Some Confusion over the Microphone

brian-hill wrote on 1/9/2021, 8:38 PM

Hello all, I did a search in the forums but couldn't really find anything that answers my questions.

I have a USB microphone plugged in to my computer and my computer recognizes it. If I open Audacity, it is recognized just fine. But when I try to record in MMM 2021 Premium, I get nothing. No recording. It doesn't hear anything. I've fiddled with settings and nothing worked.

So I went to the Audio/MIDI section and thought I would try selecting a different Audio driver (other than the ASIO). So I tried both the Wave and the Direct Sound drivers and those worked. They pic up the mic and record just fine. However, what confuses me is this:

TLDR; it's saying that the ASIO driver is best for Audio recording. So I went back and selected the ASIO driver but it, again, wouldn't pick up any sound.

The rare times that it has (for one reason or another) picked up sound with the ASIO driver selected, the playback is so quiet that even with my volume settings turned all the way up (picture below), it's only moderately loud but not nearly loud enough.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Again, my microphone works just fine. It's picked up just fine in Audacity and when I do a mic test in the Windows Settings, it hears the mic just fine. It's just an issue in MMM (with the ASIO driver it would seem).

Thank you!

Comments

Graham-Hawker wrote on 1/10/2021, 1:34 AM

When using the ASIO driver try clicking the advanced button and checking the settings there.

brian-hill wrote on 1/10/2021, 3:02 AM

@Graham-Hawker, I just fiddled with those settings and nothing changed. I couldn't get any recording. But I drive the Direct driver again and it works just fine.

browj2 wrote on 1/10/2021, 8:52 AM

@brian-hill

Hi,

You have to select the correct microphone in the Recording Parameters, not the Program Settings. Please post an image of the Recording Parameters.

EDIT: ignore the above, this is incorrect. You have to have the correct mic selected under Program Settings, Advanced.

Also, you have to arm the track for Audio Recording. After recording, turn off Audio Rec for playback.

John CB

SP. wrote on 1/10/2021, 9:28 AM

@brian-hill If your microphone is not visible in the ASIO settings which you can open by clicking on the "Advanced..."-button I recommend installing Asio4All. After installing it and restarting your system you should be able to select Asio4All as your ASIO driver. Then open the settings again and check if your microphone shows up this time. http://www.asio4all.org/ You should then be able to select your microphone in the recording settings.

browj2 wrote on 1/10/2021, 10:21 AM

@brian-hill

Hi,

You are quite right. You have to have the correct mic selected under Program Settings, Advanced.

I confused this with Movie Edit Pro in which the mic is selected under the audio recording parameters.

John CB

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 3:31 PM

@browj2

Thank you for your response. I will attach some pictures of what I see on my computer. I believe everything is checked properly.

I still get nothing with the ASIO driver selected. When I arm the track for recording, it just records the music playback. And it's not like it's recording the microphone on my computer, it's like it's recording the sound that my computer is playing back internally. I don't know how to explain it better than that. But when I start recording, it just records the playback of the other tracks that are playing (photo below). That audio on track 4 is the other three previous tracks combined into one. And the three red arrows are where I've turned the volume UP and DOWN on my computer. It's like the recording is listening to my internal computer. But it's not my built in computer mic, because then the audio would sound pretty garbage. This audio recording on Track 4 sounds just the same as if I was playing it back on the other tracks.

SP. wrote on 1/11/2021, 4:06 PM

@brian-hill What are your recording settings? You can press shift+r to open the window.

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 4:39 PM

@brian-hill What are your recording settings? You can press shift+r to open the window.

Thank you for your response,

This is what I'm seeing.

And when I select Peak Control option, it shows me what input devices I have and shows that my Microphone is selected.

SP. wrote on 1/11/2021, 5:53 PM

@brian-hill Does it help if you deactive Internal Microphone Array and Stereo Mix in your Windows Sound settings? A right click should show you the option to deactivate them. You can reactivate them later if this doesn't help.

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 6:03 PM

@SP. Nope, just disabled them and nothing changed.

In the Program Settings, I just changed the ASIO driver to the ASIO4ALL v2, and then in the Advanced settings, I selected my Microphone. I was able to get a recording, but it wouldn't play back any sound until I went back into the Adv. settings and turned off my mic and selected the IDT High Def Audio again. And then the playback only sounds on the left ear. There is no sound for the right ear. So, not sure what that means either.

Sorry I'm not much help and just full of problem after problem.

browj2 wrote on 1/11/2021, 6:24 PM

@brian-hill

Hi Brian,

About the playback in only one ear (channel), in the recording parameters, you have to check mono. You selected stereo, but you only have one mic.

As for playback during recording, you have to be monitoring with headphones, not speakers, otherwise your mic will pick up the output of the other tracks from your speakers. Is this your case?

John CB

SP. wrote on 1/11/2021, 6:27 PM

@brian-hill Your microphone probably records in mono. This is only one channel and because of that you only hear it on one ear. There is nothing wrong with that. In the shift+r record settings you need to activate the Mono option. Then you should hear it on both ears.

I think your microphone has problems with the two ASIO drivers you tested. Magix needs ASIO drivers for playback while recording, for example playing your song while you record your vocals.

You could try another ASIO driver. Maybe it will work better. Download and install the demo of FL Studio (you don't need to use it), then restart your system. This will install the FL Studio ASIO driver. You can use it in Music Maker, too. https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-download/

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 7:58 PM

@browj2 and @SP.

Checking Mono worked to get playback on both ears. Thank you.

I still have the issue with the recording and playback though. I may just export this project to Audacity for recording the vocals. And thanks for the tip on FL Studio, I'll give that a try and see if it works.

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 8:22 PM

So I just did this and it seemed to have affected something. I unchecked the "X" and checked the "O" and now I can record. I don't know what this means or why it makes a difference though.

brian-hill wrote on 1/11/2021, 9:10 PM

@SP.

So I just downloaded FL and Magix recognizes the FL Studio ASIO driver. But when I click record, the playback is drastically slowed down, like it's playing at half time. But when I just click play, it plays at normal speed. Do you know why it's doing this?

SP. wrote on 1/12/2021, 12:29 PM

@brian-hill I never used the FL Studio ASIO driver. I can only guess that your problem may have something to do with the sample rate? What are your driver settings?