# audacity records once, then no more



## kb6rxe (Feb 28, 2018)

After a fresh install of FreeBSD, I can record streaming audio over the net with audacity and I can play it back. If I exit audacity and restart it, audacity does not record and after that audacity never records again. I have deleted the .audacity-data directory but I still cannot record.


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## dieselriot (Mar 1, 2018)

What do you mean by "does not record"? Does audacity appear to be recording but there's no audio, or nothing happens at all? In my experience audacity does not seem to work properly with plain oss, you should try jack.


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## kb6rxe (Mar 1, 2018)

In audacity the wave form is flat. After I export the recording and I play it back, I hear only silence.
I looked at jack and I find it confusing. Do you have any hints on how to use it?


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## dieselriot (Mar 1, 2018)

Okay, you can install the port at audio/jack. The usage is:
`$ jackd -d oss`
Run that in a terminal, it may fail and tell you to change some simple configuration files. Do what it asks and repeat, until it runs. See jackd's manpage for more options.
After that, just open audacity and choose jack as the host for the interface in the preferences.
Also, audio editing software may not work properly if another application such as a web browser or music player is open, so that could also be your issue.


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## k.jacker (Mar 2, 2018)

As long as you are not recording directly from a microphone I wouldn't use Audacity for that job.

mplayer (without GUI) is really powerfull and makes all other stream dumping software obsolete IMO. It records whatever stream you throw at it.
`mplayer http://url/to/audio/or/video/stream -dumpstream -dumpfile recorded-stream.mp3(mp4)`


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## dieselriot (Mar 2, 2018)

k.jacker said:


> As long as you are not recording directly from a microphone I wouldn't use Audacity for that job.
> 
> mplayer (without GUI) is really powerfull and makes all other stream dumping software obsolete IMO. It records whatever stream you throw at it.
> `mplayer http://url/to/audio/or/video/stream -dumpstream -dumpfile recorded-stream.mp3(mp4)`



Oh yeah, I totally missed the part that he's not recording directly from the mic (that's what I use audacity for anyway). Thanks for the tip about mplayer. It's a wonderful piece of software, but I only ever used it for video playback.


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## k.jacker (Mar 2, 2018)

dieselriot said:


> (that's what I use audacity for anyway). Thanks for the tip about mplayer.


Me, too. You're welcome!


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## kb6rxe (Mar 2, 2018)

I couldn't make audacity or mplayer record but I got vlc to record. Thanks for the suggestions. I would still like to us audacity as it has a timer which I like to use.  Older versions of audacity and FreeBSD still work. I which I could make the current versions work.


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## k.jacker (Mar 2, 2018)

What exactly is that you want to record? Can't believe it works with VLC and not with mplayer.
Only "stream" that can't be dumped by mplayer out of the box is m3u8 files from my experience.


kb6rxe said:


> Older versions of audacity and FreeBSD still work. I which I could make the current versions work.


What exactly was working but isn't working anymore?
What FreeBSD version you are running?


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## kb6rxe (Mar 6, 2018)

I was able to record streaming audio before, but am not able now.
I like to play a radio station using my web browser and record it.


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