Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Help for Audacity on macOS.
Forum rules
ImageThis forum is for Audacity on macOS 10.4 and later.
Please state which version of macOS you are using,
and the exact three-section version number of Audacity from "Audacity menu > About Audacity".


Audacity 1.2.x and 1.3.x are obsolete and no longer supported. If you still have those versions, please upgrade at https://www.audacityteam.org/download/.
The old forums for those versions are now closed, but you can still read the archives of the 1.2.x and 1.3.x forums.
Post Reply
Emerogork
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 11:56 pm
Operating System: Windows 10

Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by Emerogork » Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:36 pm

v 2.3.0 New installation.

The pics show two screen shots of the Audacity screen during playback.Note the the meter shows higher/overload volume when the volume output slide bar is set mid way but if I raise the slide bar level, the meter level drops to a normal/not overloaded image.

If this is not common, I am sure it may take a while to see what is happen
Attachments
Audacity Volume level 1.JPG
Audacity Volume level 1.JPG (129.42 KiB) Viewed 334 times
Audacity Volume level 2.JPG
Audacity Volume level 2.JPG (135.58 KiB) Viewed 334 times

steve
Site Admin
Posts: 80699
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Operating System: Linux *buntu

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by steve » Mon Feb 04, 2019 8:58 pm

Yes that's bizarre.
Another bizarre thing is that there's no recording device showing.
Does this have anything to do with the automatic-gain-control you were making? (viewtopic.php?p=354648#p354648)

Also strange how your version of Audacity looks like it's running on Windows (this is the Mac board). Was that unintended or are you running Audacity in Boot Camp?
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Emerogork
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 11:56 pm
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by Emerogork » Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:27 pm

On that AGC, I have been totally unable to find anyone who can help me see/adjust the system volume by code so that project is on the side getting moldy.

I neglected to mention that the actual volume output through the speakers correctly changes directly with the adjustment of the slide bar.

This is a new installation on a new computer and I have not been able to get an input device to be recognized by the software.

I record the audio, (24 hours at a clip) to a using a 7GB* USB thumb drive on Saturdays and Sundays on a different machine. For that computer, there is no change in audio or meter range in play back mode. The system with the strange output and missing input is the one I use to playback the weekend tracks.

*I recall being impressed when I went to a 1.2G full size hard drive from a 200M drive.... Now 6 times that much is on a chip smaller than my fingernail. AND COSTS LESS!

steve
Site Admin
Posts: 80699
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Operating System: Linux *buntu

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by steve » Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:20 am

Emerogork wrote:
Mon Feb 04, 2019 9:27 pm
I have not been able to get an input device to be recognized by the software.
What's the recording device?
Is it recognised by Windows? (are you on Windows?)
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Emerogork
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 11:56 pm
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by Emerogork » Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:50 am

Windows 10.
I am playing podcasts from the Internet using Internet Explorer.
A Juke box program calls the URLs according to the schedule and they play through the speakers..
The last link is the connection to Audacity which seems to be the culprit.
I wonder if that fix will also take care, or explain, the VU meter problem.

steve
Site Admin
Posts: 80699
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Operating System: Linux *buntu

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by steve » Tue Feb 05, 2019 8:31 am

Emerogork wrote:
Tue Feb 05, 2019 1:50 am
A Juke box program calls the URLs according to the schedule and they play through the speakers..
The last link is the connection to Audacity...
So the "Juke box program" is acting as a kind of "virtual sound card"? I wonder how it is doing that - what's the program?
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Emerogork
Posts: 314
Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 11:56 pm
Operating System: Windows 10

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by Emerogork » Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:16 am

The Jukebox is Excel with VB code in the developer. It is about 1000 lines of code with many features beyond just being a jukebox.
It works as designed on another computer so this problem has to be between Audacity and the sound card.
I am beginning to think that the fact that no input is defined could be a flag to the answer.

steve
Site Admin
Posts: 80699
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:43 am
Operating System: Linux *buntu

Re: Bizarre activity of the VU meter VS playback volume

Post by steve » Wed Feb 06, 2019 9:39 am

Emerogork wrote:
Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:16 am
so this problem has to be between Audacity and the sound card.
I am beginning to think that the fact that no input is defined could be a flag to the answer.
The fact that there is no input defined, does indicate that there's a problem with the sound system. Because Audacity has to work on many different kinds of computers and multiple operating systems, it requires that the sound system complies full with technical specifications - Audacity is intolerant of sound system errors.
Emerogork wrote:
Wed Feb 06, 2019 4:16 am
The Jukebox is Excel with VB code in the developer.
Is this something you wrote yourself?
How does it connect to the sound system?
If the program outputs to the speakers, how do you capture to disk?
9/10 questions are answered in the FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)

Post Reply