Audacity and Surface 4 Laptop

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by J_D__, May 3, 2021.

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  1. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I’ve used Audacity on several computers. However, I have a new Surface 4 Laptop and can’t seem to connect the two. I’m not getting any “Line In” once I connect the USB cable. I tried reinstalling Audacity but, no luck. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    What device are you connecting to the laptop via USB?
     
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  3. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    Just a USB Turntable. I just read on the Audacity forum it may be an issue with Windows 10.
     
  4. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    USB works fine on Win 10. Sometimes I've had to try another USB port on my PC. I've also had bad USB cables.

    The issue isn't related to Audacity. For the moment, you can close Audacity. You simply want the laptop to acknowledge that the USB table has been connected. Type "manage sound devices" into taskbar search box.

    Is your Surface running Windows 10 S?
     
  5. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    Now, I just get microphone audio but, no direct clear line to the audio. That’s the issue.

    It uses Windows 10 Pro
     
  6. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    Ok, I get it: in the Audacity drop-down list of recording sources the USB turntable is not there.

    Does the turntable appear in Windows sound devices?
     
  7. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Also, you must start a new project in Audacity to record. Also consider this as well as making sure your USB turntable is recognized in Windows Sound Devices, and is selected as the input source.
     
  8. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    No, this is what I have:
    Output= Realtek High Definition Audio
    Input = microphone array which is enabled and headset which is disabled.
     
  9. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    Bummer. Windows has no idea the USB table is connected. Try my earlier suggestions. Reboot your laptop and try again. Is the USB table turned on and its internal pre-amp enabled?
     
  10. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I rebooted a couple of times and the turntable is on. This turntable worked on another computer yesterday but, I can only record in 16 bit.
     
  11. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    I started new projects and nothing.
     
  12. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Your USB turntable must be recognized as a PC audio source and selected as a priority. Or you won't get sound input.
     
  13. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    That's the table, not the computer. I've never seen a computer "unable" to record 24bit audio in the 20+ years I've used them. The bit depth and sample rate "resolution" are in the audio device and the recording software, which is in this case the turntable's internal USB sound card. Many USB turntables use 16bit and/or 44.1 sample rates....IME. IMO/E--the 44.1 will hurt the capture of vinyl more than 16bit....but....that's neither here nor there....

    Also, if you plug it into the other computer what does that computer say it's CALLED....? That's a good bit of info to know.

    Have you loaded a driver for the turntable's audio device? With it plugged in and turned on, open Device Manager....see if you have something with a question mark or exclamation mark...."unknown multimedia device" maybe.....if so....this could suggest it recognizes it there's hardware but doesn't know what to do with it. If there's NOTHING like that, while your'e in there expand the Multimedia and see if anything that resembles USB Audio or the manufacturer of the turntable is in there.
     
  14. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    It was a tablet I used yesterday and some tablets are limited to 16 bit. When connecting with the tablet, it says “line in”. No ? or !
     
  15. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    I don't understand how a Windows (or iOS) OS places any audio pipeline limitations, since that's a unction of the hardware device and the driver--I guess since you're trying to use Windows audio (rather than ASIO) I suppose they might just have some generic 16bit driver. So....I mean maybe....is the only reason you're wanting to use this Surface that isn't working is in hopes of greater bit depth capture?

    What's the turntable you're connecting? Does it have a driver available on the manufacturer's website?
     
  16. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC

    The only reason for using the Surface is for 24-192 digital versions of my vinyl. I have a TEAC TN-400S turntable which connects via a USB to my surface laptop. I’ll have to check on the driver.
     
  17. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    That USB Turntable can only output 16bit 48khz audio**. You might need to change the sample rate in Windows to 48khz to get it to use the sound device that is locked to that--meaning it's only capable of the one sample rate. That's BETTER than 44.1 by a long shot....but, 16bit means you really have to watch the levels and I bet there's no analog level adjustment on that box.

    FWIW. It doesn't have a driver--it relies on the OS generic driver. Never a good thing with Windows....

    **per Crutchfield's reprint of their specs TEAC TN-400S (Walnut) Manual belt-drive turntable with pre-mounted cartridge, USB output, and built-in phono preamp at Crutchfield
     
  18. blafarm

    blafarm New Member

    Location:
    LA
    Not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison, but I've had occasional issues with USB-enabled audio devices and Audacity when using a Surface Pro 6.

    Never discovered the actual source of the problem -- although one time, fiddling with the FILE > EDIT > PREFERENCES > DEVICES > HOST pulldown menu was effective (but only one time).
     
  19. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    This
    https://www.amazon.com/Mackie-Inter...=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B076646D8H

    Will allow you to plug in ANY phono stage analog output, apply any analog gain/level change you need and use ASIO with that Surface (or potentially the other computer?) to capture a 24/192khz stream. Nothing about a Surface's Win10 Home or Pro will limit an ASIO driver.

    I'm not aware of any of the built ins supporting HD. Doesn't mean they don't exist....but ,I can't get musicians to record in HD....I don't know if you've heard, but someone on the internet said it was BS. :) ...I doubt that's coming soon. But, who knows? If I could predict markets, I'd be wealthy.
     
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  20. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    Most tablets are hobbled, too. Especially Microsoft Surface devices. NO line in on consumer devices and hasn't been since Windows 2000/XP. You must have an audio interface which plays nice with Windows 10, hint, SoundBlasters are not. Creative audio best avoided for creating audio. Focusrite a good interface (but no phono preamp).
     
  21. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    Thank you, the files it produced are the normal size of HD files and say there 24/192.
     
  22. J_D__

    J_D__ Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Huntersville, NC
    Thank you everyone for your assistance. I truly appreciate you educating me.
     
  23. Apesbrain

    Apesbrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Coast, USA
    I can tell Audacity to set my "Project Rate" to 192 kHz and then export as 24-bit and it will do so regardless of the actual data coming in. The typical DAC will report this file as "24/192" regardless that it is zero-padded 16-bit. Your TEAC turntable is only capable of 16-bit (see p. 17 of the manual) quantization which is fine for recording vinyl. Just set Audacity project rate to 48000 and export your final work at 16-bit and you've extracted all you can.

    I'm unclear: did you get the Surface laptop to recognize the USB turntable? There's no reason for this not to work.
     
  24. JamieLang

    JamieLang Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    Yeah, this is why you can’t use Windows or Apple OS audio for serious audio work—it will resample anything to anything. ASIO or DAE would only allow you so set the recorder to 48khz. Apple’s CoreAudio allows that bit perfect connection-but, very few interface makers use it, as it requires them to write a driver.

    fwiw.
     
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