Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Revision as of 18:41, 2 April 2012 by Windinthew (talk | contribs) (suggested possible new FAQ "How do I prevent the computer rebooting when I play or record in Audacity?")
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Tip: To find your answer more easily, try using CTRL + F ( COMMAND + F on Mac ) to search this page.

The following are the FAQs copied in from the main SF site. They need re-reading and updating for 2.0 where appropriate.

22Sep09: (Peter) FAQs in manual updated to be in line with those on the main Audacity site (which had themselves been updated).

24Sep09: (Peter) FAQ page broken into one page per section - based on the pre-existing section headers in the FAQ. This page probably needs its layout changing now - maybe to just be a simple index with pointers to the relevant FAQ pages?

Gale 25 Sep09: I do want this page to link to both the index page for each FAQ section and to the individual questions in that section. But having the headings in this page as links to the pages for the FAQ sections is very non-standard. That means if we have headings on this page they need a link to the FAQ section index underneath (as per the "Recording" section here now). In that case we keep the Table of Contents (__TOC__) . Or, we use (__NOTOC__) to hide the Wiki-generated table of contents and mimic the Wiki TOC by having no headings, so it looks like "Opening and Saving Files" and "Editing" here now. I prefer mimicking the TOC.

About Audacity


Installation and Plug-Ins


Recording


Playback


Opening and Saving Files


Editing

Ideas for new FAQs

  • 'Peter 14Feb12: ToDo I plan to start work on these (the ones that are within my technical scope anyway) once 2.0 is out of the way i.e from 1Mar12.
ToDo develop responses for these proposed FAQs and migrate them to the published part of the page.
Steve 26Jul11: Perhaps there could be a section for using Audacity with other applications, such as Skype, YouTube, DAWs and Games
  • Why do I get the following error message when I hit the record button: "Error while opening sound device. Please check the input device settings and the project sample rate." What does that mean? (this comes up soooo... many times on the forum)
  • "Can I record from a multi-channel device (more than stereo)"?
  • Can I record from two microphones (or even two sound cards) at the same time? Gale: added some possible text below...

Audacity can only record from one sound device at a time, but here are some solutions.

  • If your sound device has separate left and right mic inputs, connect the separate microphones to those inputs.
  • Connect the separate microphones to a mixer and record from the mixer.
  • If these are dynamic microphones that don't need extra power, buy an adaptor that has two inputs for the microphones with a single 1/8 inch TRS connector for the computer microphone port (this will usually only give you a combined mono input).
  • Recording from YouTube does not work. (Very similar to "RealAudio or other streaming audio" but this specific question is extremely common).
    • Gale: I changed title of the FAQ to refer to YouTube. It should be the same issue - if you can't record Real Player you can't record YouTube (off the sound card). But it would be sensible to add a div there explaining there are better ways to download YouTube videos directly.
  • How do I avoid the echo when using my USB microphone? (software playthrough)
  • First track is being recorded onto the next track (Windows sound card set to record Stereo Mix).
  • I've upgraded to Vista/ Windows 7. Why is there no "Stereo Mix" / "What U Hear" option. (relates to Q 3.2.5)
    • See this Wiki article.
  • Why is there a very low level hiss on Exported files? (dither)
  • How can I import WAV files from portable players?
  • How can I make my recording so it plays back in both speakers?
  • I recorded my tapes/LPs in stereo so why do I get only the left in both speakers?
  • Can I create Ringtones with Audacity?
    • See this Wiki article.
  • Why does my recording keep pausing automatically, or pressing Pause has no effect?
Most likely you have enabled Sound Activated Recording by mistake and the recording input is below the threshold level at which recording is set to start (you will notice that the blue Pause button is depressed after you press Record). The "latency correction" message will only appear when you stop a recording that you were trying to start from time zero.

You can uncheck Sound Activated Recording either in the Recording Preferences as above (click OK to save the change) or in the Transport Menu.

May be better to generalise this as a "stalled recording" FAQ drawing from http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Troubleshooting_Recordings#stuck and http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/USB_turntables#freeze and also mentioning the Linux stall when recording from pulse with Software Playthrough.

  • Why does my file import with a hatched pattern then slowly change to a waveform?
  • Why do I have to compile Audacity to get ASIO support?
    • See this Wiki article.
    • Gale: I think few will know you can compile in ASIO support - the better question may be "Does Audacity support low latency ASIO drivers?"
  • When I try to record I get only a flat line and no sound. Why?
  • I copied the .aup file to another computer or sent it by e-mail to a friend, but now when I open it there's no sound. Why? And/or - What is this _data folder and what are all those .au files in there?)
  • Can I use parts of Audacity source code in my school project?
  • Why do I see a lot of vertical red lines in the track I just recorded?
  • Can I include screenshots of Audacity in my book, or link to Audacity on my web site?
  • How do I record Skype or other VoIP programs with Audacity?
  • I'm overdubbing vocals but my voice gets more and more out of step with the music track
  • Why does Audacity hang when I launch it?
  • Why do I have to ask questions on the Forum instead of getting help by e-mail?
  • Why do my longer projects always crash but not the short ones?
  • How do I prevent the computer rebooting when I play or record in Audacity?

Gale 02Apr12:

Example of [email protected] response below:

Audacity does not have the kernel privileges to reboot the computer. Forced reboots or "blue screens of death" are almost always caused by driver issues.

Make sure you do not have "Play and/or record using RAM" enabled in Audacity's "Directories" Preferences. If that is enabled there will be no recovery of recordings that crash in progress, because no data is written to disk.

The only general advice we can give is to update the drivers of the sound device you are using, and to examine the memory dump for any further information as to the faulting module or library.

Audacity 2.0.0 probably has a later version of the PortAudio Audio I/O interface that we use than your previous Audacity version. Therefore, updating your sound device so that it has the latest drivers for your particular computer model and particular operating system is very likely to help. The drivers should be obtained from the motherboard or computer manufacturer, or from the sound device manufacturer if you are using a PCI or external sound card. See: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Updating_Sound_Device_Drivers .

If you are on a Windows computer, you can analyse the memory dump fairly easily by downloading WhoCrashed: http://www.resplendence.com/downloads .

The first time you click the Analyze button in WhoCrashed to look at the dump, WhoCrashed will ask you to select the path to the Microsoft Debugging Tools for Windows. This is usually in: 

  C:\Program Files\Debugging Tools for Windows .

If you don't have the tools then you can download the required installer by clicking “Download the required file from Microsoft site now”.

If you are not sure where the memory dump is, right-click over My Computer or Computer > Properties, which should bring you to "System Properties". Click the "Advanced" tab, and then click "Settings" under "Startup and Recovery".

If updating sound device drivers as described above does not solve the crashes, we probably won't be able to take any direct action, but do let us know the exact make and model number of the device, model number of its drivers and the exact operating system you are using, including the Service Pack if you are on Windows.

  • How do I make a recording without small skips or duplications?
  • Can Audacity preview or apply effects live, in real time?
    • No
  • Do I have to uninstall the stable version of Audacity to use the Beta? How do I upgrade Audacity to a newer version? (or Do I have to delete the old version first before upgrading?)
    • Gale 18 Oct11 pasting verbatim answer just given on [email protected]:

      By default, 1.3.13 http://audacity.googlecode.com/files/audacity-win-unicode-1.3.13.exe will install into a different "Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)" directory in Program Files. This gives you the option to either retain 1.2.6 or uninstall it from the "Audacity" directory in Program Files.

      As 1.2.6 no longer supports Windows 7, it is recommended to uninstall 1.2.6 and install 1.3.13 to its default "Audacity 1.3 Beta (Unicode)" directory. However the two versions have different groups of settings so in principle if you install them to different directories you can run one version or the other.

      We do not recommend installing 1.3.13 over the top of (in the same directory as) 1.2.6 because it will leave three duplicate plug-ins and two different uninstallers (unins000.exe for 1.2 and unins001.exe for 1.3) but it is not harmful if you really want to do it.

  • How do I find which Audacity version I have, and if this is the latest version?
    • Click Help > About Audacity (Audacity > About Audacity on Mac) to check the version of Audacity you are running, then visit our Download page to view the latest releases. You can subscribe at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/#announce to receive an e-mail whenever we release new versions of Audacity.
      Whenever asking for help or reporting possible bugs, please quote Audacity's full three-section version number (for example, 2.0.0) and your operating system (for example, Windows 7 64-bit).
  • When I install Audacity the language is in Arabic (or whatever) - how do I change it back to English?
    • To change the language
      1. use: Edit>Preferences - Edit is the second command in from top left, then Preferences is the bottom selection in the drop-down list.
      2. Then you need the Interface tab, which is the fifth item in the list
      3. In the dialog box there should be three wide drop-down selector boxes. The middle one enables you to select the language – select English
      4. And then click the OK button – which should be the left-most button at the bottom right.
    • Gale: But we already have #language. And the 1.2 scenario of knocking the First Run dialogue onto Chinese won't happen in 1.3 because that dialogue has gone.
    • Peter 19Oct11: Ah yes, so we do. The reason I didn't spot it before was that I was looking in FAQ:Installation and Plug-Ins, as I regard it as an installation issue - whereas it currently lives in FAQ:About Audacity. Can I move it to the installation issues section please? This would also have the advantage of balancing out the two sections somewhat.
    • Gale: I understand the user logic of looking for this in "installation" but I don't think we should encourage the misapprehension this is to do with "Installation". Also users who decide later they want to change the language won't look in "Installation". I agree that "About Audacity" is less than ideal. How about a new "Interface" section? As well as the language FAQ we could move into it:
      • 5.1.1 Why can't I use the effects or other menu items?
      • 5.1.2 Why can't I select less than one second or click between whole seconds?
      • (TBC) Why does Audacity hang when I launch it?
      That leaves the "Editing" section short but we could add to it (TBC) "Why do my longer projects always crash but not the short ones?".
    • Peter 23Oct11: The immediate reaction of a lot of posters who unwittingly get the foreign language interface with Audacity is to straight away try re-installing, and they usually do that even before they post a query on the forum. That's one of the reasons why I tend to associate it in my mind with installation issues.

      I wouldn't really want to move 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 out of editing - nor do I really see the real need for a new Interface category.

    • Gale 26Oct11: These are the 1.3/2.0 FAQs, not 1.2. So there will not be lots of first-time users of Audacity who get a "foreign language interface" in 2.0 because 2.0 has no first run dialogue; Audacity simply uses the language the OS is running in. Even if 2.0 had this first run dialogue, by the time the user saw that dialogue they have already installed Audacity; the user's mistake is that they think the language choice in the Windows Audacity installer selects the Audacity language. It doesn't, as explained in the FAQ. We could rename section 2 of the FAQ "Installation, Configuration and Plug-ins" which is then suitable for the language FAQ and also lets us add a FAQ there about audacity.cfg if we want. But it would be wrong IMO to put the language FAQ in an "Installation and Plug-ins" section.


Old - need merging or deleting

    Old - need merging or deleting ToDo we need to merge or delete ...
    • I plan to start work on these (the ones that are within my technical scope anyway) once 2.0 is out of the way i.e from 1Mar12.
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