Zara Satellite Input

Carl,

I think this might be the same trouble i had a while back.
Audacity and Zararadio were on the same pc, in fact the same pc i am using now but at that time it was running Windows 7 Home Premium but from what i understand this happens with other operating systems, though it has not been the case with Linux.

The problem was I would use the same pc for zararadio and audacity, production duties were performed on the pc when my station was off the air and i was using an external mixer to provide microphone and audio which was mixed by the mixer and fed into the line input of the pc going into audacity.

When i wanted to broadcast, zararadio would do all the automated work so i didn't have to manually run the station, one day i decided that i wanted to do a morning show live so i set up a satellite to pick up live audio from the mixer at a pre-determined time. That time rolled around and the satellite took over so i thought cool, i am live now.

So i start talking only i don't hear my voice over the headphones which were plugged into a walkman on the desk, the meters on the mixer showed input so it was getting audio there but it stopped somewhere between the pc and zararadio. I threw on a program using winamp until i was able to sort out the trouble.

After two days of messing with it i was about to throw zararadio in the recycle bin, that is until i called on a friend or two to help troubleshoot the problem.

The solution was an odd one: Apparently on some versions of windows (xp, windows 7) audacity becomes possessive of inputs and will not release them to other programs or hardware, the solution was to go into Edit at the top left of Audacity, select Preferences from the bottom of the drop down menu and then Devices.


At the bottom of the Devices menu is the row labeled Recording  below that is Device and Channels , select Device and choose something you aren't using, say maybe microphone and press OK but don't close out audacity just yet, just below the Stop, Rewind , Pause, etc buttons is a window labeled with a microphone icon, make sure it is set for whatever you chose in previous steps above. Then close out audacity, go to zararadio and try the satellite again.

That should release the inputs from the claws of audacity and allow you to use satellite in zara.
If both of these softwares are not on the same machine then i am not sure what is going on, but another shot in the dark could be the sound settings in Windows which could be found in Control Panel and is marked as Sounds or Sound. Check both basic settings and Advanced for anything that might have been changed without your knowledge. Sometimes this happens after a Windows update.


Hope this helps

Barry of Blue Bucket Radio 1620 Am

What sat feed are you trying?

Hmm, if another instance of Line Input doesn't work, would the "record what you hear" otherwise known as Stereo Mix option work?

To enable it:
1. Right click on the speaker icon in the system tray (bottom right).
2. Choose Recording Devices
3. In the empty white space, right-click and choose Show Disabled Devices. You should see Stereo Mix appear in the list.
4. Right click on Stereo Mix and choose Enable.
5. Right click on Stereo Mix again, and choose Set as Default Device.

Did i mention Windows gives me nightmares, it's true...well  some what true , almost kind of , well it just bothers me is all. lol

Carl,

Sometimes we just have to wait for the planets to align before anything goes right for us. Glad to hear you found a work around.

In Ubuntu 16.04 (Linux) there are several ways i can take advantage of all my machines inputs and outputs, some options just require a click of an icon and a simple menu appears and two other ways are by using a terminal and typing something like Pavucontrol which brings up a graphic user interface telling me what applications are using.

For example, if i was using Audacity and recording from the mixer, the gui would say the line in was being used by Audacity and it would show the levels and if i was using both left and right channels in stereo or if it was mono. Playback would show what speakers i was using or if playback is going to headphones and there are two sets of jacks on the HP Machine. Front jacks are headphones and microphone, the rear jacks are Mic, Line In and Speakers.

There is another port on the back but i have never been able to find a cord for it, nor have i ever found the need to use it. It is a funny shaped serial port for audio/video inputs and outputs in High Definition with the option of 5.1 Surround Sound. I'd say a high end AV receiver would work with this port.

Also the software packages I have added offer some pretty useful applications, one being Jack (like Virtual Cable) and another is some studio grade processors and effects. Even some Midi /Synthesizer stuff in there. That package is actually another version of Ubuntu called Ubuntu Studio which can be installed inside or alongside of Ubuntu Desktop 16.04. Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia operating system geared towards audio and video production for home or work.

Sounds like am trying to pitch a product that's free don't it? Not really, i just like the idea of having full control of the operating system and my pc.

Barry

The Line-In (Satellite) Function of Zara no longer works on many Windows 7 and newer machines due to Win7 using a different mixer than previous incarnations of Windows. (Zara was built entirely on WinXP and 98)
Not sure how Barry has gotten it to work on Win7, in my experience the function doesn't work and will simply mute Zara.
ZaraSoft itself lists the Satellite Function as incompatible with newer versions of windows (7+).

Interestingly enough they list the function as working in the paid ZaraStudio version.

You can try going into the settings for Zara, the Satellite input should be selectable by highlighting the channel you want within the setup menu. If you are on WinXP it SHOULD work. In Theory.