Audacity To

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Audacity is free, open-source audio software that can be used for basic audio production.

The fact it costs nothing means it is a popular choice for beginners or those on a budget. As you progress to make more complex music within this piece of software you may ask can you use a MIDI keyboard in Audacity?

You can’t use a MIDI keyboard directly within Audacity as the software does not have the ability to record or write MIDI files or communicate with a MIDI keyboard or controller directly. Despite this, the software is capable of handling some basic MIDI information that can be used in audio production.

In this article I will briefly explain why this is the case and how you can use limited MIDI within Audacity if you require it in one of your tracks.

How Does A MIDI Keyboard Work?

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface and was a digital language created in the 1980s during the rise of electronic instruments to allow them to communicate with one another.

No audio signals are sent via MIDI, it is entirely digital, so basically a series of 1s and 0s. This means musical information can be transferred between devices extremely quickly.

A MIDI message contains various information about a musical note including:

  • Which note is pressed
  • The moment that not is pressed and released
  • How hard it is pressed (known as the velocity)
  • After-touch
  • Vibrato
  • Pitch Bend

All these categories have a number associated with them between 0 and 127. For velocity for example a number 0 would be the equivalent of no sound whereas 127 is the loudest.

How Does MIDI Work In Computer Software

So how does MIDI work in a computer and allow musical compositions to be created?

Specialized Digital Audio Workstations such as Ableton Live or Logic are designed to work with MIDI files.

You can either play in notes via a MIDI keyboard or controller or draw them in using your computer mouse. These notes appear in the software on what is known as the ‘piano roll’ which looks like the image shown below.

This is a major tool in modern music production.

You can think of this a bit like a graph. The Y axis going up on the left is the note as shown on a piano keyboard and the X axis along the bottom represents time. So the longer a note is held, the longer the bar is shown on the piano roll.

This data is stored within your computer and the DAW uses plugins to convert that digital information into an audio signal which can be used in a musical track.

You can quickly switch from a piano sound to a flute sound for example without having to re-record everything because the information is stored there already as a MIDI file.

Does Audacity Have the Ability To Work With MIDI In This Way?

Unfortunately not. This is because Audacity is not a full Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) like Ableton or Logic (or the many others). If you want a full explanation of why, check out this article I wrote on the topic recently.

Audacity

It is better to think of Audacity as a simple audio editor. This means it is still a very good option for basic audio work. But it really falls short when it comes to music production in many ways.

Even if you manage to get MIDI into Audacity, using the methods I will explain later in this article, you won’t be able to do much with it.

You can’t change the MIDI values associated with notes such as the velocity or length. All you can do with the MIDI file in Audacity is cutting and pasting it into different positions or moving it around on the timeline.

Can I Plug A MIDI Keyboard Directly Into Audacity?

No, Audacity is simply a basic audio editing software, it is currently not possible to plug a MIDI keyboard in and record MIDI notes into Audacity directly.

If you want that functionality you are much better off paying for one of the more advanced Digital Audio Workstations. There are so many options available now you don’t have to spend much money. There are even other free workstations that can do this which I will get onto shortly.

How To Use A MIDI Keyboard in Audacity – Some Workaround Solutions

I don’t just want to be the bearer of bad news here and tell you it simply can’t be done, I want to try and provide some solutions too!

Despite not being able to record MIDI notes into Audacity directly there are a couple of tricks you can use to record using a MIDI keyboard into Audacity.

1) Import MIDI from other free software

As mentioned already, Audacity isn’t a total write-off when it comes to MIDI. You can import MIDI files from elsewhere to use in compositions.

There are several basic Free Digital Audio Workstations capable of understanding and working with MIDI. Probably the best example is SoundBridge.

Step 1 – Download a free DAW capable of MIDI editing

Soundbridge is still free but slightly more advanced than Audacity. Download this for free and open it up.

Step 2 – Download a free VST instrument plugin

You will need a VST instrument to be able to hear any MIDI compositions you make within Soundbridge. Unfortunately Soundbridge doesn’t come with any instruments built in but there are hundreds of great VST instruments available for free online these days.

In this example I downloaded Sforzando, a very simple keyboard VST instrument which can be downloaded from here https://www.plogue.com/products/sforzando.html.

But if you want other instruments a simple google search will lead you to many great ones.

Step 3 – Setup your MIDI Keyboard

Plugin your MIDI keyboard to your computer via USB. Then go to Preferences in SoundBridge and select MIDI on the left as shown in the image below. From here you should be able to select your MIDI keyboard as the MIDI input device. Click the switch to turn it on.

Step 4 – Add a new MIDI track

Add a new MIDI track and select Sforzando (or whichever instrument you downloaded) from the instrument box and record your MIDI file.

Step 5 – Edit the MIDI

You can then edit the MIDI file within the piano roll by double clicking on the track you’ve just recorded. You can change the note lengths, velocity and all other aspects of the MIDI in here.

Step 6 – Export your MIDI file

Once you are happy you can go to File > Export MIDI Tracks and export to a location of your choice.

Step 7 – Open your VST Instrument On Its Own

To get this to play in Audacity. Make sure you have your MIDI instrument (Sforzando or similar) open before you open Audacity. Simply open it like you would open any other piece of software on your computer.

Step 8 – Open your MIDI file in Audacity

You can then drag and drop in your newly saved MIDI track and it will appear in Audacity as shown below.

Step 9 – Playback your MIDI in Audacity

You can get this to playback in Audacity by going to Preferences > MIDI Devices and selecting the VST instrument as the playback device.

That was extremely complicated but I wanted to show it can be done. The reality is even then you will end up with potential issues in Audacity with latency and creshing.

So unless you specifically want or need to use Audacity then you may simply ask yourself if you’d be better using other free DAW software such as Soundbridge instead. It is much easier to work within one piece of software for the whole project.

2) Via an App on Your Phone Or Tablet

Audacity may not be capable of understanding MIDI directly from your MIDI keyboard, however, most phones or tablets are with the use of simple free apps.

This means if we can find a way to connect our keyboard to out phone or tablet, we can use this as a way to translate MIDI into an audio file and record that into Audacity.

For this method you are going to need a couple of pieces of equipment.

  1. A USB to USB C (or other type depending on the phone or tablet you have) OTG Converter
  2. 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable (if you have a microphone input on your computer) or
  3. An audio interface

Step 1 – Connect the MIDI keyboard to your device

Using the OTG converter cable connect the USB from your MIDI keyboard to your device.

Step 2 – Download a MIDI app

Use an app such as ‘perfect piano’ which will convert the MIDI notes you press on your keyboard into an audio signal. Perfect piano has many different instrument sounds included for free, from a simple grand piano to an organ and much more.

Step 3 – Connect the phone or tablet headphone output to your computer

You then need to get that audio signal from your phone into your computer so you can record it in Audacity.

If your computer has a 3.5mm microphone input (such as the one shown below). You can simply use a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable to connect.

If you do not have this you will need to use an external soundcard of some sort. An external soundcard is also known as an audio interface. There are many very cheap options available now for under $50 in many cases and are an essential item in any music studio, so well worth the investment.

As you can see the inputs on an external soundcard/ audio interface are 1/4 inch inputs so you will need to buy a 3.5mm to 1/4inch cable to input from your phone to the interface. The interface itself connects to your laptop of a computer via USB.

Step 4 – Open up Audacity and select your device

When you open Audacity you should see a bar at the top where you can select your recording device. Here either select your microphone input or your audio interface.

Step 5 – Hit record

Once you have the correct input device selected you can hit the record button and anything you play on the keyboard through the phone app will be recorded into Audacity.

Concluding Remarks

So it is possible to work with MIDI in Audacity, importing tracks and even playing them back. But it is a very long and complicated way of doing things and with so much other software available for very cheap (or even free) such as Soundbridge. Perhaps you are best looking elsewhere if MIDI is something you want to use regularly.

Audacity is still a great piece of free software for basic audio production and if you simply need to add some MIDI to an existing project then I hope you can use these tricks to do so.

Many users have a complaint that Audacity showing an error message 9999 when they are trying to edit any audio. There are few main reasons behind this error code that can be fixed in Audacity.

I have listed some easy methods that can be used to fix the Audacity on Windows 10.

About Audacity

Audacity revolutionized sound mixing and recording. It went public in 2000 as a free, user-friendly multi-tracking audio editor for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Currently, it is the most popular software on FossHub, with a whopping 110 million downloads. Before 2015, Google Code and SourceForge hosted it. It is open-source and falls under the GNU General Public License (GPL).

Quick Overivew

Error 9999: Unanticipated Host Error

Users may face error 9999 while performing auto-editing work. Generally, it indicates that Audacity failed to detect and connect to the microphone needed for the audio recording session.

If you come across the issue, first check your external microphone’s connection to the port. As a trial and error measure, you can try switching ports if your computer configuration supports it.

If the problem is not with the hardware, attempt the procedures to troubleshoot the software.

How to fix Audacity Error 9999?

Tap into your Privacy Settings

The first and simple method to fix this error is to reboot your PC and ensure third-party apps like Audacity can access the microphone.

Please note that Windows 10 Creator’s Edition automatically prevents access to your microphone and, users need to enable it manually.

Here are the steps to configure your system –

  1. Close the Audacity city first.
  2. Click on Windows logo, type Privacy Settings and click on it
  3. On left-hand-side, under the “App permissions” click on Select Microphone.
  4. Toggle to turn on the “Allow apps to access your microphone” option.

Alternatively, there is an shortcut to launch the Microphone Settings.

1) Press Windows+R button

2) Type ms-settings:privacy-microphone

3) Click on OK and the Microphone settings window will open.

Disable or close video communication apps

Users have reported that programs like Skype or Microsoft Teams running in the background may affect Audacity. Skype tends to block the default recording device for itself, and as such, Audacity cannot access it.

You can easily disable background apps using Task Manager –

  1. Hold down Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open the Task Manager.
  2. Navigate to the Processes tab, right-click on the program.
  3. Click “End task” from the drop-down list.

You can also close Skype by right-clicking the icon in the tray bar as well.

Here is how to fix the USB mouse not working.

Disable the Antivirus

Third-party antivirus programs often conflict with Audacity and show an error code 9999. You can try disabling your real-time virus protection temporarily or permanently from the tray bar in Windows. Right-click on the antivirus icon, and you will find the option.

You should also check the firewall settings on Windows Defender for restrictions.

Disable Host Intrusion Protection

Third-party Kaspersky Antivirus users have also reported that particular security features block untrusted apps from accessing your microphone. Primarily if you use Kaspersky, it is called Host Intrusion Protection.

Here are the steps to shut it down:

  1. Navigate to the Settings menu in Kaspersky Endpoint Security.
  2. Under Advanced Threat Protection, you will find “Host Intrusion Protection.”
  3. Open the Applications screen, and move Audacity to “Trusted” from “Low Restricted.”

Different versions of Avast Antivirus may have slightly different steps but can be disabled using the above methods.

Run a clean boot

A clean boot refers to loading the critical processes and services while closing all third-party programs during the boot process. You can perform the procedure using Microsoft Configuration Utility (MSConfig) –

  1. Hold down the Win+R button, type MSConfig and hit Enter button
  2. Click on the Services tab, check the “Hide all Microsoft services” checkbox.
  3. Click on “Disable All”
  4. Now go to the Startup Tab
  5. Right-click on every startup application one by one and select “Disable.”
  6. Close the Task Manager.
  7. Click on OK and reboot your system.

This way you can check whether the Audacity error is showing anymore or not.

If all of the above methods didn’t work then follow the next method.

Re-install Audacity Software

This is the last method that one can try to fix the error code 9999:

1) Press the Windows key, type Control Panel, and click on it

2) Click on Uninstall a Program

3) Locate Audacity, right-click and choose Uninstall

4) Once done then download the latest copy of the Audacity and install it.

Audacity To Mp3 Converter

It is easy to fix the Audacity Error code 9999 if you follow the above methods.

Audacity Download Free Windows 10

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