Stereo Mix - "Error opening sound device"

I have found that while I am using the TeamSpeak 3 client, Stereo Mix recording no longer works in Audacity. When I press “Record”, I just get an error message.

The problem goes away if I exit TeamSpeak 3. I’m not saying this is Audacity’s fault, but if it can be fixed, it would be appreciated.
Error.PNG

As an educated guess, it sounds like Teamspeak takes exclusive control of your sound card, so “Stereo Mix” is not available to Audacity. I doubt that there is any way to get Audacity to run while Teamspeak is running. You may be able to get more help or clarification on this issue from Teamspeak support (see their web site).

Further to Steve’s reply.

What are you trying to record when you record from stereo mix?

Can you make stereo mix default recording device in Windows “Sound” and then use Windows Sound Recorder to record from stereo mix?

All Audacity can currently do is record stereo mix from audio playing on the computer sound device.

So if a VoIP (internet call) application takes over a sound device input “exclusively” then Audacity won’t be able to use it.

You could go into the “Recording” tab of “Sound”, right-click over Stereo Mix > Properties, then choose the “Advanced” tab, uncheck both “Exclusive Mode” boxes and click OK. That might or might not stop TeamSpeak working and might or might not let you record stereo mix using Audacity. Some VoIP applications deliberately block other audio applications using the sound device beyond anything you can control in Windows. It depends how the application is written and whether the user can configure it.

If unchecking the boxes doesn’t help by itself, you could also try changing “Host” in Audacity Device Toolbar to Windows DirectSound (and still leave the “Exclusive Mode” boxes unchecked).


Gale

Interesting. Sound Recorder cannot get a sound device either when Stereo Mix is default. Unchecking the exclusive mode options also had no effect. I guess it’s TeamSpeak 3 / Windows and there’s nothing you can do. Thanks anyway. :mrgreen: