Recording what-u-hear signal

GRMondie wrote on 12/18/2021, 1:09 AM

I am using a Creative sound card with included software that seems to allow ONLY selecting mike or line inputs for recording. My old Creative card's software also allowed using the what-u-hear signal, which includes sound from my PC's software sources. Can anyone tell me how to record the what-u-hear signal in the Sound Forge (version 4) editor with a Creative Sound Blaster Z series sound card?

Comments

SP. wrote on 12/18/2021, 4:49 AM

@GRMondie Maybe you must enable this option in the Windows audio settings before you can use it.

https://www.darkwooddesigns.co.uk/whatuhear.html

rraud wrote on 12/18/2021, 9:51 AM

This recent thread may be of interest as well:
https://www.magix.info/us/forum/recording-streaming-audio-from-a-radio-station--1289445/

btw, welcome to the Magix Sound Forge community @GRMondie.

GRMondie wrote on 12/18/2021, 6:51 PM

SP: Thanks. I hadn't tried that... but just did and it doesn't work. Problem is still there.

 

SP. wrote on 12/19/2021, 3:21 AM

@GRMondie Is what-u-hear completely missing or can you see the option in the Windows audio settings?

rraud wrote on 12/19/2021, 11:37 AM

Some PCs just plain cannot record what-you-hear natively. All of my Dell PCs (two desktops and two laptops) could record the stereo mix (what-you-hear) and both the Dell and Toshiba had Realtec soundcards, but the Toshiba lacked the sound settings to record the output (what-you-hear). It was a long time ago, but I think I used VB-CABLE for the Toshiba, which was a virtual audio cable that throughput audio to the speakers and to the input. I do not know if VB-CABLE works with Win 10 though. Both the Toshibas had the Vista OS.

SP. wrote on 12/19/2021, 11:42 AM

VB-Cable works fine with Windows 10. I use it myself without problems.

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 7:17 PM

Thanks for the ideas, but...

SP: What-u-hear shows in audio settings and when selected does not work.

rraud: I installed VB-Cable successfully. Cannot get it to work for me and Sound Forge doesn't see it as an option for input.

For what it's worth, my PC is based on a Gigabyte x570 motherboard with a 12-core AMD Ryzan 9 3900X CPU.

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 7:55 PM

SP: The mike input works fine. What I'm having a problem with is the what-u-hear signal. It is certainly there and I am listening to it. But Sound Forge doesn't display it as an option for input.

SP. wrote on 12/19/2021, 8:06 PM

@GRMondie Can you upload a screenshot of your sound devices in Sound Forge and Windows? You can use the arrow icon above the text box to upload something to the forum.

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 8:44 PM

SP:  Here are the screen shots.  The ASUS and NVIDIA devices are for my monitor’s built-in speakers and are not enabled.  The Realtek device is on my motherboard and is disabled in order to use the Creative card. 

SP. wrote on 12/19/2021, 9:06 PM

@GRMondie Thanks. If you select Creative SBZ Series ASIO Device in Sound Forge and click on Apply, what do you see if you click on the "Record" tab and if you click on the "Advanced..." button (and the "Configure..." button in the advanced menu)?

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 9:15 PM

I had also inadvertently left the playback tab on when copying the windows devices list. Here are the "record" tab screen shots for both.

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 9:18 PM

Oh, the advanced button menu...

GRMondie wrote on 12/19/2021, 9:21 PM

The "configure" button just brings this up...

SP. wrote on 12/20/2021, 7:02 AM

@GRMondie Is the What U Hear input listed under the Record tab if you select "Windows Classic Wave Driver" in Sound Forge? The VB-Cable should also be listed there.

rraud wrote on 12/20/2021, 12:37 PM

In Windows sound srttings 'Playback' should be set to Speakers. the 'Record' menu should be set to 'Stereo mix'. Back in Sound Forge "Options> Preferences>Audio", set the audio device to 'Windows Classic Wave Driver', in the Playback menu tab, the Speakers (Realtec of whatever) should show, in the Record Tab menu, confirm "Stereo mix". When playing back a web radio or other streamed sound source, the SF input meters should show activity in the Record Options> Arm mode (record ready). There are variations in PCs and soundcards, so experimentation can be necessary.

GRMondie wrote on 12/20/2021, 8:24 PM

Thank you both for your ideas. They sound as though they SHOULD work. But Sound Forge gives a "not found" error message when I attempt to record and anything other than the Creative SBZ device is selected. That is true even when I play with the windows options. These screen shots show the only combination I can find that works, but is right where I started and leaves no what-u-hear recording option in Sound Forge. My next step is to see if I can find something besides Sound Forge for recording. Thank you for your efforts.

GRMondie wrote on 12/20/2021, 10:01 PM

Well, I guess I have narrowed things a little. The Sound Forge editor is not the problem because I get similar errors with the four other audio editors I have tried. The other editors do find the VB-Cable device, or at least show it as an option. But none of them will actually record from it (or the other devices they find, excepting only the Creative SBZ ASIO device). Creative could have made life much simpler by including what-u-hear as a recording source just as they did for their old Audigy sound card. (That card had a front panel, and input options also included separate line and mike inputs for that panel vs. the ones for the rear jacks. Very nice, intuitive software.)

GRMondie wrote on 12/21/2021, 9:17 PM

SP: You nailed it! I had disabled the mike for privacy purposes and would still like to do so. Never connected this with the what-u-hear signal. (Microsoft is getting as bad as Apple!) I will look to affirmatively mute the mike some other way. Thanks very much.

Walter.I wrote on 12/22/2021, 2:44 AM

I will look to affirmatively mute the mike some other way. Thanks very much.

@GRMondie
If you succeeded, don't forget to publish it here - I'm sure others face this problem as well - for example me 😏
I also want to control when the enemy (Win.....) is listening and unlock the microphone only for certain apps or certain actions.

Last changed by Walter.I on 12/22/2021, 2:45 AM, changed a total of 1 times.

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