Recording mic and system audio at the same time with Adobe Captivate 3 on a laptop

[Guest]

Hello all,
Is it possible to record mic and system audio at the same time with Adobe Captivate3? I need to be able to narrate while recording with system audio output. Unfortunately, Captivate allows me to choose only one or another.
I tried using my laptop's "stereo mix" feature but it seems that captivate3 decides on its own what wave device to choose.
Thanks all,
Vick

[Guest]

Just wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for me to try.
Thanks all,
Vick

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community, Vick

There are actually a couple of ways you might accomplish this goal.

1. Visit a Radio Shack or similar place and purchase a splitter cable that allows connecting both the Speaker out and Microphone to the Mike or Line In input.

2. Purchase an external mixer device that you would connect the Speaker out and Mike to, then feed that back into the Microphone or Line In input. Then set that input as the recording channel for Captivate.

When I think about it, both are the same approach. You are just using different hardware to accomplish the goal.

Cheers... Rick

[Guest]

Hi Rick,
Did you actually have a chance to try it yourself?
The reason I am asking is that when I try to apply one of the methods you describe, I get a very bad feedback loop, which is not surprising, considering the fact that I am feeding output signal back into the computer via line-in.
Is there, for example, any software mixer that will allow me to record from more than one input source? Is the only option for me left to record voice over?

Thanks,
Vick

[Captiv8r]

Hi Vick

Actually I have used this method myself. I carry a small patch cable with me. At the time, I wanted to capture a song I had purchased from iTunes. I wanted to put part of that song into Captivate. It was protected and wouldn't allow me to use it in any way. So I acquired the patch cable, plugged it into my speaker output and my microphone input. Then played and recorded. Seemed to work a treat.

However, I was using a different recording software and not Captivate. Maybe that's why I didn't experience your feedback issue. I'm not sure how Captivate may react. I just recorded separately, then imported the result into Captivate.

As with anything, I guess the automakers' advice is relevant here. Your mileage may vary.

Cheers... Rick