How do I record sounds directly from my sound card?

I want to record a sound that comes from a program in my computer, directly from my sound card, not using a crappy microphone to record it!

I was able to do this easily on Windows XP by choosing "what u hear" (yes, it really had "u" in it!) device from the recording options.

But on Windows 7 there is no such option anywhere, and generally I don't understand the Windows 7 sound options at all.

NOTE: This must be Windows 7 sound settings specific. I want to fool the computer to think that my computer audio is the microphone audio, so if I "speak" on Skype, they would hear any song I play on my computer. Do not suggest Skype-specific programs either. I want this thing to work in EVERY program on my computer, just like it did on Windows XP.

I finally found the working driver: SB24_VTDRV_LB_1_04_0065A.exe

winuser

Posted 2011-04-22T11:28:33.573

Reputation: 405

What sound card do you have? Under control panel, hardware and sound, select the Sound heading.. then in the subsequent window select the recording tab, do you have an item in the recording list called "Wave"? Try setting this to the default recording device, I think this should be equivalent to the XP "What u hear" option. – Jay_Booney – 2011-04-22T11:52:08.157

i cant see "wave" there, these are what i got in there: Microphone - High Definition Audio Device (no connection), Line In - High Definition Audio Device (no connection), Microphone - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), Line-In - SB Live! 24bit (default sound device), Auxiliary - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), S/PDIF-In - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), Microphone - USB Audio Device (ready). Sorry for translations my windows is not in english. – winuser – 2011-04-22T12:16:02.300

Answers

In my Windows 7, there is a "Stereo Mix" in recording devices. Just choose that as default recording device and/or "default communicating device"(I don't know the exact name; it's in the context menu). Then any program which uses this device will catch what you can hear through the speakers.

In Windows XP it should be the same name. However, it depends on your sound driver, as I haven't see any devices named "what u hear"... Just try to play a music and watch the levels of input of all available recording devices.

Sorry the text above is not well organized... but hope it can help you.

EDIT:

I just saw your last comment... Does Creative have a new driver for your SB Live! 24bit? It seems that your current driver don't have this function.

Mr.X

Posted 2011-04-22T11:28:33.573

Reputation: 98

i cant find stereo mix. these are what i got in there: Microphone - High Definition Audio Device (no connection), Line In - High Definition Audio Device (no connection), Microphone - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), Line-In - SB Live! 24bit (default sound device), Auxiliary - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), S/PDIF-In - SB Live! 24bit (cannot be used at this moment), Microphone - USB Audio Device (ready). Sorry for translations my windows is not in english. – winuser – 2011-04-22T12:18:26.993

the only thing that makes the volume bar change in the sound settings is "speakers" and i tried to select the default sound listening device in the recording options to speakers, but when i record sound, it wont record my speakers... – winuser – 2011-04-22T12:21:36.373

you should watch the devices on "Recording" tab... – Mr.X – 2011-04-22T12:25:03.850

Play some music whilst you are in the Recording tab of the sounds. Does anything show the "volume" bar moving in there? – Jay_Booney – 2011-04-22T12:29:31.493

the devices on recording tab doesnt make volume bar change at all. only thing that moves is the "speakers" item in the playing devices. – winuser – 2011-04-22T12:52:19.033

AFAIK i installed my sound drivers from the same CD as on winXP... – winuser – 2011-04-22T12:54:39.030

Try to get a newer driver from Creative?

for example, this?

– Mr.X – 2011-04-22T23:19:56.260

@Mr.X, dont think that would help since i didnt need newer drivers on XP. – winuser – 2011-04-24T20:07:14.080

It seems that "SB24_VTDRV_LB_1_04_0065A.exe" will do that trick. It's for Vista but give it a try.

– Mr.X – 2011-04-25T04:31:14.653

From Creative: Here

If the driver refuses to install try installing it in Device Manager.

– Mr.X – 2011-04-25T05:16:16.107

your links doesnt work because creative refuses to redirect me to the correct webpage. i cant even find those filenames from the search nor the google. – winuser – 2011-05-03T11:17:31.683

however, i installed the newest drivers as you recommended: "SB24_PCDRV_LB_1_04_0090.exe" but i still dont see "what u hear" in recording options. also the setup said to me that i already have newer drivers... but i installed anyways, dunno if it actually installed it at all then. – winuser – 2011-05-03T11:23:17.733

okay i managed to find the file "SB24_VTDRV_LB_1_04_0065A.exe" and it worked on win7! [link]http://support.creative.com/downloads/download.aspx?nDownloadId=10005 i wonder why nobody pasted the actualy download link here...

– winuser – 2011-05-03T11:33:46.927

Try this: go into your audio properties, choose the recording tab, then right-click in the white space within the box which show recording devices. From the context menu which appears, select show disabled devices hopefully, stereo mix will appear.

horatio

Posted 2011-04-22T11:28:33.573

Reputation: 3 345

already tried that, no stereo mix device there – winuser – 2011-04-22T15:40:02.633

The devices available for recording depend entirely on the soundcard and its drivers. The list of devices and their names varies enormously. On an older XP PC I could record from "wave-out mix" but on a later PC there was no device available.

On one PC, I had to upgrade from Roxio EMC 10 to Roxio 2011 to gain the ability to record music playing on a media player. This added "Speaker" and "line-out" devices to the list of available inputs for recording.

An easy hack is to connect your line-out to line-in and make sure to mute line-in on the speaker control to avoid a feedback loop. I have done this via an external (old-school) audio-mixer but in principle, you can just do it with a stereo cable with 3.5mm plugs. Record from line-in.

RedGrittyBrick

Posted 2011-04-22T11:28:33.573

Reputation: 70 632

Go to Control Panel → Hardware and Sounds → "Manage audio devices"
Go to the Recording tab and choose "Stereo mix"

april

Posted 2011-04-22T11:28:33.573

Reputation: 1