC STAFF]

The ZED 24 does have a USB input. We are going into the laptop via USB port.

[steve]

Check the leads.
Try a different USB port.
Do not use a USB hub.
Avoid using demanding USB devices at the same time (a USB mouse / keyboard should be OK).
Check in the Windows Sound Control Panel that Windows has installed the device correctly.

Avoid running other applications at the same time as recording - if the computer is busy the USB can lose its connection. Watch out particularly for "hidden" programs such as Skype, Windows Update, Scheduled virus scans, scheduled updates.

[LCC STAFF]

Thanks for the help and advice! I will be testing this out asap.

Thanks.