Playback Sound Not right

[wwhkk]

I've used Audacity for a long while on an xp machine which recently died. I installed 1.3 Beta on a new Acer laptop with Realtek HD. The Acer (7736G) says it has "Dolby Home Theatre Virtual Surround" - not sure how that relates to Realtek - sorry! Sound through the speakers is fine normally, but when I record in Audacity using Stereo mix & play it back it sounds like a pseudo surround effect - very "hollow".

Any thoughts?

[kozikowski]

Stereo Mix is a little messy to make work. You could be recording multiple pathways at once. Say you want to record a YouTube segment, but you leave your microphone on at the same time. It's easy to do. Audacity will record the internet sound and also your speakers as picked up by your microphone -- late which gives you the echo effect. You need to make sure everything is turned off in addition to Stereo Mix turned on.

Windows Control Panel
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... trol_Panel

Koz

[wwhkk]

Thanks - I've definitely got microphone disabled - only Stereo Mix selected.

I think I'll try the suggestion to use a cable from Line Out to Line In or the Freecorder suggestion.

Ta.

[Irish]

This may be a bit of a long shot, but what happens if you disable all the "Dolby Virtual Sound" effects in your sound card, and then record Stereo Mix? The controls should be in Control Panel > Sounds and Audio.

It's just possible that your sound card is adding the surround effects to what you are recording and then adding them again when you play back.

PO'L

[wwhkk]

A long shot which worked perfectly - you're a star! I couldn't find it originally but it was in the Properties of the Speakers. It's in the Dolby tab - kept the Audio enhancer but deselected Surround Sound (didn't like it anyway). Recordings working perfectly now.

Many thanks.