why do the waveforms I'm recording look like this...?

[lettuce_prey]

I have trolled the forums, FAQ, Tips & Tutorials yet I cannot figure out why they are looking like these pictures:

zoomed in some:

2.jpg (22.61 KiB) Viewed 1389 times

and much closer in (notice how the wave is very "squared"):

3.jpg (22.9 KiB) Viewed 1390 times

I only started using Audacity recently, and I do remember the first audio I captured (I'm converting vinyl) looked "normal." When I say normal I mean like this (this image captured using Cool Edit Pro 2.0):

0.jpg (71.87 KiB) Viewed 1389 times

I very much would like to make Audacity my primary DAW, but in all the years I've used Cool Edit Pro I've never seen a waveform that I recorded look like these square-shaped waveforms that Audacity is producing now. I'm not looking for a physics lesson at this point; I only want to determine if the issue I'm having is normal or not & what I can do to change it.
It makes it really difficult to isolate & remove single pops or clicks as they are usually identified as a vertical line that stands out against a more "sine-wave-looking" wave pattern. What gives? I'm thinking it's a setting that I've gotten the wrong way, but it could be something else altogether I guess.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[kozikowski]

You're capturing vinyl on a new USB turntable? Those show up here a lot. They're throw-away turntables and sometimes you have to throw them away a little too early.

Describe the system and how it's connected.

Koz

[lettuce_prey]

hey, thanks for answering so quickly!

OK, so here's my system in a nutshell:
turntable = Technics SL D2,
connected via RCA cables to TCC TC-750LC preamp,
which from there goes via RCA cables goes into M-audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard.

OS running is Windows 2000. Keep in mind this only happens in Audacity. CEP 2.0 doesn't produce the same sort of results.

thanks again for the rapid response!

[kozikowski]

Are you capturing from your new USB turntable? They're throw-away devices and sometimes you need to throw them away before you're done.

Koz

[Irish]

M-audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard.

I seem to remember seeing other posts which said that M-Audio usually uses ASIO drivers, which Audacity doesn't support.

Could this be the problem?

PO'L

[waxcylinder]

Koz,

From L-P's description of their setup it doedsn't look like a USB setup at all :
The Tecnics SL-D2 is a direct drive conventional TT (looks like it may be a cheaper copy of the SL1200 that Technics produced).
L-P is feeding this to phono pre-amp and thence on to a (an upgrade?) on-board soundcard - all connected with RCA cabling.

So USB doesn't look like the culprit here.

I'm racking my brains to try to remember a thread posting from a while back when IIRC the poster had very similar waveforms - I can't for the life of me recall it for now though.

WC

[waxcylinder]

M-audio Audiophile 2496 soundcard.

I seem to remember seeing other posts which said that M-Audio usually uses ASIO drivers, which Audacity doesn't support.

Could this be the problem?

PO'L

Could be - see this thread: http://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic ... 496#p50978

WC

[lettuce_prey]

right, USB is not even in the line-up here. (Does Technics even make a USB turntable??)

I'll look into the ASIO thing -- maybe just use Window drivers, although that seems like it might just hamstring the card in some way...perhaps not. Any other ideas/thoughts appreciated as well.

[billw58]

Here's the page for that product:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/A ... e2496.html

It say's it's compatible MME, Soundmanager and DirectX, as well as ASIO.

-- Bill

[steve]

I have trolled the forums, FAQ, Tips & Tutorials yet I cannot figure out why they are looking like these pictures:

No cigar for you guys

If you look at the vertical scale on the track, it is showing "dB"
This is the "Waveform (dB)" view of the track.

Most audio programs show "dB" as a logarithmic scale. In Audacity, you get a "normal" (logarithmic) view with a scale that reads +1 to -1
If you switch to "Waveform (dB)" view then the "dB" intervals are spaced linearly. This makes the waveform look weird (exactly like your screen shot).

You can change the track display by clicking on the track name and selecting "Waveform" in the drop down menu instead of "Waveform (dB)".

I'm guessing that this problem is happening all of the time? This would indicate that you have inadvertently set the display to "Waveform (dB)" as the default.
To change it back, go into Preferences (from the Edit menu).
On the "Tracks" tab, set the default display to "Waveform".