At the point of losing my mind over ASIO/Wasapi/USB audio

[bookofthoth]

Holy crap, all I want to do is record Kontakt standalone output into Audacity or similar. I can do it via a DAW, but the method I prefer for experiments is standalone Kontakt.

So the output options on Kontakt are Wasapi (shared/exclusive) . I set to shared so that Audacity can record, the problem is that although I can see the meters moving in Kontakt there's no sound output. Wasapi is set to output to speakers.

So the only way I can hear what's playing is via Asio4all, but of course Audacity or others don't allow recording from Asio.

I recently found my USB audio interface, and have tried various combinations of inputs and outputs, but again only seems to work with Asio.

GS wavetable synth is disabled, I've tried a number of Virtual Audio cables to try output Asio into Wasapi to record with no luck. It seems like there's something in the Wasapi that's not outputting sound to speakers. There's no "config" to check wasapi.

Just going round in circles here.

[whyterabbyt]

Holy crap, all I want to do is record Kontakt standalone output into Audacity or similar. I can do it via a DAW, but the method I prefer for experiments is standalone Kontakt.

What you're trying to do, send audio between different applications, is not something Windows is that great at, so doing it via a plugin host that can record is actually the easiest way to do it.

Have you considered something that's less of a DAW and more stripped down? There are various simple hosts aimed at performing etc rather than being a DAW.
This is the kind of thing I'd use Bidule for, for example, but the Melda MRecorder plugin is free and would let you record in any basic VST host whether thats capable of recording or not.

So the output options on Kontakt are Wasapi (shared/exclusive) . I set to shared so that Audacity can record, the problem is that although I can see the meters moving in Kontakt there's no sound output. Wasapi is set to output to speakers.

Yes, audio drivers like ASIO, Wasapi etc are designed to transport audio from hardware inputs to an application then from the application to hardware outputs, not from application to application.

So the only way I can hear what's playing is via Asio4all, but of course Audacity or others don't allow recording from Asio.

Even if you found one that did support ASIO, ASIO generally only supports one application at a time anyway.
(There are 'multi-client' ASIO driver, but they're rare compared to ones that arent)

FWIW, you can self-build Audacity with ASIO support, but it probably wont solve your problem.

https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/asi ... rface.html

I recently found my USB audio interface, and have tried various combinations of inputs and outputs, but again only seems to work with Asio.

And probably will still only deal with the hardware's IO, nothing from application to application.
There are some audio interfaces where the drivers can be set up to reroute audio between their standard windows driver inputs and ASIO outputs, or vice versa but again, not that common.

Your solution here could be the sort of virtual audio cable you mentioned. However, most of them are getting a bit long in the tooth and vary as to usability. I havent touched one in a decade, because I have an audio interfaces that does the kind of routing I just mentioned, but the VB-Audio one looks to be kept up to date?

The easiest way actually is to use a plugin host, though.

Or consider recording in something else than Audacity. OBS has an ASIO input plugin, for example, that might work.

[bibz1st]

Voicemeeter Banana should be able to do whats wanted ( I think ) rather than just the virtual audio cable thats mentioned. Im no expert but give it a try, nothing to lose as its free to try and donation ware if you want to support them.

[SaganTech]

If you have an audio input device named 'Stereo Mix', you should be able use that to record anything going out of your WASAPI (16 bit) outputs.

[elassi]

You could also try this tool: https://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/P ... Connector/

Edit: No, sorry, it needs a host (doesn't run standalone).

[bookofthoth]

Thank you so much everyone for your responses, and the time taken to explain things better for me, whyterabbt. I can see what you're saying about audio between applications etc, but I still can't understand why there isn't a record asio option as fairly standard. Seems a lot of software uses this as output. Then again as you say in a host it's not a problem. Am probably in the minority of wanting to stay out of DAWs for experiments. Thanks for the suggestion of OBS, I'll look into that for sure.

Am coming back to the audio playing after many years of absence so it's good to know what's out there.

Sagantech
This was the frustrating thing, I used to have a "stereo mix" option, but it disappeared and I remember using that with Kontakt and Reaktor.

Bibz1st I have to admit I was sceptical of trying the banana soft, as I'd tried their virtual cable solution only and had no luck. However, I installed it, and played with different settings until I finally got a setup that worked!

Kontakt Out ASIO / Voicemeter AUX Virtual ASIO

Audacity Recording setting - Output VB-Audio VO

Banana Input Line 1 (USB Audio Codec) / Hardware Out MME Speakers USB Audio Codec

Obviously this is via the USB audio interface I found recently (Behringer)

Finally I can hear Kontakt and record it into Audacity ! It also has settings to alter EQ etc. Brilliant.

Thanks again everyone.

[bibz1st]

Glad you got a working solution

[sjm]

But I still can't understand why there isn't a record asio option as fairly standard. Seems a lot of software uses this as output.

Because ASIO bypasses Windows and talks directly to your audio device. ASIO addresses deficiencies in the way Windows handles audio - basically to give you low latency audio so that you can record live input. The ASIO drivers are what is used to achieve this. The sound doesn't go through the Windows mixer, so other apps can't hook into the stream*.

The downside of this is that you can't do what you are trying to do without jumping through hoops, because you want one application to intercept audio that it doesn't have any access to. The upside it that there's far easier ways to do what you want to do, as outlined above.

* FL Studio ASIO and some other ASIO solutions that are not device-specific will actually show up in the mixer, but they will also introduce a ton of latency.

[elassi]

That's why I love my rock-solid RME Fireface ...

Internal routings are possible in so many ways, including snapshots for different situations. Recording internet sound (YT & the like) played by your browser of choice directly into your DAW? No problem.

A reliable workhorse, worth every penny, even for bedroom-producers.

[Logga]

So the output options on Kontakt are Wasapi (shared/exclusive) . I set to shared so that Audacity can record, the problem is that although I can see the meters moving in Kontakt there's no sound output. Wasapi is set to output to speakers.

So you get no sound at all if Kontakt is set to WASAPI, either exclusive or shared? With any audio device and without Audacity running?
If that's the case, Kontakt is just not working properly and fixing that problem would be the simplest solution. It might require some work from the Kontakt devs, however.

[whyterabbyt]

So you get no sound at all if Kontakt is set to WASAPI, either exclusive or shared? With any audio device and without Audacity running?
If that's the case, Kontakt is just not working properly and fixing that problem would be the simplest solution. It might require some work from the Kontakt devs, however.

You've not read his question properly. He wants to record the sound of Kontakt into Audacity. Hearing Kontakt directly is irrelevant to that. Ideally he'd be hearing it from Audacity.

[Logga]

I have read and understood his question just fine. Even if he's recording into Audacity, Kontakt should be making a sound. I suggest you google "WASAPI loopback recording" to see how it works.

[whyterabbyt]

I have read and understood his question just fine.

If you did, then you'd not be responding 'something you're not trying to do is the issue, NI need to fix Kontakt'

[Logga]

You're straw-manning now.
If you had read the OP, you'd see that he's getting sound out of Kontakt with ASIO, but not with WASAPI. So I asked for some clarification about that...

What's already clear, however, is that your knowledge about Windows audio is limited and outdated. So I suggest you take some time off to learn how it works.

[whyterabbyt]

Ah, right, one of those guys.

OP has his solution, using ASIO. Well done on your contribution to helping him out with that.