Talk:Audio IO Preferences

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Audio I/O
 The two drop-down list controls in this pane is where you configure which device Audacity should use for sound input and output. This basically means which sound card, USB sound device, etc you want to use. If your sound card support multiple sound inputs, e.g. has a microphone input and a line-in, then you select these on the mixer toolbar. No need to adjust this if Audacity is already playing to and recording from the correct place.

Record in Stereo: If this is checked, recordings you make in Audacity will be stereo, otherwise they will be monaural. Note that the interpretation of mono recordings depends on your system - on most systems making a mono recording of a stereo input will result in the two channels being mixed, but on other systems it could give you just the left channel, for example.

Play other tracks while recording new one: Check this box if you want to record multiple tracks over top of one another! Record the first track as usual. Then, with this box checked, click record again. The first track you recorded will play, but Audacity will also record a new track at the same time, maybe allowing you to sing harmony with yourself or add real-time sound effects to a recording. You may notice that when you play the two tracks you recorded together, they aren't synchronized. This is normal and is not the fault of Audacity. To fix it, you will need to grab the Time Shift Tool and slide one of the tracks around until it sounds right.

Hardware Playthrough (Mac Only): This sets up your computer to send the sound coming in to be recorded straight back out of the speakers, so you can hear what you are recording. Hardware playthrough has no latency and takes no CPU, but is only possible if your input and output are on the same audio device, and that device supports it. Windows and Linux users can enable this using your operating system's Mixer, by simply turning up the level for the input you are using and unmuting it.

Software Playthrough: This enables you to hear what you are recording by taking the data about to be recorded by audacity, and playing it back out of the sound card. This works with any duplex sound card, or combination of sound devices, so you can record in through an external USB device and play back through the computer's built in sound device or vice versa. Because of the delays in processing the audio on the computer, there will be some delay or latency in the sound that you hear. It also needs some CPU power, so if you have an old machine and are getting breaks in your recordings try turning it off.

Cut Preview: When previewing an edit that removes a section of sound, this controls the amount of Audio that you hear before and after.

Latency:

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