Subject:Can't record, preview, or do anything! Newbie

Posted by: Jeriro

Date:9/16/2008 9:09:21 PM

I'm having problems that no one should be having with a brand new program (at least I would hope not). When I plug in my mic I see the recording levels in the track once I arm it for recording, and when I record I see the audio waves and everything, but once I stop recording the area where the waves just were goes blank except for a few words such as "15 Clip 1". Of course when I try playing this back I hear nothing. There is also no way for me to monitor the audio as it "records", so maybe these two problems are related, in any case I need help with both as soon as someone thinks they may know the answer. I've had this program for over a week now and haven't been able to record a single thing!! Thanks

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! Newbie

Reply by: grainerr

Date:9/16/2008 10:10:33 PM

more info would really help
Sound card?
computer specs?
O/S?
etc
what are your settings under preference for Audio?
Do you have the sound card set up properly? Playback and recording devices set properly?
help us to help you
also take a browse at previous posts to see if others have had similar issues and if they were resolved

grainer

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! Newbie

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/16/2008 10:37:02 PM

Well, I just have the soundcard that came with the computer, which I believe is Realtek High Definition Audio (don't laugh please), Computer specs: Toshiba Satellite A205, laptop, Intel Pentium Dual CPU T2339 @ 1.60GHz, 2038 MB Ram, 32-bit,
Under preferences it says that my audio device is Windows Classic Wave Driver (i've changed it to the other two, but to no avail)..default playback is Realtek Speakers. I'm not sure how to set-up the soundcard, so maybe it's as simple as that, but I believe that recording and playback are right because it does show the audio levels change as I speak into the mic. I have checked other posts, but so far no one has had any insight into my exact problems. Hope that helps a little and please excuse my ignorance!

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Chienworks

Date:9/17/2008 3:50:27 AM

Your soundcard has two separate functions: recording and playback. The meters you are seeing are quiet possibly monitoring playback which may be set to use the microphone, while the recording function is set to use a different input. Double-click the little speaker icon in the Windows taskbar to open up the soundcard's mixer control panel. Click Options / Properties / Recording. Make sure that Microphone is checked. Click OK. You will now be looking at the recording input controls. Select Microphone. This will now assure that you are recording from the mic.

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:9/17/2008 4:20:56 AM

It looks like you are recording with loop mode on and you may be seeing the start of the next loop which is saved as a take. Highlight the clip and press the 'C' key. Does your sound return? I bet it does.

The fact that the name of the event is 15 Clip 1 means that you have recorded 15 takes into Clip 1. Pressing C will toggle through all of these takes. Your recordings are there, ACID just defaults to showing the last take and if you don't stop recording before the end of the loop, you will get a small unrecorded section of the next loop. This is normal behavior.

~jr

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/17/2008 5:55:27 PM

OK, well I have tried both of these things that you have suggested, but still no closer to having sound (or sound waves for that matter). The microphone is defeinately cued up and ready to record, and just to do other tests I used the built in sound recorder in Windows and that worked fine. As far as the 'c' toggle advice, I tried that as well, and I did notice that it went through the other takes, but it still did not help as far as getting sound or the waves to appear again after recording. Is it possible that there's some defect in this program? Is there a history of glitchiness when it's used with Vista? Any more advice you guys have is greatly appreciated, but I'm starting to lose faith here. Let me know if you can save me!

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/17/2008 6:00:23 PM

I did want to add as well that there is definitely something else going on because every time I go into the track properties the program shuts down or says that there is an error. This time I went and switched the ACID type from loop to one shot and what came up was this: An error occurred accessing project media track 1 Recording 20.wav. The reason for this error could not be determined. Should I just try un-installing and reinstalling? Is there some weird program I have to tweak for operation in Vista? Thanks again

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: JohnnyRoy

Date:9/17/2008 7:28:08 PM

Are you using a version of ACID that is Vista compatible? Currently, no version of ACID Pro is Vista compatible and only the latest Music Studio version is. You might want to post on the Vista forum that is here. I use XP so I don't know how well ACID works with Vista.

~jr

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: pwppch

Date:9/17/2008 7:34:10 PM

Can you playback on of the loops that came with ACID?

Can you load the start up project and have it play?

Peter

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/17/2008 8:57:24 PM

Jr-
It should be compatible with Vista, at least it says so right on the box, and I believe that I've seen other indications that at least it SHOULD work with Vista.
Peter-
I have tried playing the loops and the preinstalled demo, and both work just fine. It's strictly a problem of playing back whatever is recording from an external source. I've only tried it with a microphone so far, and two at that, but still all other apps and programs on my system indicate that it should be working fine.
Jeff

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: grainerr

Date:9/17/2008 10:18:09 PM

Vista huh.
do you have SP1 installed?
latest drivers from realtek?

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx?ForumID=351&SiteID=1

check the above forum to see if anything here might help you.
I seem to recall reading something about rolling back driver versions for realtek? but maybe SP1 fixed that...(too long ago to remember correctly)
are you using acid pro? probably acid music studio.
I use acid pro 6 with vista and have no sound card problems!
have you thought about getting a better sound card?
might make these problems go away....maybe?
just some random thoughts.

grainer

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: pwppch

Date:9/18/2008 6:50:45 AM

Try this:

Make a recording. Note where the recorded file is saved to and its name.

Start a new project in AMS.

Locate the recorded file in the ACID explorer and drag it to the time line.

Can you play and hear the recording?

Peter

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/18/2008 12:17:20 PM

Thanks grainer, I'll try out that forum to see if that helps at all. I am using Music Studio not Pro. Just one question about an abbreviation you used, what is SP1? A better sound card is definately something I'm considering, but I guess I want to make sure I can even use this program before I put more money into it.
Jeff

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/18/2008 12:34:37 PM

Peter,
I tried your suggestion and when I dragged the old file to the new project it wouldn't let me and the same error message that I mentioned earlier in the forum came up. I would say this error seems to be at the root of the problem, so I'm going to try reinstalling the program tonight, and I'll be back on here after that to let you know if that has helped or not.
-Jeff

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: grainerr

Date:9/18/2008 11:20:13 PM

SP! = Service Pack 1 for windows vista
(beware of issues also with SP1....for some it was easy but I've heard of others who had issues when installing the pack)
look into system restore points before proceeding. just an FYI

google for :Realtek+Vista
and see if you can find out if others are having issues also
did you search for the latest realtek drivers?
grainer

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/21/2008 11:01:08 PM

I haven't had much time to deal with this recently, but I did reinstall the program, and all the old problems still exist. I've done some searches to see if others have had the same issues, but so far no luck. So I'll try out the service pack, and also I'll make sure I have the most recent realtek driver, let you know if anything helps.
Jeff

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Jeriro

Date:9/22/2008 12:41:22 PM

Just tried downloading SP1, but all the same problems still persist. I've searched for others with similiar problems, and there's all kinds of crazy glitches in Vista apparently, but none close enough to my own to help much. Still searching for the latest realtek driver, but things aren't looking good.
-Jeff

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: grainerr

Date:9/22/2008 9:28:14 PM

search in google exactly as I have it below

realtek+vista

use the plus sign
saw some stuff saying things like you might need to go your motherboards maker and get the realtek driver for that particular mobo and not use the ones from realtek
just some stuff I read by using that search criteria shown above
it sounds like you might have deeper problems than just realtek drivers.
a sound card might make this a non-issue,
they'll probably sound better and give more options

oh and you've read all the help docs from ac id about this already right?
grainer

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: grainerr

Date:9/22/2008 9:37:28 PM

just another shot in the dark

where are you having the recorded tracks end up? ie what folder are they supposed to end up in?

and is the folder permissions set properly. Make sure the folder is not set to be read only or that you have permissions to write to this folder.

Try this:make a new folder and make acid save it's wav files to this new folder.

also the file that you tried to record earler but could not play back is it a valid wav file can you play it with media player?
grainer

Subject:RE: Can't record, preview, or do anything! N

Reply by: Lonelyeco

Date:9/26/2008 8:59:37 AM

Hey, I have Realtek too, but for XP. I don't think I saw anyone put this answer, but I'm just taking a shot. I've had that problem before too I believe, just go to the speaker on the bottom right of your desktop, well in the taskbar and right click it, select 'open volume control', go to 'options', then 'properties', go to 'show the following volume controls' and check 'microphone'. It now shows. Go to it and see if you have it on 'mute'. That could be the case or you can go to 'advanced' in the 'microphone' section and check '1 Mic Boost'. If that doesn't work I don't know what else to do? I hope it helps.