HELP - set up to RECORD streaming on Audacity Beta problems

[realeyes]

Hi, PLEASE can someone help me set up my Audacity Beta 1.3.13 so that I can record live stream internally as an MP3 – I’ve had 3 days of sheer frustration. Lame V3.98.3 is showing installed okay in Library. I have tried many instructions BUT get stuck as the file window instruction examples show via Audacity preferences with having ‘Audio I/O, Quality, File Formats, Spectrograms, Directories, Interface etc’, are nowhere in my Audacity preferences screen. I have zero options at the top of the screen – only to the ‘left’ saying ‘devices, playback, recording, quality, interface, tracks etc. So instructions useless until I find the top options.
Also, are there Beta instructions ‘somewhere’ of what preferences are needed to be clicked on so that one can record internally rather than externally using mic & speakers??? For example should I have MME or Microsoft Sound Mapper out & In? The old version of Audacity did this adding terrible external sound.
I am so frustrated, I have 5 friends having the same problem – none of us can get this to work – We are all totally lost - reinstalled and uninstalled too many times to count – nothing is working properly. Utube instructions again show different options that we cannot find. I am using win7, 32.
Any help would be most appreciated.

[realeyes]

Just to clarify - I am not getting the screen in 'edit' preferences' I see in instructions, I have no top options - only to the left with different titles. I have found some of them tucked inside, but need to know where I can find how to set up all the preferences to record internally off a streaming like utube. I cannot record anything at the moment on Audacity. Any advice would be great - I've exhausted utube, lame and audacity instructions - its seems the latest Beta version for win7 has a slightly different set up. I can't find instructions anywhere - really hope you guys can help - Please....

[steve]

You may be looking at the old (1.2.x) instructions.
Here's some instructions for Audacity 1.3.x http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel

Note also that the standard Windows installation of Audacity includes the manual (in the Help menu).

[Gale Andrews]

Just to add there is zero point these days recording YouTube with Audacity. There are dozens of programs online to download YouTube videos or audio therefrom direct to your computer without quality loss. Just search Google. Of course, you accept the copyright implications of recording or downloading material from YouTube or other sites.



Gale

[realeyes]

Hello,
Thanks for the replies - I have gone through the instructions - still no recording either via microphone or internal???? I checked through my 'sound devices' via controll pannel and it says I have 'High Definition Audio devices (S/PDIF) in 'play'. When i go into 'record' it only shows microphone??? Am I missing something? How do I find where my soundcard is - I am a computer novice.

Tried recording straight via microphone - still nothing.

I use to use the old version of Audacity on this same computer and it worked well via the microphone. I re-tried this again with an installation yesterday (Yes i know its imcompatablt with win 7) yet it was able to record via mic - but the new LAME file would not piggy back onto Audacity. So have un-installed this.

Please, is there a thread that tells me what exact 'preferences' in 'Edit' I need to have clicked on for it to record anything on Audacity Beta? I have five friends also having the same difficulties - all we want to do is to be able to record audio occasionally when our teacher does a live streaming. I know one person who has managed this using Audacity Beta on Win7 so it is possible.

Any help would be great - thanks

[Gale Andrews]

I checked through my 'sound devices' via controll pannel and it says I have 'High Definition Audio devices (S/PDIF) in 'play'. When i go into 'record' it only shows microphone???

Please read the instructions:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... es#vistacp

It is expected that "Recording" in "Sound" will only show "microphone". Windows disables all the other inputs. So as the help says you have to right-click over "Microphone" and choose "Show Disabled Devices". That should list more devices. It may or may not list "stereo mix", "what U hear" or some other device meant for recording computer playback. Then right-click over each newly listed device in turn and choose "Enable". Right-click over the device you want to use now and choose "Set as Default Device". Then launch Audacity, set "Host" to "MME" and "Recording Device" to "Microsoft Sound Mapper - Input". Then it should record the device that you made default in Windows.

There is no guarantee any of your friends' sound devices have a means of recording computer playback. Manufacturers often disable recording computer playback now due to piracy concerns. If all you want is YouTube I would simply download the videos to your computer using Freecorder or similar.

The new LAME file would not piggy back onto Audacity. So have un-installed this.

LAME is for exporting from Audacity as MP3. It has no other function.



Gale

[realeyes]

Hi Gales,
Thank you so much for replying with your advice. Okay I have made a little progress....

I have re-checked from Control panel, sounds etc) on 'record' and everything is ticked on ‘disabled devices’ & ‘disconnect devices’ as suggested – BUT nothing new shows up other than the original microphone. Microphone is ‘default Device’ with levels turned up high, 2 channel 16 bit, 44100Hz. The options you describe are not on my laptop i.e. stereo mix, ‘what u hear’ etc – also no new soundcard etc.

When I ‘right click’ microphone, then go into properties, below this it shows ‘controller information’ and says I have a ‘High definition Audio Device’ – going into this property it says the ‘device type’ is a ‘sound, video & games controller’; location 0 (internal High Definition Audio Bus’; This device is working properly; Drivers up to date.’ Also in microphone properties, there is a tab called 'listen' - I ticked 'listen to this device', it sounded awful - so clicked this off - but things then changed for the better.....

Yes I have set Audacity preferences to ‘host’ to ‘MME’ and recording device to ‘Microsoft sound Mapper’, ‘Imput’ – also ‘Microsoft sound mapper’ for ‘output’ – not sure if this is correct, please advise if this should be on speakers instead.

The good news – I can now (somehow???) record via microphone onto Audacity, its got lots of feedback and latency – yet it works. I have also recorded via mic from an mp3 player this too works.

Question: How do I set Audacity up to record directly (internally) what my laptop is receiving off the internet instead of going via the mic? Have tried connecting via headphones socket with a cable directly into mic – but only get loud machine gun noises. Are there preferences in Edit (Audacity) I need to adjust to direct it to record not via the mic? Or is my 1 year old laptop one of those machines that just won’t allow to record internally?

I downloaded Freecorder which does record internally, but I would prefer to use Audacity so that I can then edit it etc with ease.

Thanks so much for your time – your advice is a great help.

[steve]

How do I set Audacity up to record directly (internally) what my laptop is receiving off the internet instead of going via the mic?

It looks like your computer does not support the "Stereo Mix" option, so you are left with the various workarounds described here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... trol_Panel

I tried Freecorder, but hated it.
Another option is to use "Total Recorder" http://www.highcriteria.com/ It's not free, but at under $20 it's not expensive (free trial available).

[Gale Andrews]

I tried Freecorder, but hated it.
Another option is to use "Total Recorder" http://www.highcriteria.com/ It's not free, but at under $20 it's not expensive (free trial available).

There are *dozens* of free tools for downloading YouTube videos that don't pose a security risk to the user:
http://tinyurl.com/3l34wm5

Freecorder 3 (not the current 4) was IMO a really good playback recording tool with ability to save to WAV and record when audio was muted (something Win Vista/7 people would appreciate). But if you found an old Freecorder 3 on some other software site, it used to refuse to work as soon as it contacted home and realised v4 was available.

I notice Appian have now started offering v3 on their own site so it is possible it might now work. I'll post here if it works for me and it's as good as v3 used to be.


Gale

[Gale Andrews]

I have set Audacity preferences to ‘host’ to ‘MME’ and recording device to ‘Microsoft sound Mapper’, ‘Imput’ – also ‘Microsoft sound mapper’ for ‘output’ – not sure if this is correct, please advise if this should be on speakers instead.

"SoundMapper- output" will be the same as choosing "Speakers" if "Speakers" are the default playback device in Windows.

I can now (somehow???) record via microphone onto Audacity, its got lots of feedback and latency – yet it works. I have also recorded via mic from an mp3 player this too works.

To stop any high latency playback of the microphone recording, turn off Transport > Software Playthrough in Audacity. Also right-click over the mic in "Sound" > Properties: "Listen" and make sure "Listen to this device" is still unchecked.

I downloaded Freecorder which does record internally, but I would prefer to use Audacity so that I can then edit it etc with ease.

You lose (some) sound quality by recording into Audacity, because Audacity does not capture digitally from the web browser (or from any other application). If I want to edit the audio from YouTube videos, I download the video (see above), install FFmpeg then drag the video file into Audacity, which extracts the audio to PCM. At that point the audio is at the same quality as that in the video uploaded to YouTube. Not so if you record the audio into Audacity.

PS The fact that Device Manager says the sound device drivers are up-to-date doesn't necessarily mean you have the best drivers. If the drivers say "Microsoft" you should go to the motherboard or sound device manufacturer's web site to look for manufacturers' drivers. See:
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Updat ... ce_Drivers





Gale