Auxiliary Input Dies

[Lars]

I have been trying to use the Auxiliary Input to rip music from tape. I have the correct recording level and inputs set, the VU meter jumps nicely toward the top of the scale.

However when I press the record button it all works fine for 10 to 70 seconds and then the program seems to freeze. The VU meter stops at 0 and the 'record' button does nothing. Pressing the cancel button and clearing the dialogue box achieves the same result - no change.

The recording time continues to climb.

When stopping the program with Task Manager I'm left with a recording for the section when the VU meter was bouncing.

This seems to happen with any Codec except the 'Test, no recording', which seems to work fine.

What am I doing wrong?

Lars

[LtData]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Are you applying any DSP effects? What format are you converting to?

See below for Aux Input instructions to make sure you didn't miss a step.

[Lars]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Thanks for your reply.

I have followed the instructions, not missing a step. As stated, I see a VU meter which initially moves with the music, but then dies along with the functionality of the stop buttons.

I've tried three codecs, MP3, WAV and WMA. They each behave the same way giving a short file. Only the MP3 is playable and is the length that the VU meter flickers for. The WAV and WMA files are corrupt and confuse WMP.

As far as I can tell DSP effects are off. Power Pack DSP button flush with the dialogue box and 'Active effects' list is empty. They were on for my first attempt but since the recording crashes with missing codec warnings I turned them off.

Lars

[ChristinaS]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Please use dMC Configuration and copy your configuration to the clipboard and paste it here.

Also tell us your OS and soundcard model.

And whether or not you were signed in as administrator when you installed dB programs when you were runnign the dB programs.

[Lars]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

OK, my configuration is:

Version Information
dBpowerAMP Music Converter: Release 11.5
Power Pack & Mp3 License: [ Registered: Yes ]
dBpowerAMP Audio Player: Not Installed 'music Player like no other'
dBpowerAMP CD Writer: Not Installed 'easy way to burn audio cds'
Sveta Portable Audio: Not Installed 'enhance your portable player'

Contact Information
Web Site: http://www.dbpoweramp.com
Support: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/support.htm
Support Forum: http://forum.dbpoweramp.com
Codec Central: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/codec-central.htm
Add extra [en/de]coding abilities such as m4a, wma, etc.

Smart Install Codecs
Ogg Vorbis: .ogg
Musepack: .mpc
Mp4 (AAC): .mp4
Flac: .flac
Monkeys Audio: .ape
OptimFROG: .ofr
Shorten: .shn
WavPack: .wv
Advanced Audio Compression: .aac


===Shell Integration===
Convert To (right click): On
Edit Tag (right click): On
Popup information Tips: On
Explorer ID Tag Property Page: On
Explorer Columns: On


===Codecs===
Installed Compression Codecs (Write)
[Tag from Filename]: Release 1
[Update ID Tag]
Mp3 (Lame): Lame Version 3.96.1 [ .mp3 ]
Test Conversion (No Write)
Wave: [ .wav ]
Windows Media Audio V9: Release 2 [ .wma ]


Installed Input Codecs (Read)
Auxiliary Input Decoder: .aux
CD Input Decoder: .cda
Mp3 Input Decoder: .mp3; .mp2; .mpga; .mpa; .mpx; .mpg; .mp1
Wave Input Decoder: .wav
Windows Media Audio Input Decoder: .wma; .asf; .wmv


===Options===
dBpowerAMP Reference Options
Pro. Frequency Conversion: On (slower but high quality)

Mp3 Input Decoder
CRC Errors: Ignore
Decode To: 16 bit (dithered)

Wave Compression Codec
More than 16 bit or 2 Channels: Write WaveFormatEx Header



===ID Tag Options===
Mp3
Tag Creation: ID3v1
Write ID3v1 Version: v1.1
ID3v1 UTF8 Read: Yes
ID3v1 UTF8 Write: No
Write ID3v2 Unicode: No
Write ID3v2 Version: v2.3

Windows Media Audio
Write Track Number as: WM/TrackNumber

My OS is Win XP SP2, I have had Windows Media Player 10 installed, but have rolled back to 9 as it interferes with DVD playback.

I have motherboard sound based on Realtek AC'97 on a VIA chipset.

Every thing is installed and run with full Admin privaleges.

Thanks for your ongoing help.

Lars

[ChristinaS]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Are you using auto start and auto stop by any chance in dMC Aux Input? It may be stopping the recording based on some silence it finds.

[Lars]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

I've had this switched on and off with no change in behaviour. The Test Conversion mode seems to work with the same track, but obviously does not save anything. When using other codecs, when it stops recording DMC does not respond to the 'record' button. The cancel button produces a dialogue 'continue to cancel' but ignores either option.

Lars

[ChristinaS]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

So smomething does get recorded, but very short.

And you say you don't have auto-start and auto-stop on.

Your input source comes from line-in?

What output codec are you picking? Try uncompressed wav, 16-bit, 44.1KHz, 2-channel stereo.

[Lars]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Something is recorded but only a few seconds.

Auto start/stop is not on

Input source is what Windows calls the Microphone input (there is a socket on the front of the machine)

I've tried WAV, MP3 and WMA. They all work the same. The options are set to 16-bit, 44.1KHz, 2-channel stereo.

However since I was there I tried changing the 'Record Using' option to '[Default]'. This is better it gives me over 5 minutes of recording with WAV and MP3. Switching back to 'Realtek AC97 Audio' gives me about 20secs of recording.

I've also found that when the recording 'stops' CPU utilisation jumps from 10% to 100%.

Lars

[ChristinaS]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Something is recorded but only a few seconds.

Auto start/stop is not on

Input source is what Windows calls the Microphone input (there is a socket on the front of the machine)

I've tried WAV, MP3 and WMA. They all work the same. The options are set to 16-bit, 44.1KHz, 2-channel stereo.

However since I was there I tried changing the 'Record Using' option to '[Default]'. This is better it gives me over 5 minutes of recording with WAV and MP3. Switching back to 'Realtek AC97 Audio' gives me about 20secs of recording.

I've also found that when the recording 'stops' CPU utilisation jumps from 10% to 100%.

Lars

Don't you have a Line-in jack? The mcirophone jack is a mono only input in any case, and I don't think it's appropriate for this type of recording.

When you right click the volume icon in the task bar, select Options > Recording and look if you don't have a bunch of other possible inout sources that are not selected, appearign at the bottom of the page. Select all of them so they will be available in the main panel.

When recording stops conversion starts. You can control how much cpu is used, by setting Priority of Conversion to below normal, in dMC. It might have been set to above normal, which means it hogs the CPU.

[Lars]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Thanks for the tip on the Microphone, I didn't realise they were mono. I guess I'll have to fiddle round the back of my CPU afterall.

The CPU priority is set to Normal. The conversion may have started, but it takes forever to complete when it goes wrong, as opposed to the <1sec if recording is stopped manually. There is also the problem that the Cancel button doesn't work when it goes wrong. Is this normal?

Lars

[neilthecellist]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Consider upgrading your sound card. It’s not required, hell, even I don’t have an Audigy2, but it might provide better recording results.

That’s my take. Good luck!

[ChristinaS]

Re: Auxiliary Input Dies

Thanks for the tip on the Microphone, I didn't realise they were mono. I guess I'll have to fiddle round the back of my CPU afterall.

The CPU priority is set to Normal. The conversion may have started, but it takes forever to complete when it goes wrong, as opposed to the <1sec if recording is stopped manually. There is also the problem that the Cancel button doesn't work when it goes wrong. Is this normal?

Lars

Set the conversion priority to Below Normal - that will work faster and use less resources.

The recording is in real time of course, and the extra conversion time depends on the codec used and the settings. DSP effects, if used, add a lot of extra processing time.

Cancel won't work at times, depending on what is being done, I forget what the explanation was (it actually even made sense). You have to kill the process from the task manager.

But with Auxiliary Inout the way to stop it is to click the red dot, the same one you used to start recording. Every click toggles it: start, stop, start, stop, etc. The outout file is always the same unless you set it up to record different "tracks". So if you clicked once on the red dot, it started, let it play for 2 minutes, clicked the red dot again, that stoppepd it, next click restarts it and overwrites what was recorded by the first session. Might you be doing this?