Thursday, August 28, 2008

Recording speaker audio (what you hear, or "Stereo Mix") under Vista

Ever since I put Vista on a Dell Latitude D810, I've had issues recording speaker audio on that machine. I didn't think much of it, since I used to use another XP machine as my main machine anyway, but it recently came to a head when I got rid of my XP machine and needed to actually record webinars on a Dell Precision M6300 with Vista on it, and I once again was painfully reminded that it doesn't work.

First I thought it was Camtasia's fault, but not at all. It's Dell that is disabling the functionality in their Vista drivers.

After hours of searching for a solution, I gave up and just used a cable ($5) between the head phone and microphone jacks. Worked great, except for the fact that you can't monitor what you're recording (unless you feed it through a head phone splitter or mixer).

Several nights later I was determined to find a solution for Vista, because I grew to hate the ridiculous cable, and after hours and hours of digging through web sites that made McAfee go insane :p I found the solution!

Install the XP driver on the Vista box in XP compatibility mode. Works like a charm!

Simply save the XP audio driver (in my case Dell's XP driver for Sigmatel) on the desktop, right click on the file and go to the Compatibility tab and select XP Service Pack 2 for instance. Then install the driver. In my case the installer would fail on Vista, but it works just fine in XP compatibility mode.

After the driver is installed you may have to go in and actually show the disabled devices and enable Stereo Mix under the Recording tab in Sound properties.

If this helped you, please feel free to leave a comment saying so. :)

24 comments:

  1. Could be that Dell disabled speaker recording in the Vista driver to 'fix' this security hole: a web site can play any audio when you visit it, the audio could be something like 'format c drive', which could potentially be received and interpreted by Vista's voice control interface.

    ReplyDelete
  2. For Camtasia (and Podcasts and even acoustic guitar recordings) I use a Samson C01 USB Condensor mic that should be available at under $100. Sound quality is professional broadcast quality. Highly recommended.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I will give that a shot. Thanks for the tip. Now I just need to find XP drivers. I have an HP and it has the same problem.

    It is my understanding that the reason this feature is disabled is because people can use it to record protected audio. It is like the analog hole. Although the wire you used is almost as effective.

    Security "features" only annoy people and do very little to make things more secure.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I second what Victor just said. I had the same problem with a Samsung X11, standard Vista audio drivers. I too suspected this was done on purpose which then made me try and switch to Ubuntu. Not that audio is great in Ubuntu (it is a complete mess) but at least nobody actively restricts you from doing something :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This may be of interest:

    http://blogs.msdn.com/larryosterman/archive/2008/07/11/whatever-happened-to-wave-out-mix.aspx

    Seems you can use the WinAudio SDK sample application to capture directly from Vista's post-mix audio end point thereby removing the need to install old drivers.

    Sounds like there must be scope for a dedicated utility app in there somewhere!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thaddy: The problem isn't broadcasting my own voice. The problem is to capture what you hear from the speaker audio and capture a webinar's audio.

    Jim: Yes, I know. I didn't want to mention a specific 4-letter acronym. It's so silly it's not even funny. Actually stereo mix is pretty much exactly the same as my cable solution. It goes through an DAC -> ADC.

    Malcolm: I'm sure this application (if it works) only allows itself to capture audio. I need Camtasia and anything else to be able to capture audio. So AFAICT the working driver is my only option.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Daniel: Victor was kidding... Of course it was done on purpose... For anti-piracy reasons. Dell caved to the RIIA or something to that effect. It seems really silly since it's so easy to work around with a $5 cable...
    Hok: Try doing what I did. Find a Windows XP driver for yous sound card and install it in Windows XP compatibility mode.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Try this before installing Xp drivers...

    Right-click speaker icon, choose recording source, right click blank space
    in window, choose show disabled devices, right click 'Wave Out mix' , enable, right click again to select as default.

    Looks as if the functionality is hidden rather than removed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. HMcG: I'm glad it was that easy on your system. Trust me, this was one of the first things I tried.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anders: According to that MSDN site it was removed to make it easier for users. It was not about piracy. Hard to believe, but probably true. Well anyways...I don't really care anymore as I don't use Vista anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Daniel: I understand that Vista disables the functionality by default, and that's fine as long as you can enable it if needed. However, Dell *specifically* removed functionality in their driver making it *impossible* to enable if needed. Therefore forcing me to use the XP driver.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am extremely inspired with your writing skills as neatly as with the structure to your weblog. Is this a paid subject matter or did you customize it your self? Either way stay up the nice quality writing, it is uncommon to look a great weblog like this one nowadays..

    ReplyDelete
  13. Trying to learn guitar at the moment and found your site. Been a great help. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Woah this weblog is astounding i enjoy looking at your site content. Keep up the truly great works of art! You currently know, lots of individuals usually are hunting around due to this details, you may help these folks greatly.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Heya i will be for that major time period listed here. I ran across that table we to locate It truly valuable & it solved the problem away much. I hope to offer the one thing returning along with assist other individuals just like you assisted me personally.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Heya now i'm somebody in charge of in this article. I discovered this particular plank i believe that it is definitely practical & this reduced the problem out and about a good deal. I am hoping to offer you another thing yet again plus aid others such as you aided everyone.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm keen on the valuable information and facts a person supply on your posts. Let me search for your current web site and view again here often. We're modestly confident I am going to understand numerous fresh goods appropriate the following! All the best . for one more!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ordinarily I wouldn't examine article in weblogs, but I want to say that that write-up really obligated me to see and also implement it! Your current creating style have been stunned my family. Thank you, really nice post.

    ReplyDelete
  19. These attributes happen to be additional in ipad 2 buy The reason I will not purchase Apple company items is because this principal profitable buyer employs Display about all their web sites. I ought to have the ability to work with Adobe flash on my computers, cell phones and also drugs.

    ReplyDelete
  20. wonderful submit, quite informative.. replika samsung I'm wondering the reason why one other authorities with this area don't understand this kind of. You need to carry on a person's composing. I think, you may have a terrific readers' starting by now!

    ReplyDelete
  21. My friend suggested I may like this blog. He was totally perfect. This post in fact produced our day. You simply can't envision precisely how a great deal period I had used due to this details! Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your efforts and I am waiting for your further post thank you once again.|

    ReplyDelete
  23. It's actually a nice handy bit of information and facts. I am happy that you just discussed this useful information and facts here.. multi band combiners You need to keep us informed like this. Many thanks discussing.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.