M-audio fast track usb help

[punkdrummer09]

Hello. I am trying to use Audacity to record some music, but I need help on getting my M-Audio Fast Track USB set up correctly. For some reason, I can only record in stereo and not in mono. If anyone has this working properly, any help would greatly be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

-Eric

[JC Cheloven]

Hi Eric,
To be sure, we are talking about this card, right?

I usually use Traverso and didn't have any problem recording in mono with this card. I only had to choose that option for the armed track(s).

I guess the problem could be on how you set up audacity. Were you able to record in mono with another soundcard?

What's your setup while recording (a condenser mic + guitar, or only an instrument ...), and what do you obtain exactly (a stereo wave with silence on the right channel... ??)

[punkdrummer09]

Yes, well it's not that exact one, but I'm pretty sure they're the same. Here's a link to the actual one: http://www.google.com/products/catal...wAg#ps-sellers


No, I haven't tried recording with another sound card. My setup is just a guitar. In the Audacity preferences, I change the device to the Fast Track, and the channel to mono, but when I try recording, it doesn't record any sound. When I record in stereo, it's only the right channel that works. When I switch from mono to stereo, I make sure I switch the setting on the Fast Track too.

[JC Cheloven]

Well, I'm almost sure that there is only a problem with your software settings, not with the hardware.

When your software records in mono, typically it grabs only one of the channels, be the right one or the left one (usually you can choose whithin the program which one you want). Looking at the images here, it seems clear that the guitar input goes thru the right channel of your card. Your audacity is surely configured by default to grab the left channel in mono. That way everything is coherent. Simply find where to tell audacity to record from the right channel in mono (sorry I don't use Audacity, never worked fine for me).

In order to discard the card (he he, some poetry here) as the source or your problem, you could test with some other program, such as mhwaveedit, traverso, sweep,... even ardour ... Let us know how was it

[punkdrummer09]

Ok thanks. I'll try to find that out. So I just downloaded Traverso, but it still doesn't work? I don't know if I'm doing something wrong? I attached 2 attachments. The first one during recording, and the second one after. I still can't hear anything..

[JC Cheloven]

Hi Eric, I'm quite experienced with traverso, so I have now better chances to go deeper into your problem:

I see what I'd expect: it can be appreciated in both images that your guitar goes through the right channel. You should hear at least the right channel at playback, though. Try one or more of the following:

- Start by un-arming the track (shouldn't hurt but you don't need it armed). Place the mouse anywhere over the track and press A shortly.

- Place the mouse anywhere over the clip, press-and-keep the G key and move the mouse towards the top of the screen (without pressing any button). This way you adjust the gain of the clip. It seems to have very little volume.

- The driver seems to be ok (seen at the bottom left corner), but there may be a silly problem: Click in that corner; there is an 'alsa device' drop menu in the dialog. Choose your fast track card from that (not 'default'). Click 'restart driver' and check that alsa appears at the bottom left (not the Null driver or otherwise).

At any time you want to play to check, you can press SHIFT twice quicly (the playhead goes to the beginning), then the SPACE bar for playing.

When you get it working: to record in mono, place the mouse over the track, press B shortly (the Bus selector dialog appears) and select the right one (as it is the one of your guitar).

Note 1) If you plan to use traverso further, I'd recommend you to use the 0.49.1 version. There are PPAs from what you can install comfortably, for example: https://launchpad.net/~philip5/+archive/extra (lots of updated audio goodies there )

Note 2) Just in case, please, post the output of this command:

aplay -l

Cheers

[punkdrummer09]

Well, I followed your steps and still no sound. I raised the volume, and I changed the channel to the right one. I added another screen shot. Here's the aplay -l outcome:


eric@eric-laptop:~$ aplay -l
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: SB [HDA ATI SB], device 0: ALC268 Analog [ALC268 Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Track [Fast Track], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

Am I doing something wrong???

[JC Cheloven]

Well, from what I see in the picture, you should be listening a huge thunder! So, our checking list by now, is:

- Your sound card is recognized in the system, seen in the aplay output.
- You can record form your card, also in mono as it's visually seen.
- You can't listen the playback from traverso
- You did hear the playback from audacity

I think this alows us to discard the possibility of a hardware problem, as you can both record and play (but with different programs).

Your problem would be solved by either 1) making audacity record to mono, or 2) making traverso sound. I can't help whith the first one (perhaps anybody else?). Will try with the second:

1) At the bottom of traverso's window there is a blue icon (info). Click that and look for any messages that could give us a clue.
2) You don't have other apps using sound, right?
3) Didn't happen for me, but perhaps PulseAudio is getting in your way. Please create a file ~/.pulse/client.conf (be careful with the dots). Edit it to put a single line: "autospawn=no" (whithout the quotes). Now, before launching traverso, execute "pulseaudio -k" (no quotes). To go back to normality after closing traverso, "pulseaudio -D".
4) If you didn't before, update to the most recent traverso. If you have a problem with PPA's, just ask me.

Sorry for not being able to help with audacity. If it works fine for you, perhaps it would be an easier way to solve your problem (there surely must be an easy way to choose which channel to record from in mono).

[punkdrummer09]

I attached a screen shot of the messages window. Well, I might have had rythmbox open at the same time. I'll wait for the other steps after you see the messages. By the way, thanks for everything

[JC Cheloven]

Yes, as you see alsa has fallen to capture mode only, probably because other app was using sound (your rythmbox) at the same time. Note that the alsa driver can handle only one source at a time.

Before going any further, I'd try closing both rithmbox and traverso. A system restart shouldn't be necessary, but do it now if you want to be sure. Open traverso (only!), and try out again. It should work.