No option "record microphone" in ALSA and PulseAudio

[pietergen]

I'd like record the screen (works) plus my voice through the microphone (does not work). The microphone itself is detected by the system and does work. But, not in simplescreenrecorder.

I don't get the option PluseAudio + record microphone.

If possible, I'd like to avoid setting up JACK. It should be possible with PulseAudio to record the screen (vision) and microphone (sound), right? QUESTION: HOW ?

INFORMATION: My ssr only shows these options for recording audio: 1- PulseAudio/ Source: built-in Audio analog stereo OR monitor of built-in Audio analog stereo
2- ALSA/ Device: default (I can change that, but I don't know into what) 3- JACK: record system microphone AND/OR record system speakers. Does not work at the moment and I would prefer not to setup JACK because I don't need to record my screen's sound plus my microphone simulatiously.

MY SYSTEM:

• Thinkpad X220
• Arch Linux, 64-bit
• Windowmanager OpenBox

Thanks & thanks for this great tool. Mooi werk, Maarten !

[MaartenBaert]

For PulseAudio, 'built-in Audio analog stereo' is probably your microphone. What happens when you use that? Do you see the volume indicator move in the preview? Or is it completely silent? Or do you get some kind of error message?

[pietergen]

Hello Maarten, thanks! It doesn't matter if I use "built-in Audio analog stereo" or "monitor of....". No moving volume indicator and no sound at all. I tried a different codec as well (MP3, now Vorbis, no difference),

For what it's worth: 1- in Skype my mic works fine. 2- When I make a recording with arecord, it sounds horrible (lots of noise, very vague voice in the background). When I use sox, I get a fine recording. Does this give any useful information?

It seems that for some reason ssr does not see the microphone - at least, the option "use the microphone" is not given when selecting the PulseAudio- or ALSA backend. Whereas in the next picture I DO see the tickbox record microphone. http://files.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/screenshot.png In my case the tickbox says "record audio"

I'm using this version: SimpleScreenRecorder 0.2.2 Compiled with GCC 4.8.2 Qt: header 4.8.5, lib 4.8.6 libavformat: header 55.19.104, lib 55.33.100 libavcodec: header 55.39.101, lib 55.52.102 libavutil: header 52.48.101, lib 52.66.100 libswscale: header 2.5.101, lib 2.5.102

It built without problems from source. I did not check the build package on the Arch User Repository, so in theory there could be a missing dependency - if it's not in the build package, the application will build fine, right? But - this seems unlikely. the depencies seem to be needed for encoding and so on, NOT for detecting hardware......

Any clues, Maarten? Thanks in advance..... Any ALSA settings I might change, perhaps?

[MaartenBaert]

Can you try running SSR from a terminal? You may get some useful error message.

Are you sure that you're actually using PulseAudio?

Did you build the latest version from the master branch, or the last stable release? Give the master branch a try if you didn't already, it has some ALSA auto-detection code that might be useful.

If arecord is broken, there is probably something really wrong with your audio ...

[pietergen]

Thank you Maarten! I think I built the stable one.... let's try the other. This weekend and on monday I have some real live things to do, I'll search again on Tuesday and mark this as solved hopefully :+1:

[abdalimran]

@MaartenBaert I am also facing the same problem. There isn't any option "record microphone" in ALSA and PulseAudio.

When I run it with terminal it shows the following info:

==================== SSR started ==================== SimpleScreenRecorder 0.2.2 Compiled with GCC 4.8.2 Qt: header 4.8.6, lib 4.8.6 libavformat: header 54.20.3, lib 54.20.4 libavcodec: header 54.35.0, lib 54.35.0 libavutil: header 52.3.0, lib 52.3.0 libswscale: header 2.1.1, lib 2.1.1 [DetectCPUFeatures] CPU features: mmx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 avx avx2 bmi1 bmi2 ==================== SSR stopped ====================

I am using Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr), Intel Core i7, x64 bit Acer Laptop.

Here is a screen shot of SSR when running in my system: http://ctrlv.in/339888

I love SSR...please fix the bug.

[ubuntuaddicted]

install pavucontrol and launch it, go to the input tab, you should see a line that states "Built-In Audio Analog Stereo", that's your microphone (assuming you're using an analog mic plugged into the 3.5mm jack). When you talk, if you don't see the meter moving than SSR won't work because you're mic isn't working in pulseaudio. In SSR, if you're using pulseaudio, you need to ensure your mic is working properly outside of SSR first. Sometimes in alsamixer your capture device (mic) is muted or the volume is turned way down. Ensure that's not the issue either.

I have a usb mic, so my mic shows up as a totally different thing. It's a little confusing I know but "Monitor of Built-In Audio Analog Stereo" is the sound from your system and "Built-In Audio Analog Stereo" is the 3.5mm audio jack microphone. I can assure you, it's no bug in SSR

[MaartenBaert]

Also, the checkbox 'record microphone' was renamed to 'record audio' because that's what it actually did. That is not a bug either.

[ubuntuaddicted]

yeah maarten, maybe you should update that image on your webpage to show the latest GUI.

[MaartenBaert]

@ubuntuaddicted I will do that once 2.3 is released, otherwise people will wonder what this 'profile' thing at the top is :).

[mamolas]

Hi, it seems I'm experiencing the same bug, could you check my short recording please? http://bit.ly/ssr_test Eager for the new release :)

[MaartenBaert]

@damodaranudas Sounds like the same PulseAudio bug that others are experiencing. There's nothing I can do. The PulseAudio backend may work better - if it doesn't, your only option is to uninstall PulseAudio (which will break your volume indicator, but you can easily install a new one that does support ALSA instead of PulseAudio).

EDIT: By the way, you are running SSR 0.2.0 which is outdated. I suspect you're on Quantal which is no longer getting updates (not even security updates). You should really update to Trusty as soon as possible.

[u83rmensch]

this isnt a bug, it works fine exactly as its programmed, problem is the lack of ability here. I just need to be able to record audio from more than one source at a time and as it is now, it seems its only able to pull audio from one source at a time, or at least a pre-defined set of sources. Im using a usb headset with a mic on it. I can record audio from 1= built in output (3.5mm speakers) 2=built in input (3.5mm mic) 3= head head output 4= headset input.

I just need the option to record audio being ran through those devices (or sources).. maybe a having checkboxes to decide which devices (or sources) you wish to record from rather than just having to pick one from a drop down.

otherwise this program is pretty freak'n great and I hope a feature like this can get added because I'd love to use it for recording my dota2 game plays.

[ubuntuaddicted]

U83, currently you can record multiple sources by either using pulse audio loop backs which go into a null sink OR you can mess around with JACK. I use pulse audio loopbacks and null sinks. Check his troubleshooting section

[u83rmensch]

where is his trouble shooting section. new to github, where would it be located?

edit: I found some info on his website. this seems like more work on the user end then should be necessary. It would be nice if this was just a feature built into the software to choose multiple sources to record from rather than having to put in buggy loopback stuff.

The downside is that you will constantly hear your own voice which can be a bit distracting

This is just a work around, one I had thought of trying to do my self but decided I didnt to hear my own voice making it an option I dont much care for.

JACK does not sound like something I want to touch either not because its hard, but because I dont want to change my audio setup I have.

Unlike PulseAudio, JACK must be configured manually, and while you're using it, you won't be able to use your normal audio system

I dont like any of that.

SSR is GREAT if you just need to screen record, however it sounds like for now this program is not going to work for me until it can record multiple sources at once without a work around.

[ubuntuaddicted]

On his website for simplescreenrecorder I meant not on github

[MaartenBaert]

Multiple audio sources is on the todo list, but it's harder than it sounds (the streams have to be synchronized to each other as well as the video). It also requires some GUI changes. And it still doesn't solve the problems caused by PulseAudio bugs. I'm still working on this, but I don't expect it to be ready any time soon.

[rjwse]

The program Vokoscreen offers multiple simultaneous audio inputs via checkmarks. You can record playing audio as well as your USB microphone. I switched to SimpleScreenRecorder because of dropout problems with Vokoscreen. I am using 14.04 Ubuntu and SSR works flawlessly, but I would like to be able to record audio from two sources for the purpose of mixing. I have made 250 YouTube videos called Ubuntu Basics (Tutoring by Pop) and have featured Vokoscreen and SSR. I used pulse loopback in the past but it is quite difficult to set up and use. It also drains the computer.

[MaartenBaert]

As I said, it's on the todo list. For now I recommend using JACK, this will give you the flexibility you need and is also far less buggy than PulseAudio.

[u83rmensch]

yeah. I'll have to see if thats something I want to put the time into getting setup seeing as Its not really something I need to do but just kinda want to do. I tried that Vokoscreen and the video was okay but the audio failed to sync through out the course the of the recording and had an absolutely awful crackling to it.

hopefully you'll be able to get these options setup in SSR, it'll make it the first great linux screen recorder for game casting because so far I really cant find a decent one that record input and output, sync the audio, and not sound awful. They can all do one or a combination but never all.

[ubuntuaddicted]

currently I use SSR to capture a pulseaudio null sink which can contain as many audio sources as I want and it works just fine. I use it for local recording and livestreaming to hitbox or twitch. The instructions for doing so are right on his website here: http://www.maartenbaert.be/simplescreenrecorder/recording-game-audio/#the-hard-way

[u83rmensch]

Im aware, it would just be nice if the options for this were there. I dont care enough to throw all that time into configuration, its not vital that I have this meaning I'll wait for him to program the options into the front end, I dont care enough to get JACK working, its just way more than I want to have to do for this, I just want a simple recorder and right now the "simple" part of this is false for what I need.

[ubuntuaddicted]

I have a script that I can link you to via pastebin and all you have to do is run the script prior to using ssr. It creates the loopbacks and nullsink and conveniently names them so you know what to select within ssr. Also so it's easy to configure it within pavucontrol.

[Kakadu]

@ubuntuaddicted , it will be great if you paste it.

[pranshu1200]

hey just set default backend to alsa and source to default source in audio input. that worked fine for me.