Get Stereo Mix in Vista

Hi All,

I'm trying to record audio to MP3 using my sound card in Vista like I could in XP. However, the only situation that comes up is the familiar "Master Volume." I've researched this on the internet, and have even gone to the recording devices box, right clicked, and hit enable hidden devices, but that didn't work either. I tried updating the driver Dell gave me from Dell's website, but that didn't work so I did a system restore to the original driver. I've tried a whole bunch of stuff and want this to work out. I've heard of a 95k sigmatel driver, a 5MB sigmatel driver, and a 95 MB sigmatel driver. People have had different experiences with each. What do I need to do to resolve this and where can I find those drivers?

Here's my config:

Inspiron 1520
I order the High Definition Audio.

Driver Provider: Sigma Tel
Driver Date: 5/6/2007
Driver Version: 6.10.0.5511
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher

Thanks!!!

 

This Is A Bump. Someone Please Respond!

 

DUDE i got the same problem as you! I want to know why I can't get stereo mix in Audacity

 

The audio stack was re-written for Vista. That feature was most likely removed because of DRM issues.

 

There was a solution posted to the Direct2Dell website here.

 

That solution is for XP. The Vista driver on LG's website is actually older than mine came with Dell.

 

that solution doesn't work, the exe in the device driver doesn't load



guess i'll never be able to record in stereo mix ...

 

psst....re-read my post up ^ there.

http://au.pc.ign.com/articles/759/759538p1.html


Why would the Windows team strip DirectSound of its hardware privileges? The reason goes all the way back to the days of Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. Back then it was the beginning of the multimedia boom - the days when sound cards came bundled with CD-ROM drives. At that time Microsoft first incorporated its Multimedia Extensions (MME) API into Windows, which allowed an application to interface with a sound card, opening up a somewhat richer experience than the bleeps and bloops of the old PC speaker. However, the MME API was fairly rudimentary and included no support for channel mixing, so only one audio stream was rendered at a time.

Then with the release of Windows 98 came a new and more advanced audio stack based around the Windows Driver Model (WDM). This fully 32-bit audio stack was notably more sophisticated than the MME API and did allow the mixing of audio streams. Coupled with DirectSound and DirectSound3D, applications and games could send commands straight to the hardware, opening up a whole world of enhanced features, such as 3D positional audio and Creative's EAX.

However the new Windows audio stack's new strengths belied a critical weakness: much of the audio stack was run in kernel mode, right in the guts of Windows. This meant that if - heaven forbid - something went wrong and the audio stack crashed, there was a good chance it would drag the rest of Windows down with it.

According to the blog of Larry Osterman, veteran engineer at Microsoft, "the amount of code that runs in the kernel (coupled with buggy device drivers) causes the audio stack to be one of the leading causes of Windows reliability problems."

And when Windows crashes, whatever the cause, who gets blamed? Microsoft. So after years of reprisals from angry users like us, the Windows team finally threw their arms in the air in exasperation and decided to entirely rewrite the audio stack from scratch for Longhorn. The project started in 2002 following the launch of Windows XP, and we're finally seeing the fruit of it today with Windows Vista.

The big change with the new audio stack - called Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) - is that it has been surgically removed from kernel mode and has been implanted firmly in user mode. This means the audio stack is always one step removed from the inner sanctums of Windows, so if - heaven forbid - there is a problem, a crash won't cause undue collateral damage.

This wasn't the only reason the audio stack was slapped into software. Doing so also removes a grain of latency from the audio sub-system, and allows for other funky features like per-application volume settings, automatic sound card port detection and support for array microphones. On a more sinister note, it also allows for greater controls to be placed on audio by digital rights management through the Protected Audio Path.

But the thing we're concerned with here is games. Windows XP games, and those that haven't been tweaked to accommodate the Vista audio stack, will send their audio commands through DirectSound as normal, but DirectSound doesn't talk directly to the sound card drivers any more. This results in the sound being rendered in Windows' software audio engine, often resulting in the most basic settings being used, such as stereo sound with no effects. Even if your sound card supports EAX, DirectSound no longer has access to the drivers to even detect its presence, let alone send commands through to it.

This is not to say the Windows software audio is sub-par. When properly coded for you have full support for Intel's High Definition Audio, which is superior to the ubiquitous AC'97 codec, as well as multi-channel sound. However, it's all done in software.

 

Here is the article that says it is incompatible with Vista:

http://support.dell.com/support/top...A22EB2&docid=28D391DBF200E7B7E040A68F5B280D72

 

i don't think sigmatel can support it but if you have any other system with vista it STILL WORKS.

 

Try this http://www.techimo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=160431&page=2