Tutorial - Selecting Your Input

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Now that you know you're getting sound into the computer, it's time to start Audacity.

Setting up the audio host and playback device

The Device toolbar is displayed by default in a new installation of Audacity. If the Device toolbar is not visible, click on View > Toolbars > Device Toolbar.

Image of device toolbar with annotations

You may want to expand the size of the Device toolbar by dragging right on the drag handle.

Choose your preferred audio host and output device from the drop-down menus. An audio host is an interface between Audacity and the sound card driver. In Windows the choices are: MME (the Audacity default) or Windows DirectSound, the more modern replacement. In Linux there is often only one option: ALSA, other options could be OSS and/or Jack Audio Connection Kit (also known as "Jack" or "Jackd").

Click on Generate > Tone, accept the default values in the dialog then click OK: a 30-second tone will be generated into a new track. Press Space to begin playback - you should hear a loud tone coming from your computer speakers. You can use the output slider on the Mixer Toolbar to control the volume at which you listen to your Audacity project.

Picture of the mixer toolbar


Note that the playback meters in the Meter Toolbar do not change as you adjust the output slider: these meters always indicate the volume of the mix of your Audacity project.

meter toolbar showing playback and recording levels

Setting up the recording device

Now that you know that you can hear what Audacity is playing you can continue setting up for recording.

Choose your preferred input device from the drop-down menus.

In the Input Channels drop-down menu choose whether you want to record in mono (1 channel) or stereo (2 channels). In general if you are recording a microphone or guitar you will want to record in mono. If you are recording a keyboard and the keyboard has stereo outputs you will want to record in stereo.


Project Sample Rate

The Project Rate Selection Bar

The sampling rate, sample rate, or sampling frequency defines the number of samples per second (or per other unit) taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal. For time-domain signals, it can be measured in samples per second.

A setting of 44100 is standard for creating files that can be burned to CD, or for high-quality MP3 files.


Temporary Files

Most users have only one hard disk. However, if you have multiple hard disks, you will want to make sure that Audacity uses your largest or fastest hard disk to store audio. Open the Preferences (in the Edit menu, or the Audacity menu on Mac OS X) and click on the Directories tab. Make sure that the directory listed is on your preferred hard disk.

If your home directory is mounted from a remote server, you definitely do not want Audacity's temporary directory to be there!

Software Playthrough

Now click on the Transport menu and, if you are recording from a microphone, make sure that "Software Playthrough" is not checked - Software Playthrough will cause undesirable feedback from the computer speakers to the microphone. If you are recording a guitar or keyboard and want to hear the instrument through the computer speakers, make sure that "Software Playthrough" is checked.

Using Software Playthrough will cause a slight delay between time you play a note and the time you hear it. The amount of delay will vary between computers and operating systems. There is no way to avoid this delay. If you find it bothersome, the best solution is to play the guitar or keyboard through a mixer and plug headphones into the mixer.


Audacity Preferences

If you prefer, you can make the above settings in the Audacity's Preferences. To access this, use Edit > Preferences
The image below shows the Devices section of Preferences:

File:Preferences devices basic7.png

There are many other settings that can be made in your Preferences do take some time to explore and understand these.


Links

>  Forward to: Tutorial - Making a Test Recording

<  Back to: Tutorial - Connecting Up

|< Tutorial - Your First Recording

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