Recording Multiple Tracks in Audacity

[mcp6453[_2_]]

Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two tracks at once? It will
playback many tracks for mixdown.

[Mike Rivers]

On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
> Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two tracks at once? It will
> playback many tracks for mixdown.

That's correct. Many Windows users who "graduate" from
Audacity move to Reaper. If you're using Linux, you can move
to Ardour. And if you're using a Mac . . . will the real
cheapskate Mac users please speak up?


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Arny Krueger]

"Mike Rivers" > wrote in message

> On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
>> Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two
>> tracks at once? It will playback many tracks for mixdown.
>
> That's correct. Many Windows users who "graduate" from
> Audacity move to Reaper. If you're using Linux, you can
> move to Ardour. And if you're using a Mac . . . will the

> real cheapskate Mac users please speak up?

If my daughter's experience is relevant, "Cheap Mac" is an oxymoron.

[gjsmo]

On Mar 11, 7:20*am, "Arny Krueger" > wrote:
> "Mike Rivers" > wrote in message
>
>
>
> > On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
> >> Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two
> >> tracks at once? It will playback many tracks for mixdown.
>
> > That's correct. Many Windows users *who "graduate" from
> > Audacity move to Reaper. If you're using Linux, you can
> > move to Ardour. And if you're using a Mac . . . will the
> > real cheapskate Mac users please speak up?
>
> If my daughter's experience is relevant, "Cheap Mac" is an oxymoron.

hehe...
Ardour is available for Mac, incidentally. The Google search result
say so, anyways.

[david correia]

In article >,
Mike Rivers > wrote:

> On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
> > Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two tracks at once? It
> > will
> > playback many tracks for mixdown.
>
> That's correct. Many Windows users who "graduate" from
> Audacity move to Reaper. If you're using Linux, you can move
> to Ardour. And if you're using a Mac . . . will the real
> cheapskate Mac users please speak up?



Garageband comes free with a Mac.

Anyone else see the demo for the new Garageband for the iPad? Freekin'
wow!! Costs 5 bucks.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMRTvU17dMI


Check out the "smart guitar" @ 6:28. I can finally play guitar.


So how long for the touchable 3D holograms?

The Michael Jackson vocal plug in?

The Thunderbolt cranium interface?





David Correia
www.Celebrationsound.com

[Phil W]

"david correia":
> Mike Rivers wrote:
>
>> On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
>> > Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two tracks at
>> > once? It
>> > will
>> > playback many tracks for mixdown.
>>
>> That's correct. Many Windows users who "graduate" from
>> Audacity move to Reaper.

Reaper is also available for Mac OS X - you just have to know, if your
machine needs the PPC or Intel CPU version:
http://www.reaper.fm/download.php

It has a 30 days trial period (full functional) - and after that, it keeps
running, but shows a nag-screen at every program start.

Reaper has a big variety of options to change the program behaviour and
look. In other words, it´s quite flexible. If you´re one of those Mac users,
who prefer maximum simplicity, Reaper is probably not your favorite DAW
software. But hey, you can try it for free and if you like it, it´s
relatively cheap to buy.

>> If you're using Linux, you can move
>> to Ardour. And if you're using a Mac . . . will the real
>> cheapskate Mac users please speak up?
>
> Garageband comes free with a Mac.

GarageBand is part of the iLife package, to be exact - and iLife is included
with every new Mac. Apple releases new versions each year, but the programs
usually don´t get enough interesting new features to justify 50$ for the
latest version. You mainly get more pre-made stuff like loops or "themes"
for picture/video editing.
Haven´t really used GB, but it should be fine for multitrack recording and
basic mixing purposes.

Phil

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 3/11/2011 6:59 AM, Mike Rivers wrote:
> On 3/10/2011 11:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
>> Am I correct that Audacity will not record more than two tracks at
>> once? It will
>> playback many tracks for mixdown.
>
> That's correct. Many Windows users who "graduate" from Audacity move to
> Reaper. If you're using Linux, you can move to Ardour. And if you're
> using a Mac . . . will the real cheapskate Mac users please speak up?

Apparently Audacity will record multiple tracks simultaneously. If so,
it seems to be a well kept secret. I couldn't figure out how to record
multiple tracks with a Delta 1010.

http://tinyurl.com/4tr3n7f

[Mike Rivers]

On 3/14/2011 7:43 PM, mcp6453 wrote:

> Apparently Audacity will record multiple tracks
> simultaneously. If so, it seems to be a well kept secret. I
> couldn't figure out how to record multiple tracks with a
> Delta 1010.

It's still a well kept secret, or perhaps it only works with
specific mixers. Did you get it to work with your Delta
after reading the explanation that you posted? That really
wasn't a very clear explanation, and I couldn't get it to
work with a Mackie Onyx mixer.

I can record a mono or stereo track, and all of the outputs
of the Mackie show up in the Audacity Preferences list, but
when I select more than 2 channels, when clicking the Record
button, I get the message "Error whle opening sound device."


--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[Mike Rivers]

On 3/15/2011 7:58 AM, Mike Rivers (that's me!) wrote:
> I can record a mono or stereo track, and all of the outputs
> of the Mackie show up in the Audacity Preferences list, but
> when I select more than 2 channels, when clicking the Record
> button, I get the message "Error whle opening sound device."

As a follow-up, I tried a different Mackie Firewire mixer
and a different version of Audacity. This combination
(Mackie 1640i mixer and Audacity 1.3.5) with different, but
still not successful results. With this setup, if I set it
for 4 tracks, four tracks would pop up when I started
recording, without the error message of the previous setup.
Still, I could only select one of 8 possible (stereo pairs)
recording inputs, so if I selected 1-2, although I had 4
tracks up and running in Audacity, only two had inputs from
the mixer. The others were dead.

I couldn't find any way in Audacity to tell the first two
tracks to take their inputs from Onyx 1-2, the next two
tracks to take their inputs from Onyx 3-4, and so on.

I'm still not convinced. Maybe you need an Alesis USB mixer
(because of its driver) in order to make this work.

--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 3/15/2011 11:33 AM, Mike Rivers wrote:
> On 3/15/2011 7:58 AM, Mike Rivers (that's me!) wrote:
>> I can record a mono or stereo track, and all of the outputs
>> of the Mackie show up in the Audacity Preferences list, but
>> when I select more than 2 channels, when clicking the Record
>> button, I get the message "Error whle opening sound device."
>
> As a follow-up, I tried a different Mackie Firewire mixer and a different
> version of Audacity. This combination (Mackie 1640i mixer and Audacity 1.3.5)
> with different, but still not successful results. With this setup, if I set it
> for 4 tracks, four tracks would pop up when I started recording, without the
> error message of the previous setup. Still, I could only select one of 8
> possible (stereo pairs) recording inputs, so if I selected 1-2, although I had 4
> tracks up and running in Audacity, only two had inputs from the mixer. The
> others were dead.
>
> I couldn't find any way in Audacity to tell the first two tracks to take their
> inputs from Onyx 1-2, the next two tracks to take their inputs from Onyx 3-4,
> and so on.
>
> I'm still not convinced. Maybe you need an Alesis USB mixer (because of its
> driver) in order to make this work.

Since I'm not the one doing the testing, I cannot confirm the arrangement, but
I'm leaning towards the idea that there is something about the Alesis USB mixer.
I really don't think this guy is pulling a scam. In fact, two different guys
(with the same Alesis mixer) claim to have gotten the same result. If I can get
more information, I will post it. If this arrangement does, in fact, work with
Audacity, it's encouraging.

[Mike Rivers]

On 3/17/2011 11:49 AM, mcp6453 wrote:

> Since I'm not the one doing the testing, I cannot confirm the arrangement, but
> I'm leaning towards the idea that there is something about the Alesis USB mixer.
> I really don't think this guy is pulling a scam.

Oh, I believe it works for him, but it's not a generic or
universal solution. Audacity doesn't recognize ASIO drivers
(I guess all the open source users are satisfied with their
sound cards) and that's what the Mackie stuff works best
with. With that mixer connected, it only gives me a choice
of MME. As far as I know, that's only a stereo format so
that may explain why, even though all the channels show up
when starting a recording, only two get audio.

In a program like Cakewalk or Reaper, I can tell it Channel
1 is the first and Channel 16 is the last channel and it
will give me a choice of any channel as the source for any
track. No such, at least with this configuration, in Audacity.

--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 3/17/2011 4:49 PM, Mike Rivers wrote:
> On 3/17/2011 11:49 AM, mcp6453 wrote:
>
>> Since I'm not the one doing the testing, I cannot confirm the
>> arrangement, but
>> I'm leaning towards the idea that there is something about the Alesis
>> USB mixer.
>> I really don't think this guy is pulling a scam.
>
> Oh, I believe it works for him, but it's not a generic or universal
> solution. Audacity doesn't recognize ASIO drivers (I guess all the open
> source users are satisfied with their sound cards) and that's what the
> Mackie stuff works best with. With that mixer connected, it only gives
> me a choice of MME. As far as I know, that's only a stereo format so
> that may explain why, even though all the channels show up when starting
> a recording, only two get audio.
>
> In a program like Cakewalk or Reaper, I can tell it Channel 1 is the
> first and Channel 16 is the last channel and it will give me a choice of
> any channel as the source for any track. No such, at least with this
> configuration, in Audacity.

You're probably right. When I tried it, I used the ASIO drivers. I don't
have Firewire to test.

To shift gears, I played with Reaper and was able to get tracks assigned
with no problem. However, even though I saved the template or the
layout, I had to assign them again when I started a new session. Is
there a way to save the template?

[Mike Rivers]

On 3/17/2011 8:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:

> To shift gears, I played with Reaper and was able to get
> tracks assigned with no problem. However, even though I
> saved the template or the layout, I had to assign them again
> when I started a new session. Is there a way to save the
> template?

Gosh, I'm pretty sure I did. I opened the routing matrix,
and just clicked on all the intersections of track and input
along the diagonal - input 1 to track 1, input 2 to track 2,
etc up through 16, and, before I recorded anything, saved it
as a template. When I wanted to record a multi-track
project, I opened the template and immediately saved it as a
new project name so I wouldn't overwrite the blank template.

--
"Today's production equipment is IT based and cannot be
operated without a passing knowledge of computing, although
it seems that it can be operated without a passing knowledge
of audio." - John Watkinson

http://mikeriversaudio.wordpress.com - useful and
interesting audio stuff

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 3/17/2011 8:58 PM, Mike Rivers wrote:
> On 3/17/2011 8:38 PM, mcp6453 wrote:
>
>> To shift gears, I played with Reaper and was able to get
>> tracks assigned with no problem. However, even though I
>> saved the template or the layout, I had to assign them again
>> when I started a new session. Is there a way to save the
>> template?
>
> Gosh, I'm pretty sure I did. I opened the routing matrix, and just clicked on
> all the intersections of track and input along the diagonal - input 1 to track
> 1, input 2 to track 2, etc up through 16, and, before I recorded anything, saved
> it as a template. When I wanted to record a multi-track project, I opened the
> template and immediately saved it as a new project name so I wouldn't overwrite
> the blank template.
>

I'll try again. That's got to be the purpose of a template. I'm going to buy
either Reaper or Audition 3.0. My Audition 1.5 is getting tired.

[Nil]

On 17 Mar 2011, mcp6453 > wrote in rec.audio.pro:

> I'll try again. That's got to be the purpose of a template. I'm
> going to buy either Reaper or Audition 3.0. My Audition 1.5 is
> getting tired.

You can create as many templates as you want, different ones for
different situations. You can specify in Preferences any of them to be
the default template for whenever you create a new project.

[mcp6453[_2_]]

On 3/17/2011 10:51 PM, Nil wrote:
> On 17 Mar 2011, mcp6453 > wrote in rec.audio.pro:
>
>> I'll try again. That's got to be the purpose of a template. I'm
>> going to buy either Reaper or Audition 3.0. My Audition 1.5 is
>> getting tired.
>
> You can create as many templates as you want, different ones for
> different situations. You can specify in Preferences any of them to be
> the default template for whenever you create a new project.

I'll try again. I'm sure I'm doing something stupid.