USB headphone PC audio question

AustrianJohn

I have a problem with USB headphones on my PC. If I wasn't already bald I'd be tearing my hair out. Any help would be much appreciated.

I plug the phones output from my amp into the audio in jack on my PC, then I play guitar along to Band in a Box backing tracks. I generally use headphones on my PC so as not to annoy the wife and neighbours. After constant swapping between speakers and headphones the cable on my old headphones broke, so I bought USB headphones thinking I could leave them plugged in and swap between headphones and the speakers in software.

The audio in port is configured as "Listen" and "Playback through USB headphones". Now the backing track plays through the headphones, but my guitar still goes through the speakers. Even if the speakers are disabled!

Windows 10 is up to date and I've installed the latest Realtek driver. When I open the volume mixer the speakers don't show (as they've been disabled), but my guitar still comes our of the speakers and not the headphones.

Help!

BigMonka

If you right click the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and choose Playback Devices, have you tried having the headphones as default device and everything else off?

AustrianJohn

BigMonka said:

If you right click the speaker icon in the bottom right corner of the screen and choose Playback Devices, have you tried having the headphones as default device and everything else off?

Yes, tried that - even with everything else disabled the guitar comes through the speakers.

ecc83

AFAICT you are trying to input on one "device" and output on another?

AFAIK you cannot do this with most DAW software but I do not have B I A B so I am not that sure.

One DAW that WILL do it is SAMPLITUDE (with MME drivers) try the demo of Sam ProX and if it works find the free for ever Pro X Silver.

FAR better alternative, an AI. Cheapest good one the Alesis i02 but the Steinberg UR22 at £100 is well worth the extra 30 sovs.

Dave.

AustrianJohn

Thanks for your input, Dave/ecc83

Seems a bit stone age not to be able to input on from one device and output to another - for example, I can scan on one device and print on another printer at the same time. But we are talking Microsoft so I shouldn't be surprised. I've just spent 4 hours tracking down and backing out a Windows update that stopped my speaker working altogether! Guess I'll have to revert to headphones with a jack. Happy Christmas!

ecc83

ecc83 said:

AFAICT you are trying to input on one "device" and output on another?

AFAIK you cannot do this with most DAW software but I do not have B I A B so I am not that sure.

One DAW that WILL do it is SAMPLITUDE (with MME drivers) try the demo of Sam ProX and if it works find the free for ever Pro X Silver.

FAR better alternative, an AI. Cheapest good one the Alesis i02 but the Steinberg UR22 at £100 is well worth the extra 30 sovs.

Dave.

Yes but the scanner and the printer are each running their own drivers! In any case, scanners and printers take for fooookin EVER to do their work. Audio must be processed in real time.

Quoted the wrong bit there (this forum is oddly laid out to me!) Bit I think YKWIM.

Dave.

AustrianJohn

I still don't understand why this doesn't work!  Audio in and audio have two separate drivers, and from time to time Windows manages to send the sound from one app to my speakers and the sound from another app to the speakers in my monitor. (By the way, I'm not criticising the messenger, Dave, just admitting to my own shortcomings.)

So, is the bottom line that if I want to add guitar to music generated by an app on my PC and listen to the result on headphone - unless I invest in an expensive add-on I should stick with headphones that plug into the audio jack rather than USB?

Heartfeltdawn

ecc83 said:

AFAICT you are trying to input on one "device" and output on another?

AFAIK you cannot do this with most DAW software but I do not have B I A B so I am not that sure.

One DAW that WILL do it is SAMPLITUDE (with MME drivers) try the demo of Sam ProX and if it works find the free for ever Pro X Silver.

FAR better alternative, an AI. Cheapest good one the Alesis i02 but the Steinberg UR22 at £100 is well worth the extra 30 sovs.

Not at home so can't check the desktop PC but I'm sure that you can with Reaper. Even on my laptop, you can stick Reaper into shared mode. I don't have an audio interface with me but even the limited stuff on my laptop I can set it to have a microphone input (HD Audio Device) and then a choice of going to the onboard speakers or the Samsung display audio (which I suspect goes to the HDMI output). 

@AustrianJon So Audio In is set to Listen and Playback through USB headphones.. by the sound of it you're using onboard Realtek sound. Using this page as reference:

http://bandinabox.wikia.com/wiki/I/O_setup

What drivers are you using for BIAB?

AustrianJohn

Heartfeltdawn said:

What drivers are you using for BIAB?

Whatever comes as standard. I did try to use ASIOALL to cure a latency issue, but that caused other problems. It was a while ago and I can't remember the detail, but I think it was to do with running multiple music apps at the same time.

I'll check out that BIAB setup - thanks.