Hello, When recording, I cannot seem to get my mono audio track 2 to show some signal in the track meters or to produce any sound.
- I am showing signal in the 'In' meters in the bottom right hand corner of the Track window.
- I have the track non-muted ( green P ) is showing.
- I can hear the audio in track 1, so the output side is working
- The mixer window seems to show a similar volume slider level in track 2 compared to track 1.
- The 'bar graph' in track 2 following the place in the song shows what I think is signal along the track, but I couldn't find anything in the help listings that said anything about those.

What am I missing?

Also, Is it possible to play and hear a line signal instrument (guitar through a pedal) through the track without being in 'record' mode?

Please go to Options | Preferences | 2-Audio (tab). What is under Audio Driver Type?
There should be 3 options in this dropdown menu for Audio Driver Type: MME, ASIO, and Windows Audio. Please change it to one of the other options, then test your sound. If you're still having issues, then test out the last remaining option.

Hello Lizard01, Welcome to the forum and to PowerTracks.

What audio interface are you using? The reason I ask is some audio interfaces have a hardware or driver setting to output 1+2 signals to the computer with a monophonic signal input however many do not.

One other thing to check; right click the track and look at Port.

Is the signal getting routed to the expected output?
Maybe it is playing but playing out of the built in sound card while you are listening to an audio interface.
In other words, is that track routed where you want it?

Since you see signal it is playing back *somewhere in my experience.

Thanks Chantelle, Jim Fogle, rharv, I appreciate the help:

My version of PTP is Version 2018 (2).

Chantelle:
Under 'Options, Preferences, [Tab] 2-Audio:
The Driver Type had 3 options listed, 'Windows Audio', 'MME' and 'ASIO'.
There are no ASIO drivers installed on my system.

The [As Found] settings were 'Windows Audio' of which the input and output drivers listed had only one choice each: Input - Microphone (2-USB Audio Codec) and Output - Speaker/Headphone (Realtek(R) Audio).
I switched to 'MME' and tried combinations of the Inputs [Microsoft Sound Mapper / Microphone (2-USB Audio Codec)] and Outputs [Microsoft Sound Mapper / Speaker/Headphone (Realtek(R) Audio)].

In all cases I end up with being able to playback track 1 (an *.mp3 file), but no signal shows on the track 2 mixer or sound plays when I try to record a guitar mono track onto track 2.
-My signal levels on my Yamaha Audiogram6 interface show as working
-Track 2 has been selected (shows red) and the mute is off (green P)
-The 'In' levels on the Tracks window (bottom right) show the guitar signal (only while recording) is being picked up
-The 'Out' levels on the track window (bottom right) show the signal from track 1 playback, either in play or record mode.

I have returned to [As Found] settings.

Jim Fogle: For the Audio Interface you mentioned, I wasn't sure if you meant the sound card or the outboard USB interface, but the Yamaha USB Audio Interface has a mono/stereo switch and a mic/line switch on channels 1 and 2. Channels 3 and 4 have L + R 1/4" phono jack line inputs (L - mono) and have no switches .

I am using input 2 on the Yamaha: inst / mono switched and the signal leds are showing when I play. The signal is getting to the PTP program 'In' meters , so it seems like the USB interface is working and driving into the PTP program. On the Yamaha, I tried switching mono to stereo and also trying channel 3; same, no signal getting to channel 2 (actually using channel 3 gave a much lower signal than channel 2, channel 3 must have a lower gain for accommodating proper line inputs). When switching the PTP Channel 2 to stereo, I got no input into PTP at all, possibly because the Yamaha channel 1 wasn't being used, not sure.
I returned my guitar pedal output to channel 2 of the Yamaha and left the switches as 'mono' and 'inst'. I returned the PTP channel 2 to mono audio.

rharv: Right clicking on the track to check the 'Port Setting':

I checked the Port setting; there was only one choice - Speaker/Headphone (Realtek(R) Audio), but below the 'Port' setting was 'Set all Audio Tracks to Speaker/Headphone (Realtek(R) Audio), which I did. So all the tracks should be routed to the same port.
I still have the same issue, I can only playback track 1 and no signal is getting to track 2 when recording on track 2.

In the default setup you may not hear the guitar being input via PT.
Have you tried to record it (even though you don't hear it) to see if it results in a waveform being created on the track?
Try to record it for a few bars and see if anything visually shows up.

Let's start there, then work at hearing it via PT while recording.

Lizard.

i nearly didnt post this , bcos some people dont like to hear they need to spend more $$.
so please take this in good spirit based on my only wanting the best outcome for you and based on my installing many audio interfaces for myself and others over the years etc and being an old 'wizen' lol…powertraks user who was using ptw way way back earlier versions….heres my suggestions.

ideally you should get a new usb audio asio interface and not use on board pc sound…or the yamaha.
i would suggest you rent any new interface for a few weeks from your local gear store, maybe a few , to see which one works best with your pc before buying the
final winner.
heres a list of (and please be aware the market changes constantly and it would be nice if you could state budget if possible ) of modern interfaces at various price points…

https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/best-usb-audio-interfaces/

and if you need multi client asio…see this pg thread…

https://www.pgmusic.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=718708#Post718708

there is a "possibility' you might be able to get the yamaha to work, bur it seems its old , and youll need to download and install its asio driver from the yamaha
site.
it seems you dont from your description of your settings have its asio driver installed.
(note you might also try asio4all and see the results)

in conclusion i dont recommend using on board pc sound.
if you doubt me go on any recording forum like gearspace where loads of big and small studios hang out.

i gotta go now as i have many song projects cooking…so no time to go into further details cept to say , having used lots of music software over the years ....
powertraks is an amazing deal given its feature set , and particularly extensive midi features.

happiness

om

Thanks for your help rharv, justanoldmuso:

rharv - Very good question; when I record on track 2, nothing shows up in the 2 signal VU meters on the left of the track, but the track itself shows as 2 moving horizontal bars: the top bar is green and the bottom is red.

When I play my guitar through the interface, the bottom red bar shows a series of short vertical bars, in yellow mostly, that correspond to me playing. The short vertical yellow bars don't resemble the track 1 audio mp3 image. Perhaps the short vertical bars mean my signal resolution is so bad, that I just get what looks like an excel sheet bar graph instead of audio wave forms.

Nothing shows in the upper green bar. I hadn't considered before the possibility that the upper horizontal bar may be the left channel and the bottom red bar the right channel. Is it possible that the mono signal setting in PTP is recording on the Left channel, but the signal I am sending is getting sent to the right?

Justanoldmuso: well to each their own, but how are you going to learn how your gear works if you don't do some troubleshooting and fixing? Sometimes we need some help from the kind people who have been through much of this before and are willing to help others. Also, that's taking some of the fun and learning out of the exercise.
From the looks of my issue, I would say there is some setting that is incorrect since I'm getting signal to the input of PTP. This strongly suggests that the Yamaha is doing it's job. Buying new gear seems excessive in this case (so far), nothing is proven that leads me to believe this problem with this setup can't be remedied.
That being said, I will hang on to your posted info in case I need it, thanks.

But did you actually Record a track (even though you don't hear it), then click Stop & 'Keep Take' and see if something appears?

Yes, a MONO input may show signal on one side of a Stereo track, that's to be expected
But try to Record a Track, Accept the take and see if PT does show it recorded.
You seem to be focused on the Meters during the process .. follow thru and record an actual track to see if it gets recorded like I said earlier .. the rest will come into place if we know your guitar does get recorded in the long run.

Please do the initial test and post results .. then we can help you move along the process
The rest is in settings and configuration, but we need to know if PT records the guitar regardless of meter display etc while playing
The waveform won't appear until you record and Keep Take .. then we'll have clues to where your issue is

Record it, then Keep Take and see if you get any result.
You keep saying 'while I am playing' .. I don't want that info; I want to know if you record it and then Keep Take (after playing it) regardless of what you see 'while' playing, does the waveform then appear?

/Just trying to help
//Record it, ignore any PT meters while doing so for now
///Keep Take and see if it recorded even though you don't think it will when judging by visual clues

Lizard.

(read rharvs post above first)

re ..getting the most out of one's gear.

you wont get any argument from me ! in fact as an example after using 'fancy' mics that cost a bundle of $$ in commercial studios i use a relatively unknown budget mic for my vocals that ive owned now for years….and that i like.

just allow me to comment, and ive seen it time and again on pg forums and elsewhere, the two most common problems ive seen with setting up a pc music production rig are...

1..choosing the right sound device (with excellent asio drivers) and has excellent low latency as well as..

2..choosing a pc that has been optimised for music production. (lots of articles on the net and here on pg.)
that can meet ones true needs.

anyhoo read rharvs post above firstly and tell us how things are going.

best

om

Thanks for your replies rharv, justanoldmose:

rharv - Your question as to whether there was audio coming from the track was, of course, the real point. No, after trying different settings, I was saving the takes, but I couldn't get sound coming from track 2.

But your comments prompted me into having a closer look at the mono/stereo left/right situation. I looked closer at the Yamaha interface and saw that the channel 1 is designated as Left and channel 2 is designated as Right and I have been playing through channel 2 all along, But the PTP Audio Settings > Audio tab - 2 > Input Channel for MONO tracks is set for LEFT. I was thinking there's no difference between the channel 1 or 2 on the Yamaha, all roads lead to Rome.

I switched to using channel 1 on the Yamaha and now I get sound (hearing both tracks 1 & 2) when I record > save take > playback.

Thanks everyone for your help, resolved. I have further issues (when recording, I can't hear the guitar, only when I save take and do the playback), but I will read the forums first to try to solve it before asking for more help.

Thanks everyone!

That is solved by enabling and using the Input Monitor feature.

*Edit - forgot to add that this requires using ASIO to use effectively.

Thanks rharv, I’ll investigate that path.