audition cs5.5 won't start to play or record

[muyinmolly]

I just installed audition cs5.5. I was able to open an existing mp3 file and edit it, but when i tried to open a new file to make a recording, it wouldn't respond.

This is what happened...

I clicked file - audio - new - audio file, and the editor appears. I tried to drag the "current time indicator" but it wouldn't move. I tried to click "record" and "play" but there was no response.Did I do something wrong?

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

I use Audition most days, and have no trouble with it at all. I don't have sound device routing issues either, but there again I'm using a professional interface. What are you using that causes so much trouble?

[timtro]

I don't know what you call "professional interface". I have a CAD U-37 USB microphone. Audition shows it is connected. On odd numbered Tuesdays in months ending in "Y" when the moon is in the last phase, I turn it on and it works. Otherwise I go through the endless loop of click here, error, click here, error, click here, error....

With the program that preceded Audition which I don't seem to have any more, I would turn it on, plug in the mic, click record and save the file. In Audition, it comes up as 44000 but that doesn't work. I tried setting it to 48000 and that doesn't work; then I tried most all the other possible settings from 2200 up with no change.

I don't know what it is looking for and it certainly gives no hint. Google search brought up this forum.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

timtro wrote:

I don't know what you call "professional interface". I have a CAD U-37 USB microphone. Audition shows it is connected. On odd numbered Tuesdays in months ending in "Y" when the moon is in the last phase, I turn it on and it works. Otherwise I go through the endless loop of click here, error, click here, error, click here, error....

A professional interface is a competent sound device with an ASIO driver, usually incorporating a couple of mic preamps and dedicated outputs, usually with a headphone socket. They come in a lot of shapes and sizes, but none of them are USB microphones.

The availability of an ASIO driver is important. Your USB microphone won't have an ASIO driver, so you have to use either Audition's built-in support for Windows drivers, or something like ASIO4ALL. Unfortunately, without a direct ASIO driver, your mic is rather a hostage to fortune, and all the aggravation that Windows can throw at it. ASIO punches a hole clean through the OS, so you get far less trouble from Windows, and generally you can control your device from its own control panel without difficulty. Probably ASIO4ALL (free) is your best bet here, because it has diagnostics, and you can see exactly what the state of any usable device it finds is.

http://www.asio4all.com/

[timtro]

That totally makes sense and I am taking your advice immediately. It's too bad the vague error messages from Adobe don't mention anything about this.  I think I may owe you a giant thank you. Stay tuned...

[timtro]

That makes the mic work but now it won't play back.

The way it was before (when I got lucky) recording would mute the speakers and when I unplugged the mic I could hear what was played back. Now when I unplug the mic the play button ceases to function and scrubbing indicates there is no auto output and an error message shows up about a changed configuration.

What am I missing now (and why the *&^^%^ doesn't Adobe make it work correctly)?

[timtro]

Since I installed whatever it was now Premiere won't play when I click play and the sound on my editing machine is totally gone. No sound on anything. Now I'm screwed!

[Paul_Ferguson]

I feel your frustration.  You're starting to find out why USB mics are so cheap, and also why anybody who has options doesn't use them. 

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

timtro wrote:

That makes the mic work but now it won't play back.

The way it was before (when I got lucky) recording would mute the speakers and when I unplugged the mic I could hear what was played back. Now when I unplug the mic the play button ceases to function and scrubbing indicates there is no auto output and an error message shows up about a changed configuration.

What am I missing now (and why the *&^^%^ doesn't Adobe make it work correctly)?

It's not Audition, and it's not Adobe's fault - it's Windows and their stupid 'active sensing' that does this. There have been complaints about it before, and yes it really is stupid, even to the point of detecting changes on the USB bus (like unplugging printers...)  and reporting those as changes too, also screwing with Audition.

This is why using a professional external sound device is the way to go. All the time you are only using this for your input and output, then Windows can do nothing to it - active sensing only works on devices within your computer, not external ones at all.

[timtro]

Reboot got my sound and start control back. I'll save the fight with Audition for another day. Thanks for the help.

Windows or no Windows, I don't recall any of these problems with the program that Audition replaced. I have a Mac but Apple screwed that up (G4) by dead-ending the OS.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

timtro wrote:

Windows or no Windows, I don't recall any of these problems with the program that Audition replaced.

If that program didn't respond to the interrupts that Windows sent, then that would be so, yes.

Do I think that Audition ought to have an option to ignore them too? You bet - it would save a lot of people a lot of problems, and we'd get far less flack here!

[ryclark]

In my view one of the requirements for running Audition should be a proper audio interface. Trying to make a professional audio editor like Audition run reliably using a cheap on board sound chip that relies on the OS to pass the digital audio to it is a recipe for disaster, as we see so often here. It's like trying to run a Rolls Royce with a 500cc Fiat engine.

[timtro]

If I'm just recording from a USB mic I don't understand why I need more gear in between and I would be interested in suggestions with regard to a "proper audio interface" besides what is built into a USB mic like the CAD u37 which replaced what I had before that was going through the audio input, complete with hum and other issues. I thought what I have now is a lot more "proper" than what it replaced, which dated back to my 1/4 inch tape days.

It also seems like every time there is a software "update" I have to go through a bunch of nonsense to get it to work again. It's a good think I don't need to use it that often.

By the way, thanks again for the support, in case my appreciation didn't adequately show through my continued irritation with Adobe.

[Paul_Ferguson]

timtro wrote:

If I'm just recording from a USB mic I don't understand why I need more gear in between and I would be interested in suggestions with regard to a "proper audio interface"

Don't get angry at Adobe - your problem isn't their fault.  Steve explained why you're having the problems you are with the USB mic - Windows is causing your grief, not Audition.  However, if you had a decent audio interface, the ASIO driver in it would bypass Windows for the purposes of recording/playback, so you'd be in a much more reliable position. 

Suggestions for an audio interface would depend on what you needed.  It sounds like you're recording only one input at a time, so you could get by with a small one.  For a start, check out stuff like the Presonus Audiobox USB and the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. 

[timtro]

This makes no sense at all.

Why do I need to replace a USB microphone with a microphone that feeds through USB? Its not like I'm using the sound card. Audio through USB is audio through USB is audio through USB, no? Supposedly the USB mic is doing the same thing - digitizing the audio and porting it out to USB. What do these extra devices do besides add an extra input and monitoring that I don't need? How does Audition know (or care) how the audio gets to the USB input?  All I can see is I'm spending $100+ to end up with the same thing I have already, just with more clutter in the workstation. If the USB in the USB microphone doesn't work why do they exist at all? Moreover, why do they work with most programs that are not Adobe Audition CS6: Audacity, SoundForge, the previous Adobe program, Audition before the software "updates", some of my other NLE programs with audio input, etc.

I just started the program again after plugging in the mic and .... nothing. no audio. I uninstalled the add on program and tried again .... nothing. I installed the add on again, now the record function is grayed out. Nothing.reen

What do you suggest now? The "options" screen gives no clue. No errors, but no audio recording either. The USB mic shows on and Windows indicates when it is plugged in and out. I can just imagine my mood if I had just spent another $185 only to find I'm still in the same place I was. I still have nothing.

I found that after installing the ASIO Audacity no longer worked. It didn't see any audio input. I unistalled ASIO, now Audacity works so I don't have any use for Audition any longer. Audacity works just like Audition USED to work and the other program worked - I plug in the mic, I record, I unplug the mic and I play back. Done.

I'm quitting this thread now. I appreciate the assistance but I'm going to be smart and forget about Audition and probably uninstall it to avoid future frustration.

[Paul_Ferguson]

timtro wrote:

This makes no sense at all.

Audio through USB is audio through USB is audio through USB, no? Supposedly the USB mic is doing the same thing - digitizing the audio and porting it out to USB.

No.  Audio via a USB interface avoids the problems you've been having using a USB mic.  The interface makes the difference.  If you don't understand it, fair enough.  But don't blame Audition for your own inability to understand it.

[ryclark]

A USB mic makes use of the standard built in Windows support for USB audio devices. Therein lies the problem. An external hardware USB interface has proprietary ASIO drivers supplied by the manufacturer that completely bypass anything thing to do with Windows. However it would not be beyond the manufacturers of USB mics to provide decent ASIO drivers for their mic. This would be OK for a single mic but would become much too complicated for using more than one USB mic which people quite often want to do. For them the only option is an external USB audio interface where the multiple mics are combined into one digital stream before entering the PC.

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

ryclark wrote:

However it would not be beyond the manufacturers of USB mics to provide decent ASIO drivers for their mic.

Are you sure? I've never seen a shred of evidence of that!

[ryclark]

No I haven't seen any evidence. But surely if they can do it for an external USB interface they could do it for the output of an USB mic as well? It was only supposition on my part. Perhaps I should have used "should" instead of "would".

[bunchablues@bigpond.com]

i have the same problem what is the solution?

[acv1566]

I had a similar issue (again) after my last Windows update.  (I say "again" because the same issue occurred up the last time the geniuses at Microsoft helped me with an update.)  It appears that they choose to assign a different sound device than the one I had selected as my default.  Once that happens, Audition no linger works.  At least today I know what the issue is and it only takes a few minutes to reassign the correct default.  It is, however, still aggravating to be forced to redo effort to get back to full operation. 

I complained mightily to M/S the last time they did this, but nothing has changed.....

[TriangleMaster]

Basic tip for using Audition: Plug mic in, go to Windows Control Panel and make sure both the sample rate and bit depth are the same for your speakers and microphone. Start Audition. Go to Preferences. Go to Audio Hardware. Make sure audio devices are set as needed for your project. Make sure Document sample rate is same as audio device sample rate. Exit. Record.