Windows 7 Stereo Mixer - don't give up hope

[richxl7]

The secret of bringing up Stereo Mixer in Windows 7 64 bit.

My system: EVGA 750i FTW motherboard

Recent Realtek driver, I think it is "Vista_Win7_R258_x86.exe" (do a web search)

To enable Stereo Mix:

1. Open control panel.

2. Choose Hardware and Sound

3. Click Sound/Manage Audio Devices

4. Click Playback

5. Right Click Speakers

6 Click "Show disabled devices"

7. Click the Recording tab

8. If you have been successful you will se a "Stereo Mix" printed circuit board icon.

9. Right click the icon and choose "enable."

10. When using Goldwave (www.goldwave.com), I then go to the Control window, click on the check mark, click on Record, and then place a check mark in the Monitor Input box, click okay, and I'm there!

GOOD LUCK ! Please note that the above procedure has NOT worked on my Sony VAIO laptop -- although I could fool around with various Realtek sound drivers, I suppose. Rats.

[DewDude420]

This has been reported on this forum SEVERAL times. Everyone thinks they found the solution.

Truth is...MOST sound card drivers have stereo-mix disabled at pressure from record companies...it's even possible the option exists in drivers but is blocked in Windows 7 entirely. Mine worked ONCE, it hasn't since.

Fact is....we've lost Stereo Mix in Windows 7 and we'll probably never get that feature back.

[mathyou9]

Truth is...MOST sound card drivers have stereo-mix disabled at pressure from record companies...it's even possible the option exists in drivers but is blocked in Windows 7 entirely.

(emphasis mine)

Exactly. It just depends on the soundcard and drivers. I upgraded to Windows 7 and upgraded my soundcard at the same time (I went from onboard Realtek to M-Audio 5.1 Revolution.) When I no longer saw "stereo mix," I assumed it was entirely a Windows 7 thing. So I installed the drivers for the onboard Realtek sound card and there, to my surprise, was "stereo mix."

It seems that, in the case of the OP and myself, Realtek is the common denominator. Other than for "stereo mix," I don't use my Realtek sound card for anything. In that aspect, it's nice to have (and being onboard, it's not wasting a card slot either. win-win [for me, at least] )

[DewDude420]

Well....it's not just Realtek shutting it down. The lastest Creative drivers for X-Fi disable that too. Many of the most recent updates by most manufacturers have disabled that output.

I can't remember if my Stereo Mix ever worked or not. If I change the drivers from the default Asus supplied ones....most of my sound quits working because some of the Creative Software only responds to Asus signed drivers...and without the creative software...well let''s just say that's the one thing that keeps the sound in this laptop acceptable.

[beorn]

richxl7, you rock. I just created a forum account for the sole purpose of telling you how much you rock. Before reading your post, I couldn't get GW to record anything from my soundcard / speakers. Thanks amigo!

[Klear]

I get this message when I try to set the recorder to record the sound coming from the speakers. What does this error message mean? I am on version 2.0

[chuck patterson]

THANK YOU!!!!!! I have been drinking coffee like a madman trying to figue it out and this did it!

[RiscTeX]

Truth is...MOST sound card drivers have stereo-mix disabled at pressure from record companies...it's even possible the option exists in drivers but is blocked in Windows 7 entirely. Mine worked ONCE, it hasn't since.

Fact is....we've lost Stereo Mix in Windows 7 and we'll probably never get that feature back.

I can report that Stereo-mix is alive and easily accessible under Windoze 7 64-bit using the Asus D2X soundcard...