Audacity to record live audio stream

[johnone]

Used to work within windoze.  I'm still new here in linux. I have been experimenting with all sorts of settings in Audacity and control centre. Can't get it to work. Using Full Monty KDE 456 and I've tried a few 2.6.38.8 kernels. Lately I tried the 2.6.38.8-pclos3.pae.bfs because it recognises the full 4meg ram. Now I'm on the .a64 because I have a fairly old athlon 64 bit. Can't say that I notice much difference. PCLOS works great no matter how much RAM it accesses.

Just need to record Celtic Connections. My XP boot seems to be totally broken now. 

Anyone know how to master Audacity in PCLOS?

I so love music. I have to say ktorrent is in a class of it's own. So much better than micro torrent!

[Xenaflux]

are you using an audio card or are you using the on-board audio

[Just17]

what are you recording from .....  and to ...... ?

[johnone]

are you using an audio card or are you using the on-board audio

Hi I'm using on board audio. But, I used to use Nvidia HD. Now it seems that only ALSA and ALC888 are available, or OSS in Audacity. I am used to recording straight from an audio stream whilst firefox is running and minimised. Then I just used to run Audacity and record. I've done so many experiments in the setup of Audacity and PCC... My mind is now totally boggled.

I'm beginning to think that messing around with different kernels hasn't helped. My current kernel appears as ending in .a64 since I have an Athlon 64 CPU and I thought I would try it. But other system monitoring tools within KDE Full Monty have my kernel as ending in .a64 .i586 that seems to be a contradiction.

I've been used to running Audacity in windoze. But, since I moved to PCLOS I have never been able to get Audacity to work in the same way. Current Audacity in PCLOS is a beta. I check synaptic often. And of course since the PASS servers broke. I have found servers that do work.

I am finding that although I have some understanding of windoze, I am struggling here. Generally PCLOS works just great. But, there are so many variables. GDU/KDE and all the various distros. It does do my head in. But, I've been hanging in here for a while now. I'm a fan and I don't plan to run off now. Even if it messes with my head. I have started giving PCLOS distros out to people at work. After all what is the alternative???

So sorry that TexStar has to take another rest, my best heartfelt wishes to him. I shouldn't be selfish. But, I was so looking forward to a full 64bit version.

My Love to all the PCLOS community. It is changing the world. Unfortunately, It's a hard job to change me.

Thanks Folks.

John.

[Xenaflux]

I am used to recording straight from an audio stream whilst firefox is running and minimised. Then I just used to run Audacity and record.

Was that in windows or in linux ?
Was that from an audio card or on-board

My computer has no audio card, only on-board.
The result, as far as I can see and understand, is that Audacity does not recognizes the inputs properly.

The only way I ever recorded from on-board audio chip ( long-long ago ) was like this:
Go to the back of computer. Look for " audio-in and audio-out " , then connect the output back to the input and somewhere you will be able to set it up so that you can record.

I think it is best to go to their site, as I have seen some explanations and work arounds for this problem.
That is of course, if you have this problem as said above

Putting an audio card in will be easier.
or......wait for a guru here ( I am not ) or....try your luck with google.

Current Audacity in PCLOS is a beta.

it's what is available on their website !

[old_guy]

johnone

I had installed an old SoundBlaster Live card that I had because of problems with Audacity.

Your post made me curious, so I booted up a old machine with onboard sound (VT82C685 AC97).
I set Audacity for ALSA and the Input Device to VIA 82... Mix:0

It worked recording an online audio.

Earl

[cpufrier]

I feel your pain.  In four years and a dozen computers I've found Audacity either works or doesn't depending on the driver and sound card.  Fiddling with settings in kmix, alsamixer, alsaconfig, audacity, switching kernels, and posting here  have never helped when the defaults did not work.  Some onboard chips work ok. I used to keep one very old computer around just to record streaming audio from Highlander radio.  Sad to say, Audacity has worked fine on every computer under Windows, except the Windows overhead may cause sound dropouts. My latest issue with Audacity under PCLOS, also an a64 kernel, is that playback is randomly about half speed using a Soundblaster Audigy PCI card.  Best bet if you have an open pci slot is to get a Soundblaster card but even then there's no guarantee.
At least Audacity has worked very well some of the time. More than I can say for Jack.

[Xenaflux]

I set Audacity for ALSA and the Input Device to VIA 82... Mix:0

It worked recording an online audio.

Earl

I tried that here , but, no such luck.
Will fiddle around a little more if time permits.
Thanks

Xx

[johnone]

Well folks, I think I may have to try the pci soundcard option. Just to see whether I can beat this. As I say, I did have many years happily streaming music from the internet and recording it, in high quality on this same PC with Audacity; but in windoze! Then I was able to do precise editing within Audacity. I do have on board audio and I am sure that it isn't down to physical inputs.

I really do feel that I have exhausted all the software settings variations that I have some idea of.

In my latest version of Linux Format magazine that seems to be a local British production. "Graham Morrison refrains from filling the whole magazine with complaints about sound, restricting himself to just two pages of PulseAudio gripes". The article is titled " 8 things we'd change about Linux audio".
They mention stuff like ALSA, pavucontrol & Jack.

Such a pity that they didn't give definitive answers to us users rather than say that there should be a specific set approach that runs across all distros to enable the software writers.

I'm not sure if I have pavucontrol or Jack. Or the time...

All the best,
John.

[djohnston]

They mention stuff like ALSA, pavucontrol & Jack.

Such a pity that they didn't give definitive answers to us users rather than say that there should be a specific set approach that runs across all distros to enable the software writers.

I'm not sure if I have pavucontrol or Jack. Or the time...

I'm surprised they didn't mention OSS. 

OSS = Open Sound System
ALSA = Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
pavucontrol = Pulse Audio Volume Control
JACK = not really an acronym for anything 

Pulse audio and JACK also exist for Windows. Sound control in Linux can be confusing and bewildering. OSS predates ALSA. I don't really know which came first, Pulse audio or JACK. But, but Pulse audio and JACK are additional layers to ALSA in Linux and the sound drivers in Windows. Pulseaudio is designed for streaming audio over a network to any device requested. JACK is mainly used for recording purposes. It's sort of a patcher for both open source and proprietary recording plugins, mixing audio tracks and for manipulating MIDI sources. Clear as mud?

I'm pretty sure pulseaudio packages are already installed on Full Monty. You won't have the JACK sound server or any plugins/utilities unless you installed them.

[johnone]

I have tried setting Audacity to OSS. For recording the live stream. But, at least on the Alsa there is some meter interaction on the left channel. With the right just stuck about 75% but I haven't even bothered to save a recording and try and listen.

Yes it is bewildering. Thanks for nailing the acronymns. I shall get there in the end.

I know there has been stuff in the PCLOS mag about the equivalent audio programs compared to windows. Often though, in the mag,  it's a lot to do with command line scripts. I'm to old for that stuff. I know 'You're never too old'! But, I just want it to work. No time to learn. Just time to enjoy.

So, please if you are good enough and young enough to write scripts; please get Audacity working for us within PCLOS.

Despite that, I really enjoy all the various Live Music from all sorts of age groups and so many varied genres of music that happens arond here; Shrewsbury UK. Recomended, place to be. AFAIK we only have one Shrewsbury here. I know there are at least 5 in the States.

Peace,
John.

[Just17]

what are you recording from .....  and to ...... ?

I still have no idea what you are trying to record from .....  all I know is that you

Just need to record Celtic Connections.

Please clarify.

If you have Pulse Audio installed (check in Synaptic ....  if task-pulseaudio is not installed then install it if you want PulseAudio) you really need  pavucontrol  to monitor and manage the sound streams, sources and sinks.

I have not recorded using Audacity, so do not know if it is compatible with PulseAudio ....  someone else may be able to confirm.

I have been quite happy to record with gnome-sound-recorder, although this is a KDE install.
It is simple and gets me a recorded file which I can edit at a later stage if required. gnome-sound-recorder is part of the gnome-media package in the repository.