The microphone

Stab listens to its audio input to record onto audio tracks, to tune, and to follow you when you practise by microphone. If the tuner says nothing, a take comes out silent, or practice doesn’t hear you, go through these steps in order.

The microphone isn’t heard

Available on Mac and Windows. Not on Web.

This isn’t on Web.

The web app doesn’t use the microphone: it doesn’t record audio, tune or practise by microphone. Use Stab on your computer, tablet or phone for those. A MIDI instrument does play and record on the web (Playing and recording MIDI).

1. Allow Stab to use the microphone

The input opens only when something listens, so the system asks the first time you open the tuner, record or practise by microphone. If permission was declined, the tuner says “Allow the microphone in Settings to tune”, and the Audio tab of the Audio & MIDI pane says “the microphone isn’t allowed” and where to allow it.

Open System Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone and turn on Stab. If Stab isn’t listed, open the tuner once to make macOS ask.

Open Windows’ Settings › Privacy & security › Microphone. Turn on Microphone access, and Let desktop apps access your microphone further down: Stab is a desktop app, so the list of Store apps above doesn’t include it.

Then come back to Stab and open the tuner again.

2. Check that the input is on and is the right one

In the Audio & MIDI pane’s Audio tab, under Input (The audio input):

On must be lit. Off, nothing opens the input, and the tuner says “The input is off (the Audio & MIDI pane’s Audio tab)”.
Device chooses the input: System Default, or a device by name. “Not connected” means the device chosen isn’t plugged in: plug it in, or choose another.
The card says what the input is doing: “no input device” when there’s none, or “it wouldn’t start” when the device refused to open. Another app using the device can cause that: close it, then open the tuner again. Check too that the device isn’t disabled in Windows’ Settings › System › Sound.

3. Check the channel and the level

On an audio interface with several inputs, Stab hears all of them mixed at first. If you chose one, it has to be the one your guitar or microphone is plugged into: Channel 1 for input 1, and so on.

The level bars under the input card move as you play, one per channel, the one listened to lit. If the bar of your channel stays still, the sound isn’t reaching the computer: check the cable, the interface’s gain knob and, for a condenser microphone, its phantom power. If it turns red, turn the gain down.

4. Hearing yourself as you play

The microphone isn’t played back through the speakers by itself. To hear your guitar through a track’s amp while you play, turn on Monitor Input (Headphones) in the audio track’s menu, and use headphones so the sound doesn’t feed back (Monitoring).

Still nothing?

Try the input in another app, such as a voice recorder. If it’s silent there too, the problem is with the device or the system’s settings rather than Stab. If it works there, quit Stab and open it again.