I am running Audacity on a Lenovo Thinkpad with Windows 10. I used Audacity briefly with my Behringer XAir18 and now cannot get it to play back through the PC speakers. I can still hear playback through the headphones on the XAir when I plug it in and choose the XAir drivers. I have read a number of posts on this problem but no dice. YouTube and other programs on the computer play through the PC speakers without issue. Here’s what I tried (in no particular order).
. Have tried every device in the list.
. Unplugged the XAir from the computer
. Verified it is not muted or soloed.
. Uninstalled and installed latest version of Audacity
. Rebooted windows multiple times
I have attached a screenshot if that’s any help. I guess this isn’t a drop dead issue as I can use it with headphones through the Behringer, but it is pretty annoying…
run ( using the run option from the start button ) mmsys.cpl . Choose the speakers you want to use from the playback tab. Right click and select properties. Then go to the advance tab and click the test button. Are they enabled, are they working? As its a laptop make sure the mute button has not been used. When play is selected in audacity do you see active level showing in the devices under playback?
Other apps, including YouTube and Reaper work fine with the speakers, so it’s not a system wide issue. Sorry – should have mentioned that in the initial post. The volume bar does act like something is playing and, as I mentioned, I can hear it through the headphones connected to my XAir 18
mixer when the mixer is on and connected to the computer via USB.
I’ve always had the problem with Audacity that if I played sound through another app, such as YouTube, I had to close and reopen Audacity in order for it to make sound again. Closing and reopening Audacity doesn’t work for this problem, though.
At this point I’m considering uninstalling Audacity and just doing what I want in Reaper. It’s a few more clicks to do the simple tasks I used to do in Audacity, but its device management isn’t as flaky.
I can hear it through the headphones connected to my XAir 18
You’re screenshot says you’ve selected “Speakers (Conexant Smart…” so there is something “very unusual” about your computer, and I don’t know what.
You may have installed some software or drivers for you mixer that are re-routing the Windows sound but that’s just a wild-random guess.
BTW - If you are recording & editing in mono or stereo from the mixer, Audacity should be fine… If you can get it to work right… But if you are using the Behringer as a multi-channel interface and multi-track recording you’ll probably want a full multitrack [u]DAW application[/u].
not always the first time it turns out to solve the problem with sound - you can lose sight of something or not pay attention to an important detail. I had such a problem when I only bought [Advert removed] so that the PC does not heat up. I have this problem appeared after the update. If the sound has disappeared after updating Windows, you can simply roll it back. To do this, go to the control panel (control command) - in the “Programs” settings group, click on Uninstall a program
Speakers (Conexant Smart…) are drivers for the external speakers I have installed on the computer. That is what I have used for at least 3 years with Audacity and worked fine up until a month ago (as I stated problem started after briefly using Audacity with my Behringer Xair 18). I have also tried “Microsoft Sound Mapper” and “HP ZZ4n (Intel(R) Display Audio”, neither of which work. Those are all the drivers in the dropdown unless I have the Behringer attached to the computer (in which case I also have the Behringer ASIO drivers).
The idea that I have installed drivers that are re-routing the Windows sound sounds promising. How would I determine that? As I mentioned previously sound works fine with other apps on the computer including YouTube, Windows 10 Groove Music audio player and Reaper.
I am not using Audacity for recording from the Behringer. I really only use Audacity to edit mp3 files I get from YouTube, recordings I made on my phone or other sources – doing things like pitch correction on old recordings, breaking the mp3 into multiple mp3’s and adjusting volume. I’ve also tried to do some equalization stuff to isolate the bass guitar in a recording but with limited success.
Just for the record I am using Reaper to record from the Behringer. It’s a full featured DAW and works great for multi-channel recording as well as sound mixing, adding effects, and so on. I probably can use Reaper to do what I have done with Audacity, but it wouldn’t be as easy as it is with Audacity. If you need a DAW then Reaper has everything you could ever want a fraction of the cost of something like ProTools or Ableton. (end of ad:))
cazorla: Thanks!
I did install new drivers for the Behringer Xair 18 just before the problem occurred, but I don’t want to roll that change back as those drivers are necessary for my multi-channel recording with Reaper.
