Samson USB mic not fullyu working with audacity

[rapattack]

Hi in the previous install of ubuntustudio the usb mic fine but this it doesn't i have tried changing so many things for over a month now and getting no where. I can record in the first track but if i put music in the first track that is imported in then record with the mic in the second track it doesn't work. I did some research and apparently there is a common usb mic problem with this version of i am not sure wether they mean audacity or linux kernel...anyway any insights would be welcome

[steve]

if i put music in the first track that is imported in then record with the mic in the second track it doesn't work.

In what way "doesn't work"? Is there an error message? Does it record a flat line? Does your computer turn into jelly?

What settings are you using in the Device Toolbar .
Please also include the output from "Help menu > Device Info".
Do you have "Pulse Audio Volume Control" (pavucontrol) installed?

[rapattack]

The recording sort of freezes...but with each try things change so not sure what the latest is. Tried so many changes in the drop down boxes(me changing them) and nothing gets me results. I tried different combinations that i do not remember now as time passes. I also tried using different livedvds and found out this kernel has a problem with usb mics. Googled a lot and this is a common problem.
Then the other day i used (livedvd) Artistx which has a previous kernel and the sound setting are more simple. It worked. I think i used 'default' whatever. Hard to remember but it was way easier and did what i needed.
What i do is download and try livedvd distro that are multimedia so that audacity or whatever is already there so this a common issue with the current kernel whatever that is. So its hard for me to remember all details and i am no expert in linux. Its a pity that whoever is at fault is not fixing this issue.
Below is the device info on the current install that i have in audacity. Hope i put it in the right code thingo as i am not on this forum much and not ofay with what happens/works here.

I dont know much about pulse but i gather it is installed as it is in the drop down in audacity. I have selected it as found lots of stuff only suggesting it works with this issue. I dont really understand it all much but i did whatever i found and nothing works. Only the older distro(Artistx) worked so far

Code: Select all

==============================
Default capture device number: 13
Default playback device number: 13
==============================
Device ID: 0
Device name: HDA NVidia: VT1705 Analog (hw:0,0)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 1
Device name: HDA NVidia: VT1705 HP (hw:0,2)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 2
Device name: USB Device 0x46d:0x8c9: USB Audio (hw:1,0)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 1
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.032000
Low Output Latency: -1.000000
High Input Latency: 0.128000
High Output Latency: -1.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 3
Device name: Samson C01U: USB Audio (hw:2,0)
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 2
Output channels: 0
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: -1.000000
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: -1.000000
Supported Rates:
==============================
Device ID: 4
Device name: sysdefault
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 128
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: 0.042653
Low Output Latency: 0.042653
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    16000
    22050
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
==============================
Device ID: 5
Device name: front
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 6
Device name: surround40
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 7
Device name: surround41
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 8
Device name: surround50
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 128
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 9
Device name: surround51
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 10
Device name: surround71
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 6
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 11
Device name: pulse
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 32
Output channels: 32
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Device ID: 12
Device name: dmix
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 0
Output channels: 2
Low Input Latency: -1.000000
Low Output Latency: 0.042667
High Input Latency: -1.000000
High Output Latency: 0.042667
Supported Rates:
    48000
==============================
Device ID: 13
Device name: default
Host name: ALSA
Input channels: 32
Output channels: 32
Low Input Latency: 0.011610
Low Output Latency: 0.011610
High Input Latency: 0.046440
High Output Latency: 0.046440
Supported Rates:
    8000
    9600
    11025
    12000
    15000
    16000
    22050
    24000
    32000
    44100
    48000
    88200
    96000
    192000
==============================
Selected capture device: 3 - Samson C01U: USB Audio (hw:2,0)
Selected playback device: 13 - default
Supported Rates:
    8000
    11025
    22050
    44100
    48000
==============================
Available mixers:
==============================
Available capture sources:
0 - Rear Mic:0
1 - Front Mic:0
2 - Line:0
3 - Stereo Mixer:0
==============================
Available playback volumes:
0 - Master:0
1 - Headphone:0
2 - PCM:0
3 - Front:0
4 - Front Mic:0
5 - Front Mic Boost:0
6 - Surround:0
7 - Center:0
8 - LFE:0
9 - Line:0
10 - Rear Mic:0
11 - Rear Mic Boost:0
==============================
Capture volume is native
Playback volume is native

[steve]

Audacity is not well suited to running from a Live CD (which is probably why most Live CDs do not include Audacity).
When running a Live CD, typically what happens is that a virtual drive is created in RAM and Linux is installed onto the virtual disk. Of course this means that the "disk" is quite small. Audio recording (and video recording) requires a lot of disk space so this is never going to work well unless you mount a drive that is large enough for the audio data and configure Audacity to use it by default. The mounted drive needs to have reasonably quick access time (such as an internal hard drive rather than a USB drive).

If you can record more than 10 seconds of audio, then that shows that the hardware is working, and that is about the best that you can expect from a normal LiveCD.

[rapattack]

I used a livedvd. A multimedia distro. In this case as i said Artistx which has audacity on it by default...ok i only did a few seconds of recording to test but will try longer to see how i go...now by mounting another drive do u mean to save the output file as one? the one i export?

[rapattack]

Good news i did about 1.5 minutes of recording with a backing track and it exported nicely onto a thumb drive :0)

[steve]

now by mounting another drive do u mean to save the output file as one?

I'm referring to the Audacity temp directory.

Until you save the project, Audacity saves the audio data when recording in a "temp" directory, The location of the temp directory can be seen (and if necessary changed) in: Edit > Preferences > Directories.

If the Audacity temp directory is a folder in the virtual (RAM) disk, then amount of work you can do will be limited by the amount of free space on the RAM disk (probably not very much).

[rapattack]

Ah ok hadnt thought of that. Thanks for the advice :0)