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