Audacity does not recognise Blue Yeti mic as recording device

[sliute]

Hi,


I'm using Audacity 2.3.3 (PPA version) on Ubuntu 18.04. The hardware is Dell XPS 15" and a USB Blue Yeti mic that works perfectly with Skype.

However, Audacity only recognises it as a playback device: 'Yeti Stereo Microphone: USB Audio (hw:1,0)'. The mic is not available as a recording device option. Only the internal, headphone and headset mics are present, each via default, pulse, sysdefault and HDA Intel PCH. I use the default/only host, ALSA.

Any idea how I could make it work?


Cheers!

[kozikowski]

The Yeti is supposed to be able to Plug and Play with generic settings on most computers. However, I have had Stereo/Mono crosses get messed up.

I don't remember the failure in detail, but I told Audacity to expect a mono microphone and instead, the microphone delivered in stereo. It didn't just create a minor format error, the microphone actually vanished (electrically).

There is one other item. Plug the Yeti in first, let it settle and then run the software. No, I don't think that's it, either, but we shouldn't ignore any condition or setting.

Koz

[sliute]

Hi Koz!


Thanks for the quick reply, much appreciated!

You are correct, as per your reply and per various other sources I've consulted before posting, the mic needs to be plugged in before Audacity is started. But that alone didn't solve my particular situation.

Another thing I read about was going for Transport -> Rescan Audio Devices. That didn't work either.

But, as I was simply going through all of Audacity's menu options, I've (just now) run Help -> Diagnostics -> Audio Device Info. That did its thing and shown a popup list of devices. After that, my Yeti mic appeared as a recording device and I could finally use it. Not quite sure I follow why and how it happened, but it worked for me.


Many thanks again!

Stefan

[fcwest]

Did you ever find a solution to this issue? I'm having the exact same problem.

[steve]

Did you ever find a solution to this issue? I'm having the exact same problem.

Try "Rescan Audio Devices" (https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/transport_menu.html)

[rtalk]

I am using Ubuntu 19.10 Desktop and Audacity 2.3.3 (installed from the Ubuntu software repository).

Audacity only sees the "default" device in both recording and playback. I tried using the Transport menu's "Rescan Audio Devices" and it did nothing. Therefore, my Blue Yeti is not recognized.

Even though the Yeti does not show up in the Device Toolbar, I can record a track with my mic. But then I get the dreaded "plays back at way too fast of a speed (sounds like a chipmunk)" problem.

Is there a better Linux software for recording with my Blue Yeti that I should be using? (It seems Audacity has had these two problems for a long time.)
Any advice appreciated!

[rtalk]

In Ubuntu's Settings application under Sound, I changed my Input Device to be "Microphone - Yeti Stereo Microphone". That cleared up the "playback sounds like a chipmunk" problem but the device toolbar still does not see the Yeti microphone as a recording or playback device (even when I use Transport ==> Rescan Audio Devices. It just lists "default" as the only choice for both recording and playback.

So, I guess it is useable but it gives me pause if all of the Yeti's capabilities and sound patterns will be recognized and useful.

I wish I knew how it worked for user sliute.

[steve]

I am using Ubuntu 19.10 Desktop and Audacity 2.3.3 (installed from the Ubuntu software repository).

Do you use PulseAudio? (It is the default sound server in Ubuntu). With a properly working default Ubuntu installation, you should at least see an option for "Pulse" in addition to "default".

(I'm installing Ubuntu 19.10 in a VM now - it looks like it will take some time)

[rtalk]

I am only seeing the ALSA option. I ran:
pulseaudio --start
from the terminal yet I still only have the ALSA option.

[rtalk]

I also had to install the Pulse Audio volume control
sudo install pavucontrol
as it did not come preinstalled with Ubuntu 19.10 Desktop.

However, I still only get ALSA as a choice for Host and "default" sole choice for record and playback devices.

Maybe it is a 19.10 quirk?