Having a very odd issue here. I am able to use PulseAudio to record sound from my desktop using SimpleScreenRecorder with no issues whatsoever. I've recorded numerous screencasts with sound with no problems.

However, I was trying to record my system sound yesterday with Audacity and it didn't see PulseAudio, as the online manual said I should.

Since I didn't see the bar (under step 2 in the manual) in Audacity, I figured the one in the Ubuntu repos was tampered with. I was right, and after adding the Audacity PPA and installing the official version the bar reappeared...however I still couldn't record from PulseAudio.

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

Could really use some help here, thanks in advance!

It would be interesting to see the "Input" and "Configuration" tab of the "Volume Control" window.

Input
Configuration

Open Audacity and the Volume Control and change to the Recording tab. Hit Record in Audacity and it will appear in the Recording tab. There you move the slider for the volume somewhere between Silence and 100% (0dB), otherwise you'll get a lot of feedback and change the device to "Monitor of...".

Nope, still nothing.

http://s2.postimg.org/t0ohpvrs9/recording_nosound.png

You need to be actively recording for the pulseaudio recording tab to populate. In the old days, audacity needs to be compiled with --with-portaudio=v17 (or was it v19). I don't think you need that these days, but you might need to do some .asoundrc configuration for pulse to be recognized by some apps.

In audacity:
Edit -> Preferences -> Devices -> Recording -> Device: dropdown is where you'll find pulse as a selectable option if it's there to be selected. You might need to select the interface part of that same dialog to see it there or not. Lots of ways to configure your setup.

I tend to have pulseaudio over jackd on my system. But I have pulseaudio with "autospawn = no" so I can switch setups as I need to. If pulseaudio is in your ps output, then you're using it. Everything else is a matter of configuration.

In Audacity, where it shows your soundcard "HDA Intel: ALC262..." select "default" or "pulse" instead.

Attached Thumbnails

 

I'm not seeing an option for just "pulse", rather for different devices (most of which I don't even have).
http://s10.postimg.org/uketuuixl/options.png

This is one of those rare times where I like having a display that will rotate...here is the complete list:
http://s28.postimg.org/7hpqb5v71/fulloptions.png

Also want to be clear that this is the official version from Audacity as well.

So it's verbose. Record from a microphone (MIC). Play the sound to a line out (LINE). And various other holes in your device for external things. You have pulse: in that list so pulse is there and active (or it wouldn't be listed). Pulse is likely your default so most things pulse: or default: should function.

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If you do not have pavucontrol installed, install it; it should be in the repros.

It gives you more options for managing pulse.

if this is fedora then you have it

fedora moved to using it in Fedora 6
first major OS to use pulse audio and fedora 6 had BUGS with it


But ALSA is still used as a plugin to pulse

Like I said, the majority of those devices I don't have. I literally only have 2 headphone jacks and 2 mic jacks. That's it.

pulse: Front Mic:0 works. That's good...but not quite what I wanted. As in my fist post, I would like to record my system audio output, and I don't see an option to do that.

Haha, I think I just figured it out!

In pavucontrol under Devices, I simply turned off the mic jack and turned on the monitor. After that, I again used pulse: Front Mic:0 in Audacity, and instead of recording the microphone like I thought it might, it recorded from the monitor! That was a lot simpler than I thought it would be.

Thanks for the help everyone, marking this thread as solved.