Backing Tracks and USB Interface

andyp

Hi folks.

I recently got myself a Native Instruments interface and it’s really got me wanting to try stuff out and see what I can come up with. I am really enjoying playing into headphones but I want to play along with some backing tracks and I can’t quite figure out the best way to do it.

So far, I’ve got a couple of tracks in wav or mp3 format and I’ve copied them into Reaper, opened Guitar Rig and played along using my amp line in to the interface. The sound all comes through the headphones via the interface. But if I want to play a track from YouTube or elsewhere, I can’t hear it - only my guitar. It seems to be the sound device selected on the laptop as it needs to be set to the interface for me to hear the guitar.

I could hook up my phone or iPad to the audio in on my amp, but this seems very clunky and adds more kit to the picture. Is there something I’m doing wrong or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks.

Andy

rico

Are you using a Mac or PC?

andyp

Sorry, should’ve said - it’s a PC. Windows 10.

rico

Ah OK. On a Mac you alt + click the volume bar to reveal available output devices (laptop speakers, headphones, interfaces etc).

Not really familiar with the PC alternative but it must be in settings somewhere.

spark240

I do this in Studio One on Mac....heres a vid...but no idea if its similar in NI

andyp

Cheers! I’ll take a look at that. I’m new to this stuff so I’m quite sure how it works yet.

stratman3142

In the Reaper the Audio device is set under Options > Preferences > Audio > Device

For Windows it's set by right clicking on the speaker symbol on the bottom right corner, then select Open Sound settings.

Are they both set to the same device?

andyp

Right. Some further investigation...

Yes, windows and Reaper are set to the Komplete audio interface. If I have windows set to that, everything stops. I can’t play iTunes or YouTube or anything like that. As soon as I switch back to my laptop speakers it starts again and plays fine. I’m wondering if there’s some kind of anti-piracy thing going on here.

I also tried to drag a purchased backing track that came with a CAGED book I bought,
and I can’t drag that into Reaper either.

stratman3142

andyp said:

Right. Some further investigation...

Yes, windows and Reaper are set to the Komplete audio interface. If I have windows set to that, everything stops. I can’t play iTunes or YouTube or anything like that. As soon as I switch back to my laptop speakers it starts again and plays fine. I’m wondering if there’s some kind of anti-piracy thing going on here.

If you close Reaper does YouTube play OK?

IIRC on a previous computer I couldn't play audio on other applications when I had Reaper open. I think that's because ASIO monopolised Audio on Reaper. But things seem to work OK on my current computer and I can run multiple sources of Audio.

Way, way back I'm sure there was a discussion on this on the Reaper forum. I'll try to track it down and post a link if I can find it.

andyp

Nope. If I have windows set to Komplete audio as the sound output, YouTube won’t play (at all, not even with no sound). Neither will the windows music player or iTunes.

I’ve just this minute figured out a workaround though. Which may actually be better. I can play my phone into the interface using a 1/4” adapter and a 3.5mm cable. I can then play and record anything from my phone in Reaper and hear it along with my guitar. I have a 2 input interface so that means I can play along “live” too, if I want to. Guitar in input 1, phone in input 2.

So... I think what I’ll do is record some backing tracks from my phone in Reaper and save them as files that I can then reopen and play along to later. A wee library kind of thing. I shouldn’t really need to do this, and maybe I technically shouldn’t... but the intended use is the same. I just want to be able to play along to stuff akd learn, and if possible adjust levels separately so I control the volumes etc.

Vaiai

I got an extension for Chrome called Chrome Audio Capture and it can capture whatever tab you have open in the browser and save to MP3 or WAV - so I grab BTs from YouTube and then drag them into reaper to play along with or record over via my Helix - but .
Same thing with yours on my PC where I haven to go to my sound settings and change my output back to my speakers to use anything other than Reaper but that seems like expected activity as you are setting your output to Komplete

stratman3142

andyp said:

Nope. If I have windows set to Komplete audio as the sound output, YouTube won’t play (at all, not even with no sound). Neither will the windows music player or iTunes.

So that suggests it's not Reaper related. One final check. What happens if you restart your computer and try YouTube first.

andy_k

You could try Asio4all as the audio driver in Reaper, lets you use separated devices for recording and playback.
Or, you could set windows to use the interface for recording and playback, but you would need to attach monitors to the NI interface.
Normally, you can only use one device at a time-Reaper wants to use your interface, and your PC ie browser for YT wants to use built in device, Asio4all is a clunky workaround, and you want to get it right for latency sake.
Try connecting some speakers to the interface first, should be the most effective way to do it.

stratman3142

I did a bit of Googling and found the post below on the NI forum, which might be relevant to your issue.
https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/multiclient-asio-drivers.373425/

This suggests that (at least some) NI interfaces don't support multi client ASIO (i.e. don't support audio from two programs at the same time using the same ASIO driver).

andyp

Thanks guys. I had a play about again today and using my phone or iPad as the second input worked really well actually.

I don’t have monitors, but I’ll see if I can work the Asio4All option. In the meantime this has really helped. Thanks for all the input!