Audacity slows down my recordings on playback.. solutions?

K

Kjazzw

New member
Hey, back again with another bump in the road!

Basically, during playbacks of recordings on Audacity, the playback slows down gradually and I've no idea what's causing it at all!
I'm aiming to record multiple tracks and this simple thing is preventing me!

I can play along to a song as it's being played on my ipod and record the guitar I'm playing,
then during playback, the response slows down and somehow goes out of time with the song I just played with!

I'm thinking it's audacity, tbh. Someone once said to me in relation to recording equipment that 'you get what you pay for' and seeing as this software is free, I can agree with them on this one!

I'm just throwing this out there and asking anyone with any knowledge on the subject if they can help me at all because this is highly frustrating!
If it's something I can do within the settings of audacity please let me know or if this has just screwed me over and it's worth getting better software altogether (I'm keeping my eye on Cubase, if anyone in the UK can give me a link to what they believe is at a decent price, that would be greatly appreciated!) then again, let me know!

Anyway, I'll leave this out there for anyone with any help for me!

Thanks again,

Kjazz
 
I'm not sure that is even possible for tempo to slow down in Audacity. Explain a bit more, as to how you are recording.

I am a Cubase guy myself, but you could download Reaper (free 'full version' trial and low cost to get rid of the nag screen), and see if the issue is something you are doing, or whether Audacity is the problem. Reaper is quite a bit more complicated than Audacity but there are many here that can help. And there is also a manual. :)
 
I use Audacity and that used to happen to me all the time!
On the top right corner, at the end of the 2nd line, there's a option for "Playback speed" and an add and minus sign on either side where you can adjust to fix the speed in which your recordings will play.
You can try that but nothing really worked until I invested in a mixer and connected it to my computer. Whatever I sang into the mic, which was connected to the mixer, came out the exact speed I sang it :D I was so relieved!
So my advice is, if you haven't already invested in a mixer, you should :-)
But if you already have, just check the playback speed, it should work. xx
 
A mixer should have no effect whatsoever on the playback or recording speed, except maybe if it has the converters in it.
 
Leximww said:
I use Audacity and that used to happen to me all the time!
On the top right corner, at the end of the 2nd line, there's a option for "Playback speed" and an add and minus sign on either side where you can adjust to fix the speed in which your recordings will play.
You can try that but nothing really worked until I invested in a mixer and connected it to my computer. Whatever I sang into the mic, which was connected to the mixer, came out the exact speed I sang it :D I was so relieved!
So my advice is, if you haven't already invested in a mixer, you should :-)
But if you already have, just check the playback speed, it should work. xx
Click to expand...
You really need to get a bit more knowledge about stuff yourself before you start handing out advice to others....
 
A bad clock on your soundcard seems plausible.

The other thing I'd try is to monitor the performance of your system during recording and playback. Does Audacity use up all your memory and CPU?
 
In my experiences with it on Windows based operating systems, you can not multi track with audacity unless you are recording all tracks at the same time. there will be a lag between the overdubbed track and the already recorded one(s) you are listening/playing to. you can "move" the overdubbed track witht it's editing tools and try to line it up if you have some sort of reference to do so.
 
I have used this program as well and had the same issues. I finally figured out that it was my sound card causign latancy as well as playback issues. Try checking the specs on your sound card to see if its compatable with Audacity.
 
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