USB interface that allows "stereo mix" recording [solved]

[GeorgeZ]

Ok, so I've been thinking about making some sound design and production tutorials (to put on Youtube), and came up against a hurdle. I've got an Edirol UA-25 and a Steinberg CI1 USB interface, but neither of their drivers allow for "stereo mix" / what-u-hear recording. As such I can't record my DAW's output (while running a mic into the DAW to record the actual tutorial script) while doing a screen capture. There is no mix out from either in the screen capture software to capture total output audio (I've been at this for ages now, so yes, I've properly checked in the windows 7 recording and playback manager menus, all active and inactive inputs and outputs are visible, these two do not support "stereo mix" / what-u-hear recording).

There is of course the workaround of recording all the audio in your DAW (including the mic input), and then mixing the DAW output with the video after it's all captured, but that is really a PITA, and I can't be assed doing that...

So far the only list I've seen / found online of sound cards (USB or internal, but I prefer a USB interface that can take a canon from the mic) that support this still in Win7 are Creative sound cards (http://support.creative.com/kb/ShowArti ... ?sid=87127). Now surely, this can't be the only damn option available to do this!? Getting an essentially gaming sound card to record audio production tutorials on... how bloody backwards is that? Naturally I don't want to spend a ton of cash on another interface, but if you've come across options that can do this in Win7, please let me know, cause I'm at my wits end

Cheers,
George

[Orchidius]

Hi,

before you buy a new interface, just try this special driver: DDMF Virtual Audio Stream. Works like a charm for me and it's very affordable as well.

Cheers

Edit: this one might be enough actually: DDMF Virtual Audio Recorder

By the way: actually the Focusrite Scarlett Series supports this as well.

[GeorgeZ]

Hey mate, those two links are for the same thing, one is just on a dedicated site I'm pretty sure I did try that at one point, but can't remember the outcome. Regardless, just in case I'm mistaken, I'll give it bash and report back!

EDIT: if push comes to shove, I'll have a look at the Scarlett series, they are a tad expansive considering it'll just be for tuts (and the current ones serve me just fine), but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do!

[ZenPunkHippy]

Have you checked out Jack? It's a virtual cable for audio. Send DAW output to Jack, set the screen capture app to record from Jack.

http://jackaudio.org/jack_on_windows

Peace,
Andy.

[GeorgeZ]

@Orchidius Right, tested now and I do remember trying it. The problem is, I use my ASIO drivers to be able to play stuff in my DAW and have the mic going at the same time (I tried clever output routing in ASIO4ALL as well, no joy). Because of that, the sound never actually gets routed to V.A.R. I can hear the sound through my headphones of course, but once the output is routed to V.A.R., naturally it's not recording the sound, but then i have no sound on my monitors / headphone, cause the DAW output is now directly getting routed into the VAR driver... aw well.

@Andy Nope, I thought JACK was mac (or is that linux) only. Will definitely give it a try right now!! Cheers mate

[Orchidius]

those two links are for the same thing

Not exactely: the recorder is included in Virtual Audio Stream whereas you can buy it standlone without the effects rack.

Pretty cool tool though. I regularly use it to compensate the volume difference in films between speech and...the explosions "Shshsh turn it down TURN IT DOWN the kids are sleeping already!!!1" Just throw in a limiter, TB Barricade in my case, and it's done.

Edit: just read it. Have you tried setting Stream 1 to the systemwide output? So whatever runs through ASIO is automatically routed through that driver first?

[ZenPunkHippy]

Yeah, Jack is cross platform and free. I am 99.99999999% sure it will do what you want, but it's not always obvious how to set it up for a particular usage ... so don't give up unless you've tried everything + a little more

Peace,
Andy.

[tehlord]

This is always a pain to do on PC, but if you have an onboard soundcard one way to do it is to use that to record system audio via something like ASIO4all. You can then use your normal ASIO card to record voice into Audacity (for example) and then splice them back together in a video editor. That's how I do it.

[GeorgeZ]

@Geoff Ye, that might be the only way to go at the end of the day without spending cash (but I'd probably cut out the middle man and just record the Master channel of my DAW with a VST wave recorder like Edison). Like I said earlier, not the ideal PITA free method, but definitely the cheapest

@Andy and Orchidius So the problem I'm having with both JACK and VAR is that they only record the DAW output audio when the stream is selected as the output driver, but then there's no audible output audio, it all gets ported to the stream, and not back to the soundcard. JACK essentially does the same thing, but in a more complicated way (with options come complexity ). The wayi see it the total output audio signal needs to be split, one "copy" of the output to the soundcard, so I can monitor what I'm doing, and one "copy" to a capture stream driver. Therefore I'd be able to assign the soundcard in the DAW to hear what I'm doing, and also assign the pseudo output of the driver as the audio source in the screencap software.

I've actually been a this for almost a year. Usually after 3 days of battling and getting nowhere, I usually go "aw well, not yet possible, lets give it 2 more months, and then see if there's anything on the net like hacked drivers or new software that could fix this"... and every time I end up at the same spot where I'm at now Not giving up, won't be defeated by M$ and the RIAA (who put pressure on the audio hardware manufacturers and M$ to remove this feature), but damn, this is getting real tired real fast.

[ZenPunkHippy]

Couple of web pages that might help:

http://awesometoast.com/recording-what- ... windows-7/

http://windows7themes.net/how-to-record ... ows-7.html

Haven't checked in detail, but after a quick scan these look useful.

Peace,
Andy.

[GeorgeZ]

Will definitely give them a gander... The time is nigh for me to do some YT vids up and now's a good a time as any to put my foot down and get the ball rolling. Cheers for the link Andy!
o
EDIT: Awesome toast's link assumes you have a Creative card that has the option, but has it semi disabled. The essentially tell you to try different drivers until you find one that works (possibly). All good and well for Sound Blaster cards (and the rest of the Creative cards), no joy for the UA-25 or the CI1 (both have propriety divers of course).

Edit2: Winndosthemes.net link also same old same old... basically what I was able to do previously, record, but not have sound to monitor (or mic input). That necessitates however again as noted before that the driver selected in your DAW is V.A.C / VAR, making it impossible to hear what you're doing. Now, I did read one of the comments noting that here is a "listen to this device" option, which I know works, but here's the kicker. Without ASIO in the DAW I can't record my mic as well at the same time. Derp de derp.... Focusrite Scarlett Series it is eh?? Hmmm, can't spend that kinda cash right now

[GeorgeZ]

By the way: actually the Focusrite Scarlett Series supports this as well.

Doesn't seem that it does actually: http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5233013

[camsr]

You can get a cheapo sound card that does this. Unless you don't have PCI slots?

[GeorgeZ]

Ye, PCIe / PCI is not gonna fly on my system unfortunately (...and is really not the preferred option either). Point being: Why the hell do [some] crappy cheap cards support this via their drivers, yet semi-pro interfaces (none ass far as I can tell) don't in anway, the amount of adapters and stuff I'd need to run a via 3.5 (all the crappy ones have 3.5 inputs) kinda just makes it all a drag. I also called my friendly local music store, and asked the interface specialist the question... I could literally hear his face pulling the expression a cow has as it looks at an oncoming train... dull. "Nope, sorry mate, we don't have anything that supports that... was fazed out with Win Vista's launch." Oh joy.

[camsr]

Can you do the video in mono? If so, use the first input for the mic and re-record the DAW's summed mono output from either output 3 or 4, on input 2. Use TRS to TRS for proper gain, because I think the XLR input is -10dBV.