JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques General Technical Forum Another Audacity Question

I happen to have Audacity on a couple of computers for quick recording of streamed music. (for educational purposes only)
One has an input selection tool bar the other does not. What gives?

Are they the same version?

There are a few out there.

Yes, same version.

I have used all the versions of Audacity and every one should have an imput selection. Version 1.3 has extra variables and some extra stuff however it is less stable than earlier versions.
I suggest re installing it with either 1.26 or 1.3 version. 1.3 does crash very occasionally but if you save often this is a minor bug.

Is it activated and/or hidden in a Window or View or Toolbar setting?

Sorry, I'm at work and merely wondering rather than looking at the actual program.

I have re-installed with no difference.

The only tool bar I have hidden is the device tool bar that selects the sound input sound card.

I've seen nothing but problems with Audacity, here and amongst other users! Why use it? Does it do something that other similar programs don't do? Why not go for a rock solid, always stable desktop Roland VS unit? They're not making them anymore so people are buying them up in earnest.

I have never had any probs with Audacity. Correct me if I am wrong but a Roland VS is hardware not software and it costs money as opposed to being free. That is probably the main reason so many people use Audacity software. I use it for convenience but also have Cubase sx3.

In my case, simply because I use Linux, Ardour is more than I need for quickie recording and no one else has anything.
If I happen to boot to Windows I use n-Track Studio.

Update!
The damned thing showed up today. Go figure.

The audacity of it...!

Hey Dak. I often sit scratching my head thinking how the hell did that happen and why did it do that. Or why did it not do that. Guess what..... it sorts it of its own volition later on. and as a bonus you discover the file you thought the PC had not saved. There is a tiny little monkey kept inside all PCs that does these things every now and then just to annoy you. A PC geek told me that on good authority.

The VS series run on a DOS platform, practically crash proof unless you're an idiot. So they are both hard and software.

My experience with Audacity is none, but from what I've heard form those who use it is that it's OK unless you want top-notch quality, then comes the parade of peripheral gear needed to make your PC/Mac able to handle higher resolutions. Again, I've never used it myself, I'd rather fork out a few bucks, and be certain that everything will work perfectly every time I turn it on.

I will always yield to the ingenuity of musicians and gear heads to make even the most un-assuming gear work in the most extreme conditions; so good luck to you...and the Maple Leafs too!

Hi Marc It is all down to priorities, taste, experience and BUDGET. Everyone is different.

Whilst I agree on principle with what you say a lot of people on this forum are hobbyists just looking for a cheap way of doing the basic job. There are also pros who want only the best. Some people have little or no experience and would not know how to use sophisticated equipment. Others would leave some pro sound techies gasping at their knowledge. It is sometimes necessary to take all those things into consideration when giving advice. At the risk of sounding patronising to the person I try to give simple advice and then ask them if they need any elaboration or extra info.

I agree fully Jim, budget was and still is my first concern. Ever heard of a rich indie musician who teaches music for a living?

Aside from totally free, with minimal investment you can buy into some amazing recording devices, most of which are easier to use than a PC based program. Literally plug and play/record.

If you're willing to spend a few hundred bucks on a guitar/keyboard/microphone, why sell yourself short on the recording of it?

I agree Marc. I have used both analog and digital over the last 40 years or so. I also have used PC and non PC home studios as well as spending time in pro studios with all the bells and whistles and mind boggling gizmos.
I think that as the average musician has a PC and it is FREE, easy to use and edit a simple program like Audacity is what I would recommend to most beginners.

You say you have never used it. Try it out it is not that bad and there are some great edit features.

I'm lucky right now to be able to log on here, I've picked up 4 Trojan horse viruses this past week and my computer is crippled except for a few basic functions. I can't get rid of them, nothing seems to work!

So, if I ever can afford a computer JUST for music then I might give it a try, but I'd not want to rely on a computer solely.

Well, why don't you look into dual booting with a Linux distribution for your web work. That will leave your windows partition clean.
If all you need is web access, email and maybe some word processing there are several, very light weight, distros available at no cost that will handle those projects just fine and you won't have to worry nearly as much about getting infected. I use PCLOS or a variant of it on all my computers and the only reason I boot to windows now is for certain Real Estate programs that require windows. Everything else is done using a Linux operating system.

Hey Marc what anti-virus protection are you using?

Marc,

You need to do an online scan at:
http://www.pandasecurity.com/homeusers/solutions/activescan/

Then go download and install the AVG free Antivirus here:
http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe

If you don't have a firewall,

Then go download and install ZoneAlarm free here:
http://www.filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/

I have Avast! 4.8 Home edition, Norton 360. For spyware I use Ad-Aware and Spybot S&D. I've tried the online scanners, ubthtey all make you buy the software to remove it don't they? Thanks David, I'm on my way over there after here though...

On dial up, AVG takes about an hour to update and if I don't do it daily it can take several hours, the Avast! program is much quicker, but I'm open to just about anything right now!

Hey Dak, how do I get my hands on a Linux setup? Buy it? Download it? Sounds like a good idea, thanks.

Well, I downloaded the Panda software, but I wasn't able to install it properly, Norton and Avast! both blocked it from installing due to a 'worm' virus in the downloaded software. Great...

Maybe this one will work.

http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/default.asp?langid=ie&venid=sym

Thanks David, but I'm gonna steer quite clear of any other symantec product, free or otherwise. I'll try to get the AVG one in the morning, well it's morning now technically but I'm not going to sit up and wait...

What's Linux like for virus problems? I've heard that Mac's don't even get them...true?

That link is just an online scan. It only downloads a small file. Linux is very good for not getting viruses. It's not that Mac's are that much better than windows, it's just there are so many more people using windows computers AND for some reason every nerd that knows how to write a virus is out to get Bill Gates because he's so RICH. The only thing I don't like about Linux or Open Source is you are limited in a lot of programs and software due to incompatibility of drivers. Someone else may disagree with me. But I have tried Ubantu and one other I forget the name now. Both of them gave me problems with sound drivers, etc.

Hey Marc I use the freebie AVG and have never had virus probs.

I'm going to download it right now...again. I had it last year and found that it would miss things that the McAffee program I had at the tme would find. That's why I haven't used it lately

Has anyone ever heard of this; when my screen saver is supposed to come on, I get all these black beetles crawling all over my scren eating up all the icons and stuff! In my wallpaper list is this one called 'ctfmonb' which is the current(beetles) wallpaper, if I change it they just come back after a few minutes. Nothing seems to get rid of it, I can't manually delete it...

Apparently the McAfee wasn't as good as it seemed. As far as I know, the AVG free has caught everything as long as I make sure to keep the definitions updated.

It's really simple. A good firewall. A good anti-virus. And one or two anti-spyware programs.

1-ZoneAlarm free firewall
2-AVG free antivirus
3-Spywareblaster free anti-spyware
4-Spybot Search & Destroy free anti-spyware

The easiest way to seem what's out there is to go to Distro Watch and have a look. You'll be able to download the ISO's right from there. Then you'll need to burn the ISO image to a cd, or dvd if you choose one of the bloated distros. Once the burn is done, close all your Windows apps, leave the cd/dvd in the drive and reboot. If you don't have bios set to boot first from the cd/dvd drive, go into setup while rebooting and change that. The distro will boot and the OS will run from the cd/dvd so you'll get a chance to see what's there and how it works before installing. If you decide to install there is usually a disk utility tool so you can resize your hard drive to accommodate, and then format the partition set up for Linux.
You may want to resize your partition using one of the Windows tools first as well, then double check operation before going the Linux route.
Certainly there can be, and are, some problems but, really, no worse than one finds with Windows installations.
I would suggest giving several of the distros a whirl to see which one floats your boat. Then commit to it. I've done that with PCLOS and have been using it for about 2 years now. Prior to that I was distro hopping, checking every new distro and installing many. That's may be fun for awhile but it's not productive.
The distro you choose will usually have everything you need or want for normal computing, word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, audio, visual, photo editing, instant messaging & on and on.
I use Open Office for my office suite, as does my wife. I have her system set up to automatically use Word doc's as it's default so she has no problem with working with MS Word documents. I also save many documents in word format so other's can open them.

For your online cleaner google Microtrends Housecall and run it. It will usually need to install a small program and takes some time but it's saved my butt a few times with wifey's computer before I got her switched to Linux.

Beauty, thanks Dak!

No Sweat Marc.
If you need help with Linux, give a shout out. I'll try to help and most of any particular distro's forum is going to be a great place for help.

I had that from a 98 operating system to a newer one.
I had less hiss on the old one yet less sonic detail now that were on the topic. But I just got Audacity workable a few months ago, so maybe it's a matter of me having to make the adjustments.

I just purchased a Windows 95 computer. Mainly as a jukebox and nostalgia (I got it used with a printer/copier for $75).
I know I can't get Audacity to work on it.
But I miss these computers that could not be broken and the need to not worry about versions.
But that is progress I guess.

Having to think of versions with music software and security.

I could have have kept going on with sound recorder.
But I am hooked on the technology too.

Where is anyone going to find a freebie like Audacity that can do what it does?