Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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Revision as of 16:01, 5 July 2012 by PeterSampson (talk | contribs) (reformatted the recording how to's section)
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Foire Aux Questions (FAQ) Flag of Germany small.png

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

  1. Is Audacity really free? Why?
  2. Does Audacity contain any spyware or adware?
  3. May I distribute copies of Audacity?
  4. Someone is selling Audacity on eBay. Is this legal?
  5. A search result misled me into paying for an Audacity download. What can I do?
  6. Audacity isn't displaying in the expected or desired language. Can I change this?
  7. Will there be a version of Audacity for iPod, iPad or other smartphones or tablet computers?
  8. Does Audacity work with screen-reader programs for blind users?
  9. What features does Audacity have for speech transcription or speech recognition?
  10. Does Audacity run on 64-bit systems?
  11. Does Audacity support low latency ASIO drivers?
  12. How do I find which Audacity version I have, and if this is the latest version?
  13. Why doesn't Audacity ship with an MP3 encoder?
  14. How can I help to improve Audacity?


Installation and Plug-Ins

  1. What should I do if I have problems downloading or installing Audacity?
  2. What should I do if I get errors building Audacity?
  3. Windows: How do I install Audacity, and do I have to uninstall a previous version first?
  4. Windows: How do I uninstall Audacity?
  5. How do I reset my Audacity settings?
  6. [[FAQ:Installation and Plug-Ins#lame|How do I download and install the LAME MP3 encoder?]
  7. How do I download and install the FFmpeg Import/Export Library?
  8. Why do I receive an error when I export to an FFmpeg format?
  9. How do I install VST plug-ins?
  10. Why do some VST plug-ins not work or display incorrectly?
  11. 11. Linux: How do I install plug-ins?


Recording - Troubleshooting

  1. Why can I not record in Windows Vista or 7?
  2. Why can’t I hear what I’m recording?
  3. Why do my recordings fade out or sound as if they were made in a tunnel?
  4. Why isn’t my new track in sync with the previous ones?
  5. Recording from YouTube (or other streaming audio) does not work.
  6. Why do I get crackles, pops, or distortion when the recording is loud?
  7. Why do I see a lot of vertical red lines in the track I just recorded?
  8. How do I make a recording without small skips or duplications?
  9. Why does my recording keep pausing automatically or why is my recording cursor stuck ?
  10. Why do I get only a flat line and no sound when I try to record ?
  11. Why do I get a periodic noise every 6 - 12 seconds?
  12. Why do I get an unbalanced stereo recording?
  13. Why is the recorded waveform not centered on the horizontal line at 0.0?


Recording - How To's

  1. How can I record in stereo?
  2. What is an optimal recording level to aim for?
  3. How do I record from vinyl records, cassette tapes or MiniDiscs?
  4. Can I play a track while recording a new one on top of it?
  5. Can Audacity record YouTube, internet radio or other streaming audio?
  6. How long can I record for?
  7. Can I set Audacity to record at a certain time?
  8. Can I record from a multi-channel device (more than stereo)?
  9. Can I record from two microphones (or even two sound cards) at the same time?


Playback


Opening and Saving Files


Editing


Errors


Ideas for new FAQs

ToDo develop responses for these proposed FAQs and migrate them to the published part of the page.

Outstanding suggestions

  • Steve 26Jul11: Perhaps there could be a section for using Audacity with other applications, such as Skype, YouTube, DAWs and Games
    • How do I record Skype or other VoIP programs with Audacity?
It's hard to capture both sides of a Skype call with Audacity - Koz always recommends Pamela
  • How do I avoid the echo when using my USB microphone? (software playthrough)
  • How can I record in the same track?
    • This could cover Append-Record and ways to "punch-in" too
  • First track is being recorded onto the next track (Windows sound card set to record Stereo Mix).
  • 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 use parts of Audacity source code in my school project?
  • Can I include screenshots of Audacity in my book, or link to Audacity on my web site?
    • Gale 12Jun12: Parking suitable text for responding to requests about an academic citation. There are other types of requests here - citing Audacity in films/videos, producing an article about Audacity for a magazine which has a cover mount CD of Audacity, hardware bundlers providing Audcity documentation... 
Please make a citation to Audacity starting with the name and 
version number of Audacity and giving our Trademark (R). 

Please quote the full three-section version number of Audacity 
as found at Help > About Audacity (or Audacity > About Audacity 
on a Mac computer).   

Examples could look like:

(A) "For this work I used version 1.3.14 of Audacity(R) recording 
and editing software[1]."

(B) "Audacity Team (2012). Audacity(R): Free Audio Editor and 
Recorder [Computer program]. Version 1.3.14 retrieved
December 20th 2011 from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ [1]." .

[1] must link to the following verbatim citation: 

 "Audacity(R) software is copyright (c) 1999-2012 Audacity Team.
 [Web site: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. It is free software
 distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.]
 The name Audacity(R) is a registered trademark of Dominic Mazzoni."

The section inside [ ] is optional. Note the first and last sentences must 
be presented exactly as above, without any additional text interspersed 
into them. 

The citation could be in a footnote, or linked to on a Credits page or 
similar. Alternatively you could append the citation verbatim underneath
the arbitrary text for version number. 

Also we would ask you to present the word "Audacity" on its first 
appearance in your actual research text as "Audacity(R)".
  • Why does Audacity hang when I launch it?
  • Why do my longer projects always crash but not the short ones?
  • 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?)
Or now: Do I have to un-install the legacy 1.2 version in orfer to install and use Version 2?
    • 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.

    • Peter 23Apr12: Do we need this one - or rather do we need a 1.2.x=>2.0.0 (or current Audacity)
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