How can I record system sounds (apps) in Audacity?

Or another similar program? All I want to do is record the sounds coming from say firefox, or any other app, for use as samples in music. I need to do this in both windows and linux (ubuntu 9.10).

I have looked through the preferences of audacity but didn't find anything that let me select the system sound. Perhaps I overlooked it, because I was able to do this with earlier versions of audacity.

Solution 1:

In Windows Vista, I had to do the following:

1. Go to Control Panel > Sound > Manage Audio Devices
2. Select the Recording tab
3. Right click an item or blank area on the list of devices and enable "Show Disabled Devices". This made the Stereo Mix device appear.
4. Right click the Stereo Mix device and select "Enable"

"Stereo Mix" was then available as an input device for Audacity.

Solution 2:

Windows and Linux

In the drop-down menu on Audacity's mixer toolbar, choose “Wave Out” or “Stereo Mix” as the input source. (The exact name may be different, depending on your computer's sound drivers.) When you press the Record button, Audacity will capture whatever sound is playing on your computer's speakers.

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