input device selection

[MrTutt]

In the past I used Audacity on a PC in a hit and miss effort. Last year I got a MBP and installed Audacity 1.2 whatever, but never got around to using it with the new computer. Last night I decided to try recording from a cassette deck using an Xitel INPort USB device I had used before. A little research suggested the Mac would recognize it although the software disk I had was for Windows only. That was my choice rather than straight plug in, which is suggest in a post I found in this forum, because the MBP13 only has on audio port By using the USB I can still monitor the effort on the external speakers I use. I fiddled with this and that and finally got the selection "INPort" to show up in the input device selector box and Build-in output in the output box. The Mac recognized the INPort in the Sound Preferences box and I selected that. Everything worked as it should and I recorded a tape.

Then I went in to edit the tracks--take out dead air front and back and between sides of the cassette, and label the tracks so they would export as separate entities. During that process, while trying to figure out how to do this from the tutorials and the manual, I realized there was a newer version of Audacity, the 1.3.x Beta, so I downloaded and installed that, ditching the old version when finished. I think, although I wouldn't swear to it, that I recorded another tape with the new version before I got tired of fiddling with the track labels and as it was late, I decided to wait.

Tonight, I decided to record another tape before figuring out the next steps, so I plugged in the INPort USB connection and opened Audacity. Problem is the device selection boxes give me only one choice Built-in Output, which should work, and Built-in Input, which won't. Audacity preferences offers only the same choices. How do I get Audacity to recognize the input device?

I've also got an old turntable and a preamp and want to try recording some LPs, using the same system, are there any tricks involved with that? I'm sure I'll run into other hangups along the way and asked for help again, but for now..... Thanks.

EMS

[steve]

so I plugged in the INPort USB connection and opened Audacity.

The order that you do that in is important. Audacity will not see the USB device unless the USB device is connected to the computer and recognised by the operating system before you start Audacity.

If you forget to do that, then you can make Audacity rescan for audio devices (see near bottom of the Transport menu - Audacity 1.3.13 and later).

If you do that and Audacity still does not detect the USB device, check that the operating system has recognised the device and that it is available for use.

[MrTutt]

That worked. Thanks for your help.

EMS