I have audacity on my old laptop, not sure of the version but it must be a few years ago, everything works well, I can mute the speaker while I’m recording from you tube and the recording still carries on without problem, I don’t always want to listen to it while I’m recording so this is handy.
However I’ve now got a new laptop and have just downloaded the latest version, I can still record as above but when I mute the speaker the recording also mutes. Iv’e checked the setting between the two and they are the same.
It depends on your drivers and your version of Windows.
You can plug-in external (analog) speakers and turn down their volume knob. or plug-in headphones and stick them in a drawer if you don’t want to hear them at all. Or, sometimes you can plug-in a headphone extension with nothing plugged into the other end (but some laptops will detect nothing connected and keep the speakers playing).
…And don’t complain! You aren’t supposed to steal from streaming services. There’s a reason they don’t give you a handy download button…
Thanks Doug… Plugging in headphones did cross my mind, but it still doesn’t explain why I can do it on my old laptop and not on this one.. I’m on Windows 11.. not sure what drivers are
I think it’s mostly the drivers and of course you’re stuck with the drivers that work with your soundcard/soundchip.
Just to give you an idea of how complicated it is, here is some information from Microsoft intended for programmers. …I’ve done some programming but never any audio programming so I don’t understand the details.
But I understand this:
And this implies that there was a change when there was an update to Windows 10.
I think it is important to note that web browsers always use the default sound device to play audio. So if you change the default device to loopback as outlined in the link, your browser will probably not play audio out your speakers until you set them back to being the default device.
Thanks for all the info Doug, I’ve read the link but it’s all double dutch to me I’m afraid. I think i’ll have to use the ancient laptop while it’s still working…!!
You can probably get the functionality you want by using a virtual sound mapper application like Voicemeeter Banana. But if you think that setting up loopback was complicated, set aside plenty of time to figure out Voicemeeter.
There’s a reason they don’t give you a handy download button…