What other application is using my sound card?

7

2

First off, if the answer to this is simply "you can't," I'm okay with that.

That said - in Windows 7, I open the properties of the audio out on my sound card, change the default format from 16 bit to 24 bit (or vice versa) and get this message: The device is being used by another application. If you continue, that application may stop working.

... what is "another application?" Is there any way to find something, anything - the name of the file, the path to the .exe or whatever - anything that will tell me what application has a stranglehold on my sound card?

If it helps, my sound card is an external, M-Audio fast track pro, and yes, the drivers are current.

matt lohkamp

Posted 2011-03-06T01:05:36.463

Reputation: 226

Answers

3

The Volume Control application, accessible by right-clicking on the volume icon in the notification area next to your clock on the taskbar, or by running sndvol, should identify what applications are presently using your sound card.

Patches

Posted 2011-03-06T01:05:36.463

Reputation: 14 078

1You can just click the speaker and then "Mixer", and as for the latter option: "Windows cannot find 'sndvol32'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." – Mark Sowul – 2011-03-06T02:07:54.467

@Mark Apparently Microsoft dropped the 32 sometime after Windows XP. I'll update my original answer. Thanks! – Patches – 2011-03-06T02:24:35.777

wow, that is ingeniously simple. why didn't I think of that. I've been having issues with DAW software glitching because other applications keep tweaking my soundcard's sample rate and whatnot, so I'll give this a shot and see if it helps me track down the offending program. – matt lohkamp – 2011-03-06T04:27:16.743

Yep, you were right - turns out both Steam and iTunes somehow kept getting priority over the device. Good call, patches. – matt lohkamp – 2011-03-06T22:44:40.690

Asked: 2011-03-06T01:05:36.463

Viewed: 23 343 times

Active: 2015-10-26T09:46:54.147