Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audio and windows

Webcam recording softwrae

gocubbies — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:36:47 -0800

I need to record myself giving a presentation for school. My laptop has a built in webcam and microphone. What free Windows software would you recommend for this task?

Audio driver problems!

FuckingAwesome — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 05:21:32 -0800

Audio driver needed for Sony Vaio VGN-SX61MN/B model laptop with Windows XP SP3! I recently downgraded to XP SP3 from Vista and cannot find a suitable audio driver. The ones on the Vaio website seem not to install properly. Very frustrating! Please help.

Simple AV capture program for a Windows laptop?

killdevil — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:06:50 -0800

I need a Windows program that will capture audio from my laptop's mic and video from my laptop's built-in camera, then dump the combined results to disk in some convenient video format. This sort of quick-and-dirty video capture is such an obvious thing to do that I feel sure decent software must exist (how else would the YouTube-loving peoples of the world capture for posterity the gyrations of their cats upon monitors and keyboards, after all?), but Google turns up nothing but terrible-looking junk. Bonus points for free and/or open source. I'm also not averse to paying for trial-ware that I can check out before I commit to anything.

Also, as I'm just hoping to record some lectures for my own review later on, the output doesn't have be production-quality -- it just has to let me see and hear what went on.

How do I convert flac to mp3 in Windows?

Pope Guilty — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:24:41 -0800

How can I convert flac files to mp3 in Windows? I'm open to going through some of the more arcane procedures that I've seen around the web that involve multiple programs, but is there a single-step solution for converting from flac to mp3 under Windows?

Adobe Audacity vs Logic Express

treepour — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:04:40 -0800

Switched to Mac, looking for Adobe Audacity replacement. Should I go for Logic Express? I used Audacity primarily for two things (in order priority):

1) Splicing existing recordings together as seamlessly as possible. Here I used the "Echo Chamber" effects quite extensively. These helped create the sense that the musicians stopped playing and then started playing something else -- the ambient echo of the previous section carried on into the next.

2) Severely warping recorded sounds via a variety of filters/effects, combining them together via the multitrack interface, mixing the multiple tracks down to single tracks then continuing the process.

Can I do these kinds of things with Logic Express? Or would I be better off using Audacity via Windows vmware? Learning a new piece of software isn't a problem, I just want to make sure that the software will enable the kinds of things I want to do. Also, any other similarly-priced Mac recommendations for this sort of thing besides Logic Express would be appreciated.

Windows Vista obliviated my audio device. How can I get it back?

agropyron — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:04:40 -0800

In Windows Vista, under playback devices, I selected "Don't use this device" for the default audio device. Now that device has entirely vanished, and I can't get it back. I'm using an Asus W5F laptop with Windows Vista installed. (This is not my laptop.) I plugged in some external speakers, but it kept playing sound out of the built-in laptop speakers.

I went to Control Panel -> Hardware And Sound -> Manage Audio Devices. There I saw three things:
* Digital Output Device (SPDIF)
* The built-in speakers, whatever those were called
* The external speakers

They all had the option to "Use this device" or "Don't use this device", and all were currently set to "Use this device". I selected the built-in speakers and chose "Don't use this device", thinking I would just enable it when I was done.

However. The built-in speaker device promptly vanished. The external speakers started playing, certainly. There was no sign of the old built-in speaker device. I can't get it to come back, and the laptop has no sound now. (It does play the Vista startup sound, but won't play anything after that.)

Things I have tried:
* Rebooting
* In Device manager, searching for the old device, scanning for new hardware, searching for new drivers. Nothing.
* System Restore - hoping it would show my removal of some device and allow me to undo it. It doesn't show any configuration changes having taken place. (The deed was done 4 days ago, and it shows changes before and after the device was obliviated.)

Can anyone tell me how to get the default audio device to reappear?

Audio Stream Control

IronLizard — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:25:31 -0800

I need a better way to control my audio in Windows XP. Something like Pulse Audio, but without the hassle. I'm also running something called MojoPac (a virtual desktop environment of sorts), if it makes a difference. I need to be able to direct it's, and other programs, to particular audio output devices and swap those around pretty much at will. Any ideas?

Can I save, in mp3 form, the songs recommended to me by Pandora, on a Windows PC?

newfers — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:33:06 -0800

Is there anything approximating a Windows-based version of the OSX application PandoraJam, allowing me to record tracks suggested by the Pandora website? I purchased an amazing shareware program for my Mac, called PandoraJam... It records and downloads all music recommended by the wonderful music recommendation site Pandora.

I would love to have a similar program on my Windows-based PC, but other than some very clunky solutions, I can't seem to find a piece of shareware/freeware that would do the trick easily, and preferably legally, though that isn't a prerequisite :)

Help? Anyone? Please?

How can I get rid of a stutter (on a computer)?

skylar — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 10:12:32 -0800

All audio on my Windows XP machine stutters. Not constantly, but enough to make listening to music or watching movies annoying. YouTube videos, iTunes tracks - anything. Even if I give priority to those applications. I'm on a Windows XP machine with a 3.2 ghz Pentium 4 and 1.50gb of RAM. Realtek HD drivers. I've tried everything on the Web and on AskMeFi but none of it has changed the stutter yet. So I'm opening this up for debate.

Soundless

ihadapony — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:47:55 -0800

Laptop sound problems for a friend. My friend has a HP pavilion DV5000 laptop which the sound has recently stopped working. System sounds (the beep when you do something it doesn't like) still plays. Music, DVD, and everything else does not. The machine is running windows XP, which she did a complete restore. We updated it to service pack 3 and still no sound. Under sound and audio devices it says "No audio device." I have tried to reinstall the drive, but it fails when it doesn't detect a media device. Under device manager the following are listed. Audio Codecs, Legacy Audio Drivers, Legacy Video Capture Devices, Media Control Devices, and Video Codecs. Let me know if any more information would be helpful. I have also booted from a Ubuntu Live CD in hopes that that would be able to play sound, but it didn't produce anything other then a lot of crackling. I think this may be a hardware issue but i am hoping it not. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!

Can I wirelessly have audio from my laptop play on another computer?

Ookseer — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:59:09 -0800

Can I wirelessly have audio from my laptop play on another computer? I have an XP laptop and media center PC also with XP. They are both connected to the same local network and both have Bluetooth. Is there a reasonably simple way (without new hardware) to have the audio from my laptop play on the much nicer speakers of my media center without several dozen feet of cable?

_{Just to clarify: Not looking to share my audio library, I want to redirect the live audio out from my laptop.

Changing operating systems is not an option.}

MLB Gameday Audio Mobile on unsupported phone?

DandyRandy — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 09:19:59 -0800

Are any of you baseball fans subscribing to MLB's Gameday Audio Mobile and using an unsupported device? If so, how does it work, both quality and ease of setting it up? Piggybacking on an earlier post today, I'm already subscribed to MLB's Gameday Audio, and have a much-too-complicated setup to stream the audio from my home computer to my phone. I'd much rather use their Gameday Audio Mobile service, but their list of supported devices excludes mine (Dash running Windows Mobile 6 Standard on T-Mobile). They say more will be supported in the future, but they've been saying that for a couple of years now.

Is this a service provider issue or really a device issue? Are any of you subscribed to the mobile service with a device/service provider that's not on their official list? Does it work well? Easy to set up? Is this too many questions for a single post?

My ears! My ears!

Blazecock Pileon — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:20:59 -0800

Some sound design questions to follow up on this golden moldy oldie... Red Book standard CDs seem to offer an output range of 20 to 20000 Hz.

• Can I publish a CD which can output mono frequencies between 20 kHz to 48 kHz through common CD players?
• Would I have to use SACD? In general, what would I use (hw/sw) to author an SACD?
• Are standard consumer speakers incapable of playing back > 20 kHz, or is it just that speakers aren't tested any higher for obvious reasons? (If I distributed a CD/SACD with said high frequencies, would consistent playback be impossible?)
• If no, would audiophiles have speakers capable of said playback range?
• If I used Max/MSP to generate pure tones, is my only frequency output limitation the audio adapter?
• If I recorded those (inaudible) pure tones to a sound file, what file formats could I use for storage?
• Are there caveats about the cycle~ MSP object with respect to generating tones > 20 kHz?
• If I wrote a Max/MSP Runtime program to generate tones, what sound adapter/speaker combination could I use for testing which would work with both Windows XP and Mac OS X, which would reliably output 20 - 48000 Hz?

Sorry if some or all of these are dumb questions. Thanks for your help!

Why is this audio file being silenced?

copperbleu — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:34:51 -0800

AAC file possibly getting blocked by overprotective Windows. What can I do about it? Asking for a friend who says this:
"I downloaded an AAC file that is a recording of some streamed music. A minute into the 3 minute file, the audio goes completely silent. I thought there was something wrong with the recording process when I found out that others who have downloaded the same file can hear the whole thing. When I tried to open a copy of the file a friend sent me over MSN Messenger, Windows (XP SP2) told me it had decided the file was dangerous and blocked it. Can Windows be silently deciding some part of the file is bad for me, and removing the data from that point on? What can I do about hearing the audio on this file like everyone else?"

Third party stereo mix recording

punishinglemur — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 10:02:25 -0800

Is there any way to do Stereo Mix recording in Windows Vista when the soundcard does not support this feature?

Utility to tell which program is makeing sounds?

killThisKid — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 07:41:34 -0800

I'm looking for a utility that will indicate which program is making sound for Windows XP. Here's why: every few minutes or so, my computer makes a 'schhht' ... pause ... 'schht' noise.

I don't know what program is making the noise! I've tried selectively running or not running software, but just when I think I've figured it out, it makes the sound again.

Fix my WinXP USB without the nuke from orbit option!

kdar — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 06:31:15 -0800

[WinXPfilter] What's wrong with my USB devices on my computer? I run a fairly old Athlon XP 2400+ on an Asus A7V-266-E motherboard, which uses a VIA K7 chipset, I believe. Windows XP (+ SP2 and fully updated) is my primary OS, and I have Linux installed on another partition, but I rarely use it as the machine has become more of a gaming box.

The issue started when I yanked out my USB smartphone (Cingular 2125) mid-a-bunch-of-things to take a call. My USB mic stopped working, and windows stopped being able to find drivers for it (despite the only "driver" being usbaudio.sys, included with XP SP2). My other USB devices, including my USB sound card, kept working, though, so I didn't pay it any mind until I tried to fire up Ventrilo and it wouldn't work. After lots of rejiggering ports and trying various installation options for new drivers, I decided that reinstalling the USB controller driver might help. I uninstalled and unplugged all USB devices and rebooted.

Now Windows can't even find the driver for my USB controller. I reinstalled my chipset drivers as well as the VIA-specific USB drivers, but I haven't seen anything. Keep in mind that before I uninstalled these from the device manager, all devices were working correctly (except the USB mic), so it's not a hardware problem. I'll be able to verify this after I get home and can boot up linux.

Anyone else been able to successfully solve something like this? Other forums' information is sketchy-at-best, so I'm leaving it to the geniuses here to figure out.

How do I easily record a Windows session (with audio) to DVD?

fsmontenegro — Tue, 23 May 2006 19:28:45 -0800

How do I easily record a Windows session (with audio) to DVD? a friend of mine is a golf instructor. He uses one particular app (V1) to show students their golf swings. Right now he records the video output of the PC and the audio from a microphone straight to a VHS tape. A lesson is about 45-50 minutes.

What would be the best way of setting this up so that he could record directly to DVD instead?

Swedish PC sound disappearance

Kiwi — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:56:00 -0800

Swedish PC sound disappearance I'm on my mother's computer, which has suddenly lost anything to do with audio. The small speaker icon on the system tray has disappeared, etc.

Have looked at the Microsoft download area but nothing useful seems to be there. The original XP install disk been lost (I'm sure its legitimate copy, knowing my mother)

To make things more interesting, the OS is the Swedish version. I have almost no Swedish. My mother has Swedish but is having trouble translating the Kontrollpanelen icons for me.

I'm sure it's a case of finding the correct driver and reinstalling it, but where is it?

Windows Sound Effects in Real Time

jeffbarr — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 15:00:28 -0800

How can I add sound effects to a Windows sound source in real time, and then pipe the input into Skype or other programs that expect direct input from the sound source? I am doing some web seminars and I want to experiment with some sound effects and other sound processing in real time.

Right now I can plug a microphone or headset into my PC's sound card, and then set up the sound card as the audio source for, e.g., Skype:

Microphone -> Sound Card -> Skype

What I would like to do, if possible, is to route the microphone into some type of "effects" program, and then route the modified sound into, e.g., Skype. This seems to imply that the modified sound would be available through a Windows sound "device" that I could then select as an input source.

Microphone -> Sound Card -> Effects Program -> Skype

Can I do this, and if so, can anyone recommend a free or cheap program to let me do so?

Convenient Windows mp3 splitter

Moistener — Fri, 09 Dec 2005 19:31:26 -0800

Desperately Wanted: a Windows mp3 file splitter designed for usability, not mere functionality. I'm looking for particular features: --) a "Just Do it, Dammit"-style shell extension (right-click on the mp3 file, splits created immediately according to previously-set options)

--) file naming options

--) ID3 preserve/alter option

--) drag-drop UI

--) works with VBR files

The following applets have already been weighed in the scales and found wanting: mp3split, Mp3 Splitter, Mp3 TrackMaker, Mp3Cutter

How to split up a large audio file in Windows?

matildaben — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 16:40:43 -0800

What is the easiest way to split up a large audio file into shorter segments on Windows? I have a large WAV file and I would like to automatically split it up into smaller segments based on where the silent areas are (and also possibly edit the auto-selected division points based on manual input). Presume I know next to nothing about audio editing and baby-talk me through it, please. Can I do this in Audacity or do I need an additional tool or plug-in? It should be free as I probably am not going to do this very often.

Didn't they promise us it'd be easier than analog?

Miko — Mon, 17 Oct 2005 20:50:29 -0800

Why can't I burn a music CD? Help! So many great playlists to burn, and this problem arises. I'm running Windows XP on a Dell desktop. When I first got this computer, it burned CDs with no problem. There have been some changes, and now when I try to burn audio onto a CD, I get non-specific error messages during the 'initializing' phase (2122 and 2123, if it helps) and the disc ejects. I've poked around on the horrendous Windows support sites, but I just can't make sense of half of what I'm reading there.

Here's what's changed since I got the machine:
1. I wiped the hard drive and reinstalled Windows because the machine became loaded with adware and spyware. I also reinstalled all the drivers, etc., that the system came with.
2. The computer's been free of ad/spyware since the reinstall.
3. I used to use Windows Media Player, and I just switched to iTunes.
4. But I can't burn in WMP either.
5. Oddly, I can burn text files and picture files to CD.
6. I've run the normal diagnostics and gone through the Windows troubleshoot, to no avail.
7. I thought it might be memory, and I defragged and ran Disc Cleanup. Didn't help.
8. I tried several different burn speeds, even the lowest, and that didn't help.

So I'm kind of at a loss. I can't fathom what's wrong, and I'm in over my head on those techie Windows pages. I'm hoping maybe someone here has some insight before I have to go to the computer doc. Thanks.

you fool windows you can't get fooled again

thirteenkiller — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 14:34:47 -0800

Windows XP: What does the "Speaker setup" option do, if you choose one of the various stereo options (desktop, laptop, monitor stand, monitor side, keyboard, headphones)? How does it change the waveform? It seems to me that things sound better if I pretend my headphones are desktop speakers... Also, is it possible for Windows to tell when I have headphones attached, or are we meant to change this option every time we plug them in?

Does iPod need XP SP 2?

Pericles — Sun, 16 Oct 2005 01:44:59 -0800

iPod: does it really need Win XP SP2, or can it work with SP1? Relatred: how can I update win XP to SP2: it just isn't offering me the option, although it used to.