Recording streaming audio (i.e. Skype) directly in Windows 7...?

[digiskunk]

I'm horrible when it comes to troubleshooting hardware so I really hope somebody can help me out with this.

I'm currently attempting to record audio directly from my PC (specifically, a Skype conversation) but so far haven't had any luck. I just wanna be able to hit the record button in FLStudio or Audacity and have the audio I'm listening to serve as an input audio source.

I remember that I could do this when I had Windows XP. Coincidentally, I have Windows 7 now - making things much more complicated. It also doesn't help that I'm limited to my PC's stock generic primary sound card. But, I also have an audio interface (Lexicon Lambda) that serves as an input source for recording purposes - so, I'm hoping there's a few tricks I could pull to make this work. Also, FLStudio's ASIO4all doesn't work for me for some reason. There's no playback. However, when I use ASIO DirectX Full Duplex, well, that works, apparently. Dunno if that's relevant.

Please, for the love of god, help me.

[Masaaki]

I don't know about FL Studio, or Lexicon Lambda, so I can just talk about the basic idea.

When you go to Options/Audio setup in Skype, you see the microphone (input) and speaker (output). You can use mic going to Lambda as an input for Skype, as well as the monitor connected to lambda as speaker in Skype.

Then, the next thing is to "grab" or "steal" the input and output signal flow going from/to Skype by your DAW. This is actually using signal sources by multiple applications (Skype and your DAW), and it requires some driver compatibility. Called multi-clients.

As far as my driver goes (RME Fireface), the ASIO driver allows multi-clients, so I quickly tested if I can do that, and it was easy to setup in Reaper. But in the case with your drivers, I remember ASIO4All can't do the multi-client, and that may be your issue.

Another solution might be using Skype video recorder like Pamela, then extract audio channel.

I wonder how you did this in Win XP, because this functionality is dependent on the driver's multi-client compatibility, not the OS.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by digiskunk

I'm horrible when it comes to troubleshooting hardware so I really hope somebody can help me out with this.

I'm currently attempting to record audio directly from my PC (specifically, a Skype conversation) but so far haven't had any luck. I just wanna be able to hit the record button in FLStudio or Audacity and have the audio I'm listening to serve as an input audio source.

I remember that I could do this when I had Windows XP. Coincidentally, I have Windows 7 now - making things much more complicated. It also doesn't help that I'm limited to my PC's stock generic primary sound card. But, I also have an audio interface (Lexicon Lambda) that serves as an input source for recording purposes - so, I'm hoping there's a few tricks I could pull to make this work. Also, FLStudio's ASIO4all doesn't work for me for some reason. There's no playback. However, when I use ASIO DirectX Full Duplex, well, that works, apparently. Dunno if that's relevant.

Please, for the love of god, help me.

For recording Skype conversations, I've had great luck with Mp3 Skype Recorder: MP3 Skype Recorder | Free Skype call recorder

It even has a stereo mode where you're on one side and the other party or parties are on the other.

(Might be nice if they could do a stereo spread of three or more party calls but whaddya want for free? )


PS... I like Mp3 Skype Recorder MUCH better than Pamela for audio.