Record and listen to another audio file on H/D similtaneousl

[Dave Davison]

I am using the latest version of Audacity.....running XP SP3.
Is it possible to record from cassette to H/D (using e.g. VLC) and at the same time, listen to audio files already on the computer or web. Thanks Dave D

[kozikowski]

I'm going with no, although I've never tried it. Audacity is a really simple audio program and it likes running on really simple computers. When you launch Audacity it sends out commands to the soundcard where to put the recording and play settings. I have no trouble imagining what would happen the first time you pressed stop in VLC and your recording stopped instead, or changed the speaker settings for the cat flushing the toilet and your Audacity sound vanished.

If your real question is how to record internet audio, yes, that's perfectly possible, but you do need some special settings.

http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/man ... puter.html

Koz

[Dave Davison]

No, I can assure you my wish has nothing to do with recording audio or video from the net, that has never been an problem. The only reason for posting is that many of my cassettes have lectures etc that are 90 minutes long and there are times when I would like to watch some video on You Tube e.g. or the like whilst the audio is transferred from the cassette to the H/D. I know the audio can be muted by positioning the arrow on the Output Volume Slider to zero but it would be the icing on the cake if I could listen to alternative audio or video too. As the Ausies would say; "No worries" aside from this small issue Audacity is a fantastic prog which is - I'm sure- appreciated by millions around the world. Thanks for the reply Dave D.

[kozikowski]

There's enough question for you to go and try it. You can deselect Playthrough in Audacity Preferences and that should give you a silent recording, that is, the speakers will be silent. As long as you have the bouncing red recording meters, you should be getting a capture. Of course, all this is given that you have enough computer horsepower and space to do all the required jobs.
Koz

[steve]

Is it possible to record from cassette to H/D (using e.g. VLC) and at the same time, listen to audio files already on the computer or web

Probably not possible on Windows.

On Linux it is possible by using the audio routing capabilities of PulseAudio.
For Windows users the best option is likely to be to get a second computer.