Using Audacity from WorldStart

[circusboy01]

I bought Audacity from WorldStart. It transfers cassette tapes to your computer.I've downloaded ( I guess that's the right term) a couple tapes so far, and everything seemed to work just like it should. Problem is I don't know where they went. I can't find them to play them back or put on a CD. I'm sure finding them would be simple if I just knew where to look. Thanks.

 

[Doctor John]

Have you tried just running a search for sound-format files (e.g. .wav, .mp3, .ogg etc.)?
(sorry if I'm being too obvious)

 

[bobcat]

There are a couple of questionable points in the OP.

Firstly, Audacity is not bought, but it’s free, open source from Sourceforge. Secondly, as far as I know, it doesn’t download cassette tapes, but converts them to digital music files. Are you sure you mean Audacity and not another program?

As regards the location where its output file is saved, this is specified by the user by the usual operation: File > Save As…/Export As…

To see where it currently saves the output files, load something (e.g. an MP3) and tell it to save it as above. The destination will be shown in the pop-up window (and can be changed).

 

[circusboy01]

There are a couple of questionable points in the OP.

Firstly, Audacity is not bought, but it’s free, open source from Sourceforge. Secondly, as far as I know, it doesn’t download cassette tapes, but converts them to digital music files. Are you sure you mean Audacity and not another program?

As regards the location where its output file is saved, this is specified by the user by the usual operation: File > Save As…/Export As…

To see where it currently saves the output files, load something (e.g. an MP3) and tell it to save it as above. The destination will be shown in the pop-up window (and can be changed).

I kind of thought download was the wrong term. Yes it is Audacity. What I got from WorldStart was a small cassette deck with a usb cable. It came with a small disc, and when I ran it I ended up with Audacity on my computer.The Desk top icon is a pair of headphones.There are features on it that I don't fully understand. But I was able to set it up per instructions. How it works is you put a cassette in the deck Open Audacity hover your cursor over the Rec. button then click the cursor at the same time you depress play on the deck. Going to try to follow your instructions. Thanks.

 

[circusboy01]

There are a couple of questionable points in the OP.

Firstly, Audacity is not bought, but it’s free, open source from Sourceforge. Secondly, as far as I know, it doesn’t download cassette tapes, but converts them to digital music files. Are you sure you mean Audacity and not another program?

As regards the location where its output file is saved, this is specified by the user by the usual operation: File > Save As…/Export As…

To see where it currently saves the output files, load something (e.g. an MP3) and tell it to save it as above. The destination will be shown in the pop-up window (and can be changed).

Tried to follow your instructions Not sure if I did it right. Ended up with 2 choices use like a flash drive, or use like a cd/dvd. I chose Flashdrive because it was already selected. Ended up with instructions to drag files to this location. What files? I know I'm wording this wrong, so I hope you understand what I'm saying.

 

[circusboy01]

Have you tried just running a search for sound-format files (e.g. .wav, .mp3, .ogg etc.)?
(sorry if I'm being too obvious)

No you're not being too obvious. How do I run a search forsound-format files? Thanks.

 

[learninmypc]

No you're not being too obvious. How do I run a search forsound-format files? Thanks.

Not positive,but I think you'd just type it in the search box. Click Start & I think a search box shows up,type the ext in it & click search,I'm guess as I don't have access to a W7 right now.

 

[LookinAround]

I found an online manual for Audacity HERE which also includes some tutorials.

I tried to look for where Audacity saves things, it looks like it saves everything in a "Project" file see HERE. As I understand the manual, everything is saved in Project file in a format specific to Audacity. So I'm guessing you need to use Audacity to playback or burn to CD, Audacity would then read the Audio from the project file itself and playback or burn. I don't think the audio is in a standard audio format you can search for

There's also info about playback, etc in the manual
/* edit */
Oh. just noticed in the manual too. If you want to save an audio in a standard format use the Export command

Audacity projects are not intended to be read by other programs, but to provide fast loading and saving of audio within Audacity, with all project data such as label tracks and envelope points retained . When you are finished working on a project and you want to use the results in another program, select one of the Export commands.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Yes Audacity does save in a proprietary format. If you save in the default format, you will need Audacity to play the files.

However, you also have the option to export to other audio formats as bobcat mentioned above. When exporting which is what you will need to do for other players to work, you have the option to specify where you want the file to be placed.

 

[circusboy01]

I found an online manual for Audacity HERE which also includes some tutorials.

I tried to look for where Audacity saves things, it looks like it saves everything in a "Project" file see HERE. As I understand the manual, everything is saved in Project file in a format specific to Audacity. So I'm guessing you need to use Audacity to playback or burn to CD, Audacity would then read the Audio from the project file itself and playback or burn. I don't think the audio is in a standard audio format you can search for

There's also info about playback, etc in the manual
/* edit */
Oh. just noticed in the manual too. If you want to save an audio in a standard format use the Export command

Thanks. You've,probably, given me everything there is to know about Audacity, and how to use it. Now if I could only understand more of what I read. I remember years ago transferred cassettes to CDs using a Y-wire. I think it was before USB. Don't remember if I transferred them on to the computer. Then to the CD or if I went straight from cassette to CD.
I guess there's probably no chance that I might be able to go straight from cassette to CD with this tape deck. Right?

 

[cliffordcooley]

You can record the cassette tapes as one large audio file. Once finished you can write the audio track to CD. However if you want to save each individual song as its own track, you will need to use Audacity to split the large audio recording into tracks. It's been awhile since I have done so but I know you can use Audacity to do this. I've probably recorded 200 cassettes plus a few records and then split them into tracks for creating CD's using Audacity.

 

[circusboy01]

You can record the cassette tapes as one large audio file. Once finished you can write the audio track to CD. However if you want to save each individual song as its own track, you will need to use Audacity to split the large audio recording into tracks. It's been awhile since I have done so but I know you can use Audacity to do this. I've probably recorded 200 cassettes plus a few records and then split them into tracks for creating CD's using Audacity.

 

[circusboy01]

You can record the cassette tapes as one large audio file. Once finished you can write the audio track to CD. However if you want to save each individual song as its own track, you will need to use Audacity to split the large audio recording into tracks. It's been awhile since I have done so but I know you can use Audacity to do this. I've probably recorded 200 cassettes plus a few records and then split them into tracks for creating CD's using Audacity.

Thanks. Everybody is giving me great suggestions, and instructions. Now I need to figure out how to utilize them. They say if all else fails read the instructions. So that's what I'm going to try to do. Everybodies instructions should help me understand what I'm reading. Thanks again to all

 

[cliffordcooley]

Just remember, only the highlighted area will be edited. If you want to use the tools to edit the whole project, Ctrl+A will highlight the whole project. Otherwise you use the mouse to highlight only the area you want edited. If I remember correctly when splitting the audio track, the track is split where you have the cursor located.

 

[mike1959]

Hi circusboy01, If you haven't sorted out where your music files have gone to yet, it would be useful if you knew what format Audacity was saving your copied cassette tapes into.
Audacity's own format is .aup so if you want to search for any files on your pc of that type, you just type into your search box;
*.aup
then a new window will open, with any files showing with the suffix .aup.
Then to find where that file is, right-click on it and choose 'open file location'.
A new window will open and your .aup file will be there.

(If you open Audacity, then, ctrl +p, 'directories' you will see the folder where temp files are saved. You can change it by clicking on 'choose'.
Make a new folder somewhere that makes sense to you.)

If you want a music file in an different format, not .aup, then you have to choose, (in Audacity, File, Export, then change the type in the 'save as' box to the type you want, e.g. .mp3 or whatever.

(Note that Audacity program does not normally include the mp3 encoder (called Lame) so you have to have it installed on your pc already, then navigate Audacity through to where it is located on your pc.)

 

[circusboy01]

Hi circusboy01, If you haven't sorted out where your music files have gone to yet, it would be useful if you knew what format Audacity was saving your copied cassette tapes into.
Audacity's own format is .aup so if you want to search for any files on your pc of that type, you just type into your search box;
*.aup
then a new window will open, with any files showing with the suffix .aup.
Then to find where that file is, right-click on it and choose 'open file location'.
A new window will open and your .aup file will be there.

(If you open Audacity, then, ctrl +p, 'directories' you will see the folder where temp files are saved. You can change it by clicking on 'choose'.
Make a new folder somewhere that makes sense to you.)

If you want a music file in an different format, not .aup, then you have to choose, (in Audacity, File, Export, then change the type in the 'save as' box to the type you want, e.g. .mp3 or whatever.

(Note that Audacity program does not normally include the mp3 encoder (called Lame) so you have to have it installed on your pc already, then navigate Audacity through to where it is located on your pc.)

I'm pathetic I can't figure out anything!!! Guy giving instructions on the WorldStart video says the first thing I need to do after I get Audacity is go to edit, preferences, and choose USB and what sounds like pnp not there or I can't find it .
Mike. you say to put .aup in the search window I put it in the start search window, and I get the same thing I got when I tried edit, preferences above. I used the yahoo search window Got different thing that .aup stood for including Acceptable use policy which I think is what I needed. But, it didn't take me anywhere I could use. The manual has too many choices, and terms I don't understand. Believe me. I know it's me and not any of your instructions. I know the problem is the fact that the tape deck hooks up using a usb cable. With the tape deck I used in the past it hooked up using a Y-wire and it was simple.. Oh well until I magically get smarter at least I can use the tape deck to listen to my cassettes. Thanks for trying.

 

[mike1959]

Hi, I don't have a cassette converter, as you are using but I think it's like the USB record turntables I've seen, in that it plugs into the pc by USB plug.
I checked the settings in Audacity (edit, preferences) and 'Devices' I think is what you should check.
If you have the cassette unit plugged in, you might get another entry in the box; 'Devices'.
If not then the 'Primary sound capture device' should be right.

So when you click on the 'record' (RED) button in Audacity, and play the cassette, do you see the sound as a wave form on the Audacity screen? I would guess that so far it has not recorded any music to your pc.
Interested to know what has happened here.

 

[circusboy01]

Hi, I don't have a cassette converter, as you are using but I think it's like the USB record turntables I've seen, in that it plugs into the pc by USB plug.
I checked the settings in Audacity (edit, preferences) and 'Devices' I think is what you should check.
If you have the cassette unit plugged in, you might get another entry in the box; 'Devices'.
If not then the 'Primary sound capture device' should be right.
View attachment 72653
So when you click on the 'record' (RED) button in Audacity, and play the cassette, do you see the sound as a wave form on the Audacity screen? I would guess that so far it has not recorded any music to your pc.
Interested to know what has happened here.

If by wave form you mean the thick red lines on both tracks that indicate that it's recording. Yes I see them. But maybe the deck is recording, but the computer is not receiving it. ( if that makes any sense. I'm going to try using the primary sound capture device, as you suggested. Thanks

Okay here's what I got. At first I thought it was just another wild goose chase, because when I clicked file, preferences,devices all I found under recording devices were Microphone Array ( 2-USB Audio, and Microsoft Sound Mapper Input. Then I just started clicking drop down menus to see if primary sound capture was hidden somewhere else.
( a desperate man will do desperate things ) I clicked on MME Which changed to Windows direct sound, and two drop down menus changed to Primary Sound Driver, and Primary Sound Capture Driver. Going to try to record something now. I'll let you know what happens.

 

[circusboy01]

If by wave form you mean the thick red lines on both tracks that indicate that it's recording. Yes I see them. But maybe the deck is recording, but the computer is not receiving it. ( if that makes any sense. I'm going to try using the primary sound capture device, as you suggested. Thanks

Okay here's what I got. At first I thought it was just another wild goose chase, because when I clicked file, preferences,devices all I found under recording devices were Microphone Array ( 2-USB Audio, and Microsoft Sound Mapper Input. Then I just started clicking drop down menus to see if primary sound capture was hidden somewhere else.
( a desperate man will do desperate things ) I clicked on MME Which changed to Windows direct sound, and two drop down menus changed to Primary Sound Driver, and Primary Sound Capture Driver. Going to try to record something now. I'll let you know what happens.

Welp. Here I go being stupid again. It sure looks like it recorded. But I just don't know where to find it to play it back. So I just don't know. I found Audacity by going to computer, local disk Primary files (86) But that just opened up Audacity. The same as it does when I click on the desktop Icon. I'd ask you to dumb it down for me. But, I'm guessing that you all have already done that.
Once again thanks for trying.

 

[mike1959]

Hi circusboy01, I've done a few tests with recording my mp3 player into the mic socket on the front of my Dell.
(I know it not the same as USB recorder but.......)
When Audacity is recording you will get the red bars at the top moving with the music level, but also you should see the purple wave forms for left and right stereo channels, moving left to right across your screen. ( See photo)


One thing I can think may be set on the wrong option....
On your screen lower right in the taskbar, right-click on the speaker icon.
Left click on Recording devices
You will see a list of devices to record from. Is there an icon for your USB cassette? If so it should have a green tick on it.
If no USB cassette shown, then use Primary capture device in the top part of Audacity screen.
On mine I have a tick on the Microphone as I was using a 3.5mm jack lead from mp3 player into mic socket.

Also I was using 'primary capture device' as recording input, see my Audacity image.

Hope this is of some use.
If you get the purple waveform on screen then Windows is recording. When ready to stop, press yellow 'stop' at top of Audacity, then if you do 'File' 'Save as', the program will save your new recording in the style; savename.aup
and then it will only open and play in Audacity.
It will be on your pc saved as savename.aup and you can find it by doing,
click on START icon , in 'search programs and files' type *.aup (enter) Then you should see your new recording.
To actually find where it is, right-click on it, and choose 'open file location'.

 

[circusboy01]

Hi circusboy01, I've done a few tests with recording my mp3 player into the mic socket on the front of my Dell.
(I know it not the same as USB recorder but.......)
When Audacity is recording you will get the red bars at the top moving with the music level, but also you should see the purple wave forms for left and right stereo channels, moving left to right across your screen. ( See photo)View attachment 72662


One thing I can think may be set on the wrong option....
On your screen lower right in the taskbar, right-click on the speaker icon.
Left click on Recording devices
You will see a list of devices to record from. Is there an icon for your USB cassette? If so it should have a green tick on it.
If no USB cassette shown, then use Primary capture device in the top part of Audacity screen.
On mine I have a tick on the Microphone as I was using a 3.5mm jack lead from mp3 player into mic socket.
View attachment 72663
Also I was using 'primary capture device' as recording input, see my Audacity image.

Hope this is of some use.
If you get the purple waveform on screen then Windows is recording. When ready to stop, press yellow 'stop' at top of Audacity, then if you do 'File' 'Save as', the program will save your new recording in the style; savename.aup
and then it will only open and play in Audacity.
It will be on your pc saved as savename.aup and you can find it by doing,
click on START icon , in 'search programs and files' type *.aup (enter) Then you should see your new recording.
To actually find where it is, right-click on it, and choose 'open file location'.

You're going to a lot of trouble to help a guy out who has already given up twice. Believe me it IS appreciated I am getting both the red bars and the purple squiggly lines. But I was getting them, before I made the changes yesterday. The only difference I can see is Before the red bars were on the right half of the on screen Audacity. Now they are more towards the left side. Kind of in the middle. But like I said I get red bars and purple lines both ways. I don't have an icon for USB cassette down in my taskbar.
I've got Audacity set up, from left to right Windows Direct Sound-Primary sound Driver- Primary sound Capture-and 2(stereos)inp. Gotta go out for a while. Will try to find the files with my music files when I get back. How I do 'Do File' 'Save as', or should I ask where do I do it? Talk to you later today

 

[mike1959]

Hi, I used Audacity many years ago, and I almost gave up with it.....
But it is a professional quality program and takes some practice to get it to do what you want.
With Audacity you have to plug in any devices first, then open Audacity otherwise it won't find them.
If you are seeing the purple left and right tracks on screen then your pc is recording from the cassette deck.
The program records in it's own format called .aup, so that when you have done a recording, it will be saved in a form that only Audicity can play back, or load again.
If you want your recording to be in another format, say .wav then you have to go to the 'Flie' menu, and choose 'Export'.
In the new box that opens, go to the 'save as type' box, click the down arrow, and choose 'WAV.(Microsoft) signed 16 bit PCM'.
Then your recorded track is going to be called 'track1.wav' and then can be played outside of Audacity, say in Windows media player.

 

[tonylukac]

I used to use audacity as my music player. Good idea to save the large track as outlined above from the cassette. I suggest you save to a new folder on your c: drive, one for each cassette. However, if you want to burn it to cd, you have to edit the track into individual songs and save them as mp3 or wav files. Windows media player, used to burn the cd, won't be able to read aup files. When I used audacity, wav files didn't seem to work, creating much static in the sound. Thus, as outlined above, you need the lame encoder to save as mp3 files. Use this link for instructions and download: http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#lame The first time you export an mp3 with audacity it will ask for the location of the lame encoder. Give it the location in the instructions, I think: C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity if you installed lame right. After you get your mp3 entire cassette track exported as an mp3, you need to edit it with audacity and break it into individual mp3 tracks. Start audacity, click File->Open and choose the large cassette saved track. You must manually listen to the opened track to edit the songs into individual tracks. First, make sure you are paged fully to the left (on the bottom). Click the play button and play the entire first song, making sure to note where the cursor is at the end. Click the stop (square) button. Click on about that area with the mouse (you will see lack of waves to mark the break in the large track). Then choose Edit->Select->Start to cursor. Then choose Edit->Cut. Then choose File->New to get a new instance of audacity. Choose Edit->Paste to get that track in this instance. Choose File->Export as mp3 then give it a name of track1.mp3 in the location where the large cassette track was. You should have the first song saved as an individual track. X out that instance of audacity and you should be back to your large track less the first song. Repeat the "click the play button" above for each track, naming them track2, track3, etc. You should then have all your songs in individual tracks in the location specified. Then, use windows media player to burn the tracks to cd. Someone else will chime in to tell you how to do that, because I don't remember that part. You see why sound editors get so much money. Good luck.

 

[circusboy01]

I used to use audacity as my music player. Good idea to save the large track as outlined above from the cassette. I suggest you save to a new folder on your c: drive, one for each cassette. However, if you want to burn it to cd, you have to edit the track into individual songs and save them as mp3 or wav files. Windows media player, used to burn the cd, won't be able to read aup files. When I used audacity, wav files didn't seem to work, creating much static in the sound. Thus, as outlined above, you need the lame encoder to save as mp3 files. Use this link for instructions and download: http://manual.audacityteam.org/help/manual/man/faq_installation_and_plug_ins.html#lame The first time you export an mp3 with audacity it will ask for the location of the lame encoder. Give it the location in the instructions, I think: C:\Program Files\Lame for Audacity if you installed lame right. After you get your mp3 entire cassette track exported as an mp3, you need to edit it with audacity and break it into individual mp3 tracks. Start audacity, click File->Open and choose the large cassette saved track. You must manually listen to the opened track to edit the songs into individual tracks. First, make sure you are paged fully to the left (on the bottom). Click the play button and play the entire first song, making sure to note where the cursor is at the end. Click the stop (square) button. Click on about that area with the mouse (you will see lack of waves to mark the break in the large track). Then choose Edit->Select->Start to cursor. Then choose Edit->Cut. Then choose File->New to get a new instance of audacity. Choose Edit->Paste to get that track in this instance. Choose File->Export as mp3 then give it a name of track1.mp3 in the location where the large cassette track was. You should have the first song saved as an individual track. X out that instance of audacity and you should be back to your large track less the first song. Repeat the "click the play button" above for each track, naming them track2, track3, etc. You should then have all your songs in individual tracks in the location specified. Then, use windows media player to burn the tracks to cd. Someone else will chime in to tell you how to do that, because I don't remember that part. You see why sound editors get so much money. Good luck.

This reply is for Mike and Tony Well actually for everybody..
A couple of things I might have done, at least partly right. Tony I used the link you provided to download Lane v3 for_Windows exe.
but when I try to open it, all I get is a really quick flash of white printing on a black background. Did I download the wrong thing?

Also I'm slow. But I think I, finally, figured how to get to files. I typed files into the start search window. clicked save all results, and hundreds maybe thousands of files came up. Trouble is everyone that mentions Audacity just took me to manuals. I'm pretty sure, I've already seem, and don't know how to use them. Am I in the right place? If so where do I go from here? Do I have to scroll down farther?
Am I, at least, close to being on the right track? Again. Thanks all, for trying so hard.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Tony I used the link you provided to download Lane v3 for_Windows exe.

You don't need to install Lame, you only need to link Audacity to the lame_enc.dll file. Download lame_enc.dll and store it where ever you want then direct Audacity to the location where you have lame_enc.dll located.

Download lame_enc.dll here