How to use an external microphone in Vegas 23

marc-h wrote on 12/14/2025, 11:58 AM

I want to plug in an external microphone and press the record button and get a new audio track. The only way I can get this to happen is exit Vegas Pro and restart it. It will then give me a separate audio track. Otherwise, it will record on the existing audio track. Is there a way to set Vegas up to get the separate audio track without having to exit the app to have this happen? I've encountered this in many previous versions of Vegas. It is not an issue with just 23.

Comments

john_dennis wrote on 12/14/2025, 12:42 PM

@marc-h

rraud wrote on 12/14/2025, 12:44 PM

Hi @marc-h, Have you selected 'Insert> Audio track' and have "Arm" (aka, record ready) enabled for the track? Then enable 'Record' .. transport command, track header record button or keyboard shortcut to 'roll tape' (so to speak).

Howard-Vigorita wrote on 12/14/2025, 1:12 PM

The way I do it is to 1st set the Vegas audio device to the ASIO driver of the audio interface I want to plug my mic into. Then I insert a new audio track and select it. All versions of Vegas record to the selected audio track starting at wherever the position-cursor is located. To do the recording with control over what inputs are selected for recording, I prefer to have the Audio track "visible button set" include Arm for Record & Record Input buttons. You can use the "..." button on the left to do those things but I rather see the buttons in the track header. The track-header Record Input button allows selecting the input and setting it to stereo or mono for ASIO devices. The project folder where recordings get saved can be set in Project Settings on the Audio tab along with the bit-depth. My recording procedure is to Select the track and Arm it for recording. As soon as it's armed, the track meter should show level activity if the mic is working. Then I hit the master Record button below the timeline which kicks off recording.

My recording approach with Vegas was illustrated 5 years ago near the end of this video... it's hasn't changed any since then:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdWNJs0w9A0&t=2418s

marc-h wrote on 12/15/2025, 3:50 PM

Thank you for your input on this audio issue. I know what the issue is now, but haven't figured out how to solve it.

I can't select the "arm for record" option for the inserted audio track. The microphone is attached by a USB cable, but for some reason, I cannot get Vegas to recognize it (my PC recognizes it). I'll update this message if I figure out the solution. Thanks for all your input - Marc

I think this just comes down to needing the microphone plugged into the USB connection of the PC BEFORE I start Vegas Pro. If I plug it in during editing it will not be recognized, and I need to restart Vegas for the app to "see" it.

 

john_dennis wrote on 12/15/2025, 5:02 PM

@marc-h said: "I think this just comes down to needing the microphone plugged into the USB connection of the PC BEFORE I start Vegas Pro. If I plug it in during editing it will not be recognized, and I need to restart Vegas for the app to "see" it."

Long, long ago all over the land when people started their PCs, they were taught to power up the monitor, printer and any external I/O before powering on the machine. In spite of how smart the PC has become and in spite of how many things can be done in BIOS (UEFI) these days, it's still a good idea to have all the hardware available before starting the machine and/or application. Even doing everything logically, it's still likely that one will have to jump through some Windows and/or application hoops to select the hardware one wants to use.