PLEASE HELP!!!

You indicated you can hear your microphone on your headphones. You didn't indicate where your headphones are plugged into to hear your microphone? The output from your mixer must feed the Deltas input. So where is the output going from your Delta? Most of this sounds like a control panel issue on the computer. While you're telling us you can see your meters moving, what? On the mixer or in the software? If you see the meters moving in the software, this would largely indicate some kind of operator error. So we need to go about this troubleshooting process perhaps starting with the output rather than the input? Can you play anything back that has been previously recorded? And if so, how are you monitoring that? M-Audio generally includes some kind of device mixer & setup applet. And their mixer may have nothing to do with the mixer built into Windows. So you may be screwing around with the Microsoft mixer and not the Delta specific mixer? And so, most obviously, nothings going to happen that you want to happen. It's sort of like wondering why you can't put an umbrella over the windshield of your car to keep the rain off while driving. Ain't going to happen that way.

You indicated you thought some cables may have gotten jumbled. That could certainly do it. And are you certain you are feeding outputs to inputs? Lots of times, things are marked " source " which doesn't necessarily define whether it's an input or an output. A common error. And if you have one cable that you can't remember where it went, being an audio engineer, you have to start tracing and understanding routing. That is to say, if you drive a Toyota Corolla with a manual stick shift, this doesn't necessarily mean you could get into a 80,000 pound Peterbilt Tractor-Trailer and drive it away even if you know how to shift a Toyota Corolla. I'll guarantee you that you won't go anywhere and if you do, you may not understand that it has an 18 speed gearbox along with an ancillary differential gear shift as well. That scenario demands that you understand exactly what you have and what to do with it. If your knowledgebase is not complete, you might still be able to drive that 80,000 pound beast but certainly not well. And what about those air brakes?? They're not like hydraulic brakes and if you don't maintain them properly, when you go to hit the brakes, regardless as they are up to pressure, they may not work at all. Then you go boom and lots of people get hurt. Thankfully, nobody gets killed from bad audio unless they pull the ground pins off the AC mains to prevent ground loop buzz. That's when people get killed when their guitar is in their hand touching the strings, they go up to the microphone, their lips connect with the microphone and they complete a 110/220 V circuit through their brain. I think death metal does this as a natural occurrence even if the grounding is correct? Perhaps, if you offer to fix some dinner, your friend may come back and correct your errors? Otherwise, you may have to go down to the nightclubs that have good PA systems & operators, smile, speak nicely to them and see if you can get some help? Especially since you did seem to indicate you have moved.

Conversely, software can be confusing when it comes to configuring multitracked computer interfaces. It might be looking at a channel you're not plugged into. And so it would record a whole lot of peace and quiet since you may have not properly routed to that track. The Delta has numerous inputs & outputs and it has to be properly configured through software. Meanwhile, even if you don't have it configured properly, you may just be monitoring pass-through audio through the Delta. It doesn't matter if the track has been unable to record unless you have routed the Delta properly. Hey! After 40+ years in the business and dealing with digital audio workstations that I have built up from scratch since 1996, some of this newer less familiar software to me I too find some of these softwares' to not be intuitive and damned confusing. What I come up on software like that, a) it's not going to become my favorite, b) I'm not going to shell out good money for something I'm not comfortable with from the get go. Since much of this multitrack software all basically works the same, it's merely the graphical user interface one must find that suits your brain. I have numerous pieces of rather expensive multitrack software packages. Some of which like ProTools, I don't bother to use much because I don't like its method of operation. So why did I get it? Prospective clients kept calling and asking if I had it. So I got it, I've used it but I'm not as proficient with it as some of the other multitrack packages I find more intuitive and to my liking such as Adobe Audition, Sony Vegas. I find some of the Steinberg software quite spectacular & intriguing but I'm also not particularly fond of that either because it seems overly complex to me. Some of this is very MIDI intensive software and I don't do MIDI. My friends all referred to me as a "MIDIdiot", which is fine. That's because I only work with top shelf/top-notch professional musicians that actually play real instruments and sing real songs. If they can't do it in pitch, screw them. If they can't keep time, I suggest they buy a new watch. If they can't tune their instruments, I suggest they send them back to the factory to have them tuned or I tell them to just get the heck out of my studio. I'm not interested in bloodmoney. I'm interested in producing quality recordings with people that have the same high caliber of talent and experience I have. So I'm not interested in utilizing software to make someone without real talent sound really talented. That's fraud, musical fraud, Milli Vanilli and all those frauds.

At least you're actually trying. I'm sure more will chime in here.
Mx. Remy Ann David