GOING CRAZY WITH AUDIO INTERFACE ISSUE

[Bluzzguy53]

I have a new laptop with Windows 11 on it. I have three audio interfaces by various manufacturers. My newest one is a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. When I plug the interface into my USB port and install the software, I am only able to use my microphone into the computer. My guitar (instrument) input on the audio interfaces will not go into my computer. My headphones were working through the interface until yesterday when I installed my newest audio interface, and now I can only use the microphone for input and have to listen to my audio through ear buds plugged into the Realtek port on my computer, and therefore cannot monitor my voice as I am speaking. I have installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled interfaces and this doesn't change. I feel that somehow there is a setting in my computer somewhere that is messed up but I have done everything I can through my sound settings and nothing changes.

Does anybody have any ideas what is going on and what I can do to fix it????

 

[caught gesture]

What DAW are you using? Have you checked the DAW settings? Is the Solo the 3rd generation model? When plugging in your guitar, you are toggling to inst and not line?

 

[Bluzzguy53]

Caught gesture, thanks for your reply. I am using Wavepad and Audacity sometimes. I have checked all of their settings dozens of times now.......lol. Yes it is 3rd generation. I have tried both inst and line.

 

[caught gesture]

Have you tried a different USB port and a different cable? It’s strange that you can use the interface with a microphone and it records, but you can’t monitor it or record a guitar signal. Can you try the interface on another computer to make sure the fault is not in the device itself?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Audacity does not work with ASIO. Try downloading Reaper DAW. Free to try out. That may very well fix your issue.

 

[Bluzzguy53]

Audacity does not work with ASIO. Try downloading Reaper DAW. Free to try out. That may very well fix your issue.

Thank you for your input, but there is something going on here outsider of my DAW. Previously my headphones could always monitor guitar input and mic input, now the headphones are silent for anything. The microphone will work with Audacity or my other DAW, and record, but that is all that works.

 

[Bluzzguy53]

Have you tried a different USB port and a different cable? It’s strange that you can use the interface with a microphone and it records, but you can’t monitor it or record a guitar signal. Can you try the interface on another computer to make sure the fault is not in the device itself?

I have tried all three of the USB ports on this computer, and two cables. I agree, it is strange and is frying me.....lol..........how the mic works fine but instruments and headphones won't. I have three different audio interfaces of different brands, and the same is true with all three of them currently. Yesterday morning, before I installed my newest interface the mic and headphones worked, and I could monitor my voice, and play my instrument through the headphones and hear, just could not get my guitar signal into my DAW to record it. That was bad enough, but now I have no headphones, ability to monitor, or guitar input working. It is getting worse.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Look ASIO will work. The others maybe they can and probably could by delving into windows settings. Why make it hard? Get Reaper for free and it will work using asio.

 

[Bluzzguy53]

Look ASIO will work. The others maybe they can and probably could by delving into windows settings. Why make it hard? Get Reaper for free and it will work using asio.

Before I can use any DAW I need to figure out what is going on with all three of my audio interfaces where the headphones will no longer work. Two days ago I could watch youtube videos or movies online with my headphones plugged into one of my audio interfaces. Now they no longer work in any of them.

 

[Bluzzguy53]

Before I can use any DAW I need to figure out what is going on with all three of my audio interfaces where the headphones will no longer work. Two days ago I could watch youtube videos or movies online with my headphones plugged into one of my audio interfaces. Now they no longer work in any of them.

Before yesterday I could use my headphones through an audio interface to listen to online videos, or to monitor my voice through the mic. I could do these things without even turning on a DAW. Now I cannot get anything through the headphones from online or from trying to monitor my voice.

 

[Blumlein 88]

You now have drivers for three interfaces. They may be interfering with each other. You probably can fix some or all delving into the windows sound settings. Hard for us to be specific with three devices involved. Asio links directly to specific devices and bypass all that.

You can lead a horse to water......

My other simple idea might be to uninstall all except for one device. If this suggestion bothers you then ignore my comments.

 

[Bluzzguy53]

I agree. I have tried my best to uninstall everything and only use one at a time, but not sure if everything is getting uninstalled. They all have different drivers I know, and have tried to eliminate them all. I am even contemplating doing a restart on Windows and taking my computer back to factory settings, which will be a total pain. I still can't understand why the headphones stopped working as of yesterday. I know it does have to be a driver/program issue in my computer I just can't seem to fix it. I appreciate your comments.

 

[pseudoid]

If your Win11 was an "update" from Win10; it may have inherited a nasty case of USB (previous installed hardware') device drivers infestation.
There are a few areas that you should first go through in Win11:
1. IF not too late, you may attempt to do a 'System Restore to Earlier Date' (pre-problem). NOT a 'System Reset', please.
2. Attempt to uninstall older applications (especially audio apps - which you no longer use) and reboot.
3. There are ways to *uninstall /*reinstall /*update device/hardware drivers, using Win+X > DeviceManager
4. Look in DeviceManager>Audio Input Output Drivers section and feel free to uninstall them directly from the DeviceManager; as long as you have new drivers to re-install.
5. Your Taskbar's 'speaker' icon should enable you to go to the "Sound Settings" or use the "Sound Trouble Shooter" and/or the "Sound Mixer" to set devices and their inputs and outputs properly.

Don't make me have my 11 year old nephew come over your place and embarrass you... which is better than "GOING CRAZY".

 

[Bluzzguy53]

If your Win11 was an "update" from Win10; it may have inherited a nasty case of USB (previous installed hardware') device drivers infestation.
There are a few areas that you should first go through in Win11:
1. IF not too late, you may attempt to do a 'System Restore to Earlier Date' (pre-problem). NOT a 'System Reset', please.
2. Attempt to uninstall older applications (especially audio apps - which you no longer use) and reboot.
3. There are ways to *uninstall /*reinstall /*update device/hardware drivers, using Win+X > DeviceManager
4. Look in DeviceManager>Audio Input Output Drivers section and feel free to uninstall them directly from the DeviceManager; as long as you have new drivers to re-install.
5. Your Taskbar's 'speaker' icon should enable you to go to the "Sound Settings" or use the "Sound Trouble Shooter" and/or the "Sound Mixer" to set devices and their inputs and outputs properly.

Don't make me have my 11 year old nephew come over your place and embarrass you... which is better than "GOING CRAZY".

Thank you for your response. My laptop is one I purchased new just a month ago and it came with Windows 11. As far as doing a System Restore, as I found out two days ago Windows 11 does not automatically set restore points until you manually start the process, so the only restore point I have on this computer is to two days ago, which does me no good. I am thinking I need to uninstall audio drivers and hope for the best. Believe me, I wish your 11-year-old nephew was available as I would pay him big bucks right now if he could solve this for me. lol

 

[Dunring]

If you do a search in the taskbar search for "reset" you can get it back to new by picking "reset this PC" which will require reinstalling your other programs, but it's a fresh start. Also this is an article for troubleshooting another crash that can come up when playing audio, but it has epic advice on troubleshooting in general. Anyone who's got driver issues should check it out. I use Autoruns which is a free utility that can let you see everything that's loading and uncheck drivers in the startup list. Some sound software just never uninstalls properly.

 

[Galliardist]

+1 for using Autoruns here,

If your new machine came with third party antivirus software, consider uninstalling that and then reinstalling your drivers, as well. Finally, if your computer is a brand name model, you should check for the brand's device driver installation software and use that to update all drivers and management software.

If all else fails, backup and reinstall from scratch. The cause of your issues could be a proprietary driver that is also in the repair environment, so a reset may not be the best answer here.

You can turn on protection for System Restore before installing the various audio drivers, then.

 

[AnalogSteph]

5. Your Taskbar's 'speaker' icon should enable you to go to the "Sound Settings" or use the "Sound Trouble Shooter" and/or the "Sound Mixer" to set devices and their inputs and outputs properly.

I reckon setting the default output properly is all that it takes to make the headphone side work again.

How to manage sound settings on Windows 11

Best tips to customize the settings for output devices on Windows 11.

www.windowscentral.com

The old sound dialog seems to still be accessible once you make your way to system sounds.

How to manage system sounds on Windows 11

Yes, you can change or turn off system sounds, and in this guide, we'll show you how on Windows 11.

www.windowscentral.com

I don't get why the guitar input would no longer be picked up, usually both inputs on a Scarlett Solo should come as a stereo pair. Make sure the recording software has the right input selected and that it isn't set to mono, as Audacity is by default IIRC. Also use WASAPI for sound input in Audacity, which is the only API it comes with by default that can do >16-bit recording. (You can custom compile it with ASIO support included but ASIO licensing terms are keeping such a build from being freely distributed.) You then have to manage sample rate settings for recording and playback devices manually. (Old Sound dialog, Playback and Recording tabs, right-click device, select Properties, go to tab Advanced.)

 

[Tangband]

I have a new laptop with Windows 11 on it. I have three audio interfaces by various manufacturers. My newest one is a Focusrite Scarlett Solo. When I plug the interface into my USB port and install the software, I am only able to use my microphone into the computer. My guitar (instrument) input on the audio interfaces will not go into my computer. My headphones were working through the interface until yesterday when I installed my newest audio interface, and now I can only use the microphone for input and have to listen to my audio through ear buds plugged into the Realtek port on my computer, and therefore cannot monitor my voice as I am speaking. I have installed, uninstalled, and reinstalled interfaces and this doesn't change. I feel that somehow there is a setting in my computer somewhere that is messed up but I have done everything I can through my sound settings and nothing changes.

Does anybody have any ideas what is going on and what I can do to fix it????

Get a Mac - Windows 11 is garbage.
Dont spend useful lifetime chasing bugs in the system.

 

[grilli4nt]

@Bluzzguy53 I have an Audient ID4 interface and experienced similar issues on windows 11 that I could not use the mic in and headphone out simultaniously in various applications. What seems to have fixed it for me was to fiddle with the sample rate / bit rate (the windows settings under contron panel -> sound -> for your audio interface input / outputs). When lowering these values to 24bit/48 or even 16bit/48/44 all of a sudden I can use both mic and headphone out without issues. Could be worth a try at least.

 

[studio7]

@Bluzzguy53 I have an Audient ID4 interface and experienced similar issues on windows 11 that I could not use the mic in and headphone out simultaniously in various applications. What seems to have fixed it for me was to fiddle with the sample rate / bit rate (the windows settings under contron panel -> sound -> for your audio interface input / outputs). When lowering these values to 24bit/48 or even 16bit/48/44 all of a sudden I can use both mic and headphone out without issues. Could be worth a try at least.

I have a similar issue. On my Windows 10 laptop I have to go into the Sound settings, and change the bit depth to 16-bit for the Headphones Out to work with the internal sound card. I believe it's a limitation of the Windows driver.