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[Thrupenny Bit]

Hi All,
Am starting to get to grips with a new pc and operating system, now on windows 10.
I have downloaded Audacity, in an effort to be able to do as before ( old pc using Vista ) where I could capture a YouTube  sound file.
i.e. Start a Youtube video, start Audacity recording and then capture that sound only recording, which after putting through Amazing Slowdowner in my iPad I could make it easier to learn by ear.

The tab I have ( and clicked before on the old pc ) give an option of MME, Windows Direct Sound or Windows WASAPI.
I know it was an option before, but I don't seem to be able to do a test recording whichever one I choose.
Any thoughts from the computer illiteratii?
cheers
Q

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Audacity is very good, although I struggle to do anything sophisticated with it. I'm not technically minded.

Sir John

[Thrupenny Bit]

I know what you mean.... But I did have it set up as above, which linked together my ability to get tunes from different devices and learn by ear. It was great!
I'm sure there's a way but at the moment the whole thing is so different from my old PC..... It's frustrating knowing there are ways, just you haven't found out where to look yet.
But I will get used to it!
Q

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Well I have always wanted to double track, and I have Audacity, I also have a ZOOM H4, but still haven't worked out how to do it.

Sir John

[Thrupenny Bit]

Good morning!
Having slept on my problem and come in fresh this morning, I've resolved it myself.
In the Audacity Help guide, it recommends downloading two plug-ins, LAME and FFMPEG. I'm no tech head but apparently it allows import/export of various files, including mp3 sound files.
OK, downloaded as per instructions, started playing a YouTube video then I played around with the Menu Bar options.
I've found that setting Audio Host to Windows WASAPI and the next dropdown select your speakers means the sound ( whatever is playing out of the speakers ) now gets recorded.
Phew!
Right, off to have a play before sorting out other pc stuff.
cheers
Q

[playandteach]

Can I suggest that people have some sort of internet security running when downloading the LAME for using mp3s, as I've hit issues with that in the past. I haven't followed through with that as a result, but instead convert my audacity wavs into mp3s with itunes. That was a while back, so maybe there are safer ways now. Anyone else had a problem?

[Chris Ryall]

I got security warnings when I downloaded LAME to a PC a couple of years back

Nothing wrt this iMac (but who knows)?

[Thrupenny Bit]

I think I read in the instructions either the Audacity Help file, or the link through to LAME that it can cause a false virus type warning.
I've downloaded it this morning, running AVG and I hasn't picked up anything....
cheers
Q

[forrest]

then capture that sound only recording, which after putting through Amazing Slowdowner in my iPad I could make it easier to learn by ear.

cheers
Q

 Q...also, (you may already know this, but for others) Audacity has it's own 'slower downer" feature. In the effects tab, by selecting "Change Tempo", one can adjust the selection to go faster or slower to suit your needs. The pitch stays the same, although radical shift in the tempo will make the recording a bit strange sounding.
   Also, another handy feature: in the 'effects' menu, by selecting "Change Pitch", one can also shift the pitch to an almost an infinite degree. So if your box is, say, 10 cents flat from the recording, you can by trial and error bring them to concurrence. Also works for transposing from one key to another. Audacity is a brilliant bit of software, and a great tool for learning.

[Thrupenny Bit]

Hi Forrest,
Thank you for the info. I was aware you could do these things but haven't pursued them.
I use audacity just to save an audio file.
I have an iPad which is very portable and I use Amazing Slowdowner on that and find that really good. It's portable so I can leave my desktop and wander round the house to a quiet place and learn a tune by ear.
Essentially that is my reason for using Audacity. Grab a recording from Youtube, save it as an mp3 file on the pc, load it into iTunes then sync. the iPad.
Result being it is then onto the iPad and  there for wherever I go to learn the tune.

Once I've overcome the initial steep ( vertical! ) learning curve of going from Vista to Win 10, I'll investigate Audacity further. It has the reputation of being an excellent programme for editing sound files, tons more stuff than my simple use.
thanks for the thought.
Q

[penn]

instead of recording the youtube output through Audacity, you can "rip" at faster than real time using the "SS" prefix.
Basically find your youtube video, then type "SS" between the www and youtube - i.e. www.ssyoutube.com.therest.... and it takes you to "savefrom.net"
It's probably illicit of course, but no more so than recording your audio outputs or home taping to cassette.

I've found that ripping to MP4 (a video format) then ripping again to MP3 using some other converter (maybe dbpoweramp which would need a codec for MP3, but I usually convert to WAV because my software needs it) is perhaps the most reliable, but it's still quicker than recording in real time.
Steve

[Anahata]

I've found that ripping to MP4 (a video format) then ripping again to MP3 using some other converter (maybe dbpoweramp which would need a codec for MP3

I'm sure FFMPEG will convert the sound from an MP4 to MP3, and by extension, Audacity can act as a front end for FFMPEG, importing the audio from an MP4 and exporting to MP3 (or whatever you want to do with it)