Any audio/Soundforge experts in tonight?
Discussion
I've bitten off more than I can chew. I have about 17 minutes of audio on a MiniDisc and need to make it into an audio CD.
I've plugged the MD player into the 'Aux' socket of the PC and the sound comes out of the PC speakers, fine, but I can't get it to appear in Soundforge. It's worked in the past but not now...
What do I need to do to get Soundforge to 'see' the audio, and how after capture to convert it to CD audio? Is it as simple as 'Save As > CDA'? I've done this before and saved as WAV, but forgot how I made it all work.
I know vanishingly little about this.
Thanks :-)
I've plugged the MD player into the 'Aux' socket of the PC and the sound comes out of the PC speakers, fine, but I can't get it to appear in Soundforge. It's worked in the past but not now...
What do I need to do to get Soundforge to 'see' the audio, and how after capture to convert it to CD audio? Is it as simple as 'Save As > CDA'? I've done this before and saved as WAV, but forgot how I made it all work.
I know vanishingly little about this.
Thanks :-)
SF will record from your sound card, it doesn't know what input you're using.
Open up your mixer from the task bar (Double click the speaker icon).
Click on Options -> Properties and then select Recording (Make sure SPDIF (Digital input) is ticked in the white box below).
Click OK
You should now see the Recording Control Mixer
Select SPDIF or Stereo Mix and adjust the volume so that you can hear your MD player through the PC.
If you select Record in SF you should see the VU meters active, adjust your input volume to the desired input (as loud as you can go without clipping).
Once happy, start it recording and restart your MD.
Open up your mixer from the task bar (Double click the speaker icon).
Click on Options -> Properties and then select Recording (Make sure SPDIF (Digital input) is ticked in the white box below).
Click OK
You should now see the Recording Control Mixer
Select SPDIF or Stereo Mix and adjust the volume so that you can hear your MD player through the PC.
If you select Record in SF you should see the VU meters active, adjust your input volume to the desired input (as loud as you can go without clipping).
Once happy, start it recording and restart your MD.
qube_TA said:
SF will record from your sound card, it doesn't know what input you're using. Open up your mixer from the task bar (Double click the speaker icon). Click on Options -> Properties and then select Recording (Make sure SPDIF (Digital input) is ticked in the white box below). Click OK You should now see the Recording Control Mixer Select SPDIF or Stereo Mix and adjust the volume so that you can hear your MD player through the PC.
Yep, done all that.
qube_TA said:
If you select Record in SF you should see the VU meters active, adjust your input volume to the desired input (as loud as you can go without clipping).
That's how it worked before. However all I can see now is the VU meters hovering around the 15dB level (regardless of input) and no means to change it that I can see. I tried recording 10 secs and simply got silence. I'm sure something needs clicking on, just don't know what.
qube_TA said:
In SF open Options -> Preferences -> Wave
Make sure that the Record device is the sound card your MD is plugged into.
Make sure that the Record device is the sound card your MD is plugged into.
Aha, thanks, now we're making progress! It was set to 'Microsoft Sound Manager' not 'SB Live' which is the card I have. So I selected this for both playback and record - but I'm still getting no level on the VU meters, just background noise around -60dB.
I also see a tab 'Create CD' which might be the last step if I get that far...
Any more ideas Qube?
Is there not another input socket on the sound card? AUX seems an odd one to use, my guess is the reason you're hearing the source is perhaps the AUX input just goes straight to the output mixer and is not actually available for recording? Is there not a line input socket? What soundcard is it? Is the output from the Mini Disc player digital (SPDIF)?
Also you want to check the Sound settings in Windows and make sure that the "Only use preferred devices is not checked".
Also you want to check the Sound settings in Windows and make sure that the "Only use preferred devices is not checked".
Hi Matthew - thought you'd gone there for a minute 
No idea why SF import is knackered, but it is. However a friend of mine has a Mac and so I took it over there. He was firmly of the opinion he could edit CD audio. What he's never figured out in 5 years is that it automatically converts it to AIFF! (Self-taught Mac types eh?!) Anyway, he managed to get it into some program but then couldn't figure out how to trim it, add fades etc. So on saying I could do that in SF he saved it as a WAV file for me to take home. Hurrah!
Except that when he fired up Marmite with Potatoes (or was it Toast with Jam?) it automatically turned it back into CD Audio - totally useless for me to edit!
Eventually I came away with a WAV file which SF accepted happily and I was able to finish the job.
Phew...
Well it worked before, but I guess I was just lucky then! It's a Soundblaster Live card, MD output is analogue (can be optical but I don't have the leads for it).
No idea why SF import is knackered, but it is. However a friend of mine has a Mac and so I took it over there. He was firmly of the opinion he could edit CD audio. What he's never figured out in 5 years is that it automatically converts it to AIFF! (Self-taught Mac types eh?!) Anyway, he managed to get it into some program but then couldn't figure out how to trim it, add fades etc. So on saying I could do that in SF he saved it as a WAV file for me to take home. Hurrah!
Except that when he fired up Marmite with Potatoes (or was it Toast with Jam?) it automatically turned it back into CD Audio - totally useless for me to edit!
Eventually I came away with a WAV file which SF accepted happily and I was able to finish the job. Phew...
The Dude said:
AUX seems an odd one to use, my guess is the reason you're hearing the source is perhaps the AUX input just goes straight to the output mixer and is not actually available for recording?
Well it worked before, but I guess I was just lucky then! It's a Soundblaster Live card, MD output is analogue (can be optical but I don't have the leads for it).
Edited by simpo two on Sunday 1st October 22:03
Right had a look at a SBLive card.
Aux is not on the edge of the card, it's on the board inside your PC (has TAD, CD_IN, AUX_IN, PC SPK, I2S_IN & CD_SPDIF).
On the edge of the card it has Line in, Mic in, 2 outputs and the MIDI/Joystick socket.
I'm guessing that you've got the wrong input selected which is why it isn't working.
Therefore I'd open up SF and hit record.
Go into Record Properties turn all your inputs up to full (make sure they're all visible) and select each one until you hit the correct input and your MD starts blaring out and your SF VU meters light up.
I reckon this'll sort it for next time.
M.
Aux is not on the edge of the card, it's on the board inside your PC (has TAD, CD_IN, AUX_IN, PC SPK, I2S_IN & CD_SPDIF).
On the edge of the card it has Line in, Mic in, 2 outputs and the MIDI/Joystick socket.
I'm guessing that you've got the wrong input selected which is why it isn't working.
Therefore I'd open up SF and hit record.
Go into Record Properties turn all your inputs up to full (make sure they're all visible) and select each one until you hit the correct input and your MD starts blaring out and your SF VU meters light up.
I reckon this'll sort it for next time.
M.
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