Unable to record "What U Hear" in Audition 3.0.1 on Windows 7 x64...

Report · Nov 13, 2009

I am trying to record sound that is playing on my system using Audition 3.0.1 on Windows 7 x64. I have Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card with latest driver 2.18.0011. In Audition, I have set audio hardware setup to "Audition 3.0 Windows Sound" and default input to "What U Hear"--which is proper setup to record sound playing on my system. But when I click the record button, I get an error message titled "Adobe Default Windows Sound Driver" error code FF9-5-0044 [8878000a] "device could not be opened". And then Audition only records silence. I've tried using the Sound Recorder program that comes with Windows 7 x64 and that records fine. But Audition won't record any sound. Any ideas? Can this be fixed?

Report · Nov 14, 2009

ghost zero wrote:
But when I click the record button, I get an error message titled "Adobe Default Windows Sound Driver" error code FF9-5-0044 [8878000a] "device could not be opened". And then Audition only records silence. I've tried using the Sound Recorder program that comes with Windows 7 x64 and that records fine. But Audition won't record any sound. Any ideas? Can this be fixed?

Unusual - but this is Windows 7, which wasn't around when AA3.0 was developed and technically isn't supported (although generally reports are good). You've done the basic check I would have suggested already (sound recorder), so this sounds very much like the Audition driver is not liking your sound device for some reason. But, if you've installed the correct driver for the card, you won't have been using the same one that sound recorder uses, so it doesn't actually prove very much, I'm afraid - Audition uses ASIO and sound recorder uses the internal WDM one. The one thing that might work if all else fails is the (free) ASIO4ALL driver - this is much more likely to have been updated for Windows 7 and also gives better error reporting. It carries out the same function as the Audition one (converts WDM to ASIO and vice versa), and generally works pretty well. Alternatively, if you think you are using ASIO then check to see if there's an updated driver from Creative - but if you are already using the latest one and it's not working, try ASIO4ALL as a stopgap and complain to Creative... (I hope all that makes sense!)

The other thing that's just occurred to me is that if the device can't be opened, something else has grabbed it. The obvious candidate is Windows Sounds - have you turned them off?

Report · Nov 14, 2009

in audition, i also have the option to select the Creative and Audigy ASIO drivers. but those dont allow me to option to use "What U Hear" option. therefore im stuck using "audition 3.0 windows sound".

also, i tried turning off Windows Sounds but that doesnt fix it.

any ideas?

Report · Nov 14, 2009

Have you tried Steve's suggestion of using ASIO4ALL? Or, maybe, selecting the Creative card in Windows as the default audio device and then selecting Audition Windows Sound as the recording device? You might have to set up the correct source in Windows.

Both these methods should force AA3 to use the older WDM driver rather than the Creative ASIO driver. I suspect the ASIO driver does not provide the "What U Hear" function.

We are all still in very early days with Win7, particularly the 64-bit version.

Report · Nov 14, 2009

if i used the ASIO4ALL driver, wouldn't i have to uninstall the official Creative driver for my sound card? also, there is no mention of support for windows 7 on the ASIO4ALL site. but my Creative driver does support windows 7.

i already have my sound card set as the default audio device...

Report · Nov 14, 2009

If that Creative sound card is similar to most others, the drivers will actually load an ASIO driver and some sort of non-ASIO driver. The second driver is what Windows natively uses, the first ASIO driver is not used natively by Windows, but is used by AA 3.01.

Asio4all and Audition Windows sound both take the non-ASIO section of driver and make it pretend to be an ASIO driver as far as Audition is concerned.

So, no, you don't have to remove any drivers, you just select a different driver in Audition.

What I am not certain about is precisely what non-ASIO drivers will actually be loaded with 64-bit Windows 7. I assume they will still be the basic old WDM drivers and not some other adaptation of the new Microsoft driver model.

Report · Nov 14, 2009

btw, in audition there is a check box to "release ASIO driver in background". any ideas what that does? i ive tried that option on/off but doesn't fix it.

Report · Nov 14, 2009

ghost zero wrote:
btw, in audition there is a check box to "release ASIO driver in background". any ideas what that does? i ive tried that option on/off but doesn't fix it.

It wouldn't - it does exactly what it suggests. If you click on that, all it means is that when you click on another panel in Windows (which puts Audition into background mode), you'll lose the ASIO driver. Most times this is more of a hindrance than a help.

As for Wild Duck's observation that ASIO doesn't support 'what you hear' - well, he's absolutely correct about that; ASIO effectively punches a hole through most of the top layers of the OS, so 'what you hear' wouldn't ever get a look-in.

I still think that ASIO4ALL is your best bet for a solution, quite frankly. It stands alone, you don't have to remove any other drivers, and obviously you get the choice of whether to use it or not.

Report · Nov 16, 2009

im a bit hesitant to install the ASIO4ALL driver since it does not mention any support for windows 7. and since its a driver, im afraid this might mess up my system somehow. what do you think?

Report · Nov 16, 2009

I've never seen it mess up a system yet. It's described as a driver, but really it's a driver interface, and as such it doesn't interfere with your system at all.

Report · Dec 06, 2009

looks like the ASIO4ALL driver just started on a 2.10 beta to fix windows 7 issues so i'm going to have to wait on ASIO4ALL. ive also reported this issue awhile ago to sound blaster drivers support and adobe support--although they haven't really responded to it.

any ideas on what else i can try to fix it?

btw: could this be a compatibility issue that is the fault of audition rather than windows 7 x64 or my sound driver?

Report · Dec 06, 2009

ghost zero wrote:
btw: could this be a compatibility issue that is the fault of audition rather than windows 7 x64 or my sound driver?

I can't say unequivocally that it isn't - Audition uses an ASIO interface, and whilst that's known to work fine with XP, it's also quite possible that it doesn't behave exactly the same with W7. You have to bear in mind that what ASIO does is to punch a large hole through the OS so that it can get directly at your sound device without being 'mediated' by the OS - well, as far as possible anyway; you have to reckon that the sound device is still 'seen' by the system, so it's not completely hands-off. But, as I've argued before, any OS that gets in the way of an already operating setup should be viewed as the offender, not the existing SW. This was exactly what I said about Vista, which most people now admit was demonstrably true - it sucks big time for audio.

But also, I'd have to say that not being able to record a 'what you hear' option doesn't actually have anything to do with the drivers as such, but is simply a routing issue within the OS. What I have no idea of though is how, if it has, this has changed in W7. So if you can't find an easy way to make it work then you'll have to wait for somebody who has to say how they did it, I'm afraid.

Report · Dec 12, 2009

does anyone else have Audition 3.0.1 on Windows 7 x64? if so, do you have this problem?

[BTW: This was not a problem for me on Windows XP until I upgraded to Windows 7.]

Report · Jan 09, 2010

anyone else have a similar problem? any news on any audition patches?

Report · Jan 10, 2010

There's never news on patches until they actually appear, I'm afraid. But quite frankly, I wouldn't hold your breath, especially as it's likely to be an OS issue rather than an Auditon one directly.

Report · Mar 08, 2010

still curious if anyone else has this problem or if there is a known solution for it yet...

Report · Mar 20, 2010

This is a late reply to your last post. If anyone with answers reads this, I would also appreciate help. I just purchased a Toshiba laptop with Win7. I can not record "what you hear" with a brand new version of Audition. I also can not record "what you hear" with the Microsoft Recorder. I can only record using microphone or other inputs connected to the computer. There is no dedicated sound card - just the build in sound card to the laptop. I have another computer running Vista and an old old version of CoolEdit 2000 and everything works fine on that computer and recorder/editor. I paid much dollars for the latest computer and latest recorder/editor and can't get it to work!! Microsoft will not help - they said to talk to Toshiba and Toshiba is of no help - they just want me to use microphones! Frustrating. Thanks for any help.

Report · Mar 20, 2010

I don't have Windows 7 here, so I can't comment personally, but I did find a part of a blog from Ron Day about this, in connection with both Audition and Soundbooth. Since it's not so easy to reference, I'll just reproduce the whole thing here - I'm sure Ron won't mind. This ought to be in the Knowlegebase, but the indexing of that appears to be a law unto itself, and I simply can't find it - well, not in the short time I looked before starting to lose the will to live, anyway. It may be of some help - but no guarantees:

Ron Day wrote:
We have been contacted by several users reporting that they have been unable to record properly into Audition or Soundbooth after switching to Windows 7. In every case thus far the cause has either been improper configuration in the Windows OS, incorrect input devices specified in Audition/Soundbooth, or making use of older sound card drivers or drivers not suitable for use in Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit). One reason for the confusion in Windows 7 is the fact that the operating system now gives you much more control over the inputs and outputs.
You must make sure that you have the correct device and input chosen in Windows 7 before any software application can record input.
Audition and Soundbooth must also be configured properly, but the operating system settings will always control the input (unless you are using a higher end sound card that has a control panel of its own).
Follow the steps below if you are having trouble recording in Audition or Soundbooth.
Configure Windows:
1. Start > Control Panel > Sound.
2. Click to the "Recording" tab.
3. Choose the input you want to use for recording and click the "Set Default" button.
4. You can also click the "Properties" button to configure your levels for the input.
5. Click OK to accept the changes.
Note: If you are using a higher-end sound card you may also need to adjust properties for the device through a separate control panel provided by the manufacturer of the sound card.
Configure Audition:
1. In Audition go to Edit > Audio Hardware Setup.
2. Choose the Edit View, Multitrack, or Surround Encoder Tab (for the view you want to record into).
3. Choose the "Audition 2.0 Windows Sound" or "Audition 3.0 Windows Sound" Driver.
4. Click the "Control Panel" button.
5. Check the boxes for any inputs you want to use in Audition and click OK to accept the changes.
6. Make sure the "Default Input" drop-down is set to the input you want to record from (must match what is set within Windows).
Note: If you are attempting to record audio playing through your speakers (like streaming web audio) your default input should be set to "Stereo Mix, "What U Hear", "Wave Input" or the correct input for your specific device.
7. Click OK in the Audio Hardware Setup dialog and start recording into Audition.
Configure Audition using ASIO drivers:
1. In Audition go to Edit > Audio Hardware Setup.
2. Choose the Edit View, Multitrack, or Surround Encoder Tab (for the view you want to record into).
3. Choose the appropriate ASIO driver.
4. Make sure the "Default Input" drop-down is set to the input you want to record from (must match what is set within Windows).
5. Click OK in the Audio Hardware Setup dialog and start recording into Audition.
Configure Soundbooth:
1. In Soundbooth go to Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware.
2. Choose the "Soundbooth 2.0 WDM Sound" Driver.
3. Click the "Settings" button.
4. On the "Input" tab, check the boxes for any inputs you want to use in Soundbooth and click OK to accept the changes.
5. When you hit the "Record" button in Soundbooth, make sure you have the correct device selected along with the correct port you have audio coming in through.
Note: If you are attempting to record audio playing through your speakers (like streaming web audio) your default input should be set to "Stereo Mix, "What U Hear", "Wave Input" or the correct input for your specific device.
Configure Soundbooth using ASIO drivers:
1. In Soundbooth go to Edit > Preferences > Audio Hardware.
2. Choose the appropriate ASIO driver.
3. When you hit the "Record" button in Soundbooth, make sure you have the correct device selected along with the correct port you have audio coming in through.
Still having trouble?
1. In Windows go to the Start button and type "sound recorder" into the search field.
2. Start recording in Sound Recorder (you will not see the input while recording).
3. Stop recording and play to see if you can hear what you recorded.
If recording in Sound Recorder does not work, this tells you that something is incorrectly set within Windows or the sound card driver is not working correctly. At this point, make sure your Windows sound settings are correct. If all Windows settings are correct and you are still unable to record, you should download and install the latest Windows 7 drivers for your sound device (We have seen many cases where manufacturers do not yet have Windows 7 drivers available). If you already have the latest drivers installed you should contact the manufacturer of your particular sound device and alert them of the issue.
Ron Day
Quality Engineering Lead

Report · Mar 20, 2010

i have checked all the above and i still have the same problem. i'm still using the latest sound driver available for win7. sound recorder still works. just not audition 3...

Report · Mar 21, 2010

Ghost, I dont use Win 7, so this may be completely wrong, but in Vista I found it was necessary to enable "stereo mix" in the OS's audio system, make it the default, and then check that the small meter in the OS's Recording sound control panel indicated that audio was there. Sometimes, for no reason I could determine, it wasn't. This occurred an some laptops and not others and seemed random.

Switching from one source to another and back again in the OS's panel (sometimes a couple of times) seemed to usually activate the meters. After that recording in Audition was always possible.

If Win7 still has these meters, this might be something worth checking. I'd be interested to know if this might still apply in Win7.

Report · Mar 21, 2010

i dont see any "stereo mix" in win7 sound settings...

Report · Mar 21, 2010

Sorry, I forgot you were using a Soundblaster. For Stereo Mix, read "What U Hear". What I said will only apply if the native Windows level and record selection app is not over-ridden by some Soundblaster app. I'm only guessing anyway, so I'd better keep quiet.

Report · Apr 05, 2010

Question for GhostZero: It is intesting that you say your MS Sound Recorder works, but Audition does not. Does the Sound Recorder record "what you hear" - say a video clip playing? With my machine neither one records from a video clip, so I've been blaming the computer/sound card drivers, not Audition.

Report · Apr 05, 2010

I also have no means of recording 'what i hear' on my Qosmio Toshiba laptop. On Audition 3.0, the internal soundcard does not even show up in the list of input devices, only the built in microphone, and a USB mic I have plugged in. I had this problem on my older Vista laptop, and one day it solved itself when I plugged in a headphone to my speaker output. With the speaker plugged in it worked fine, but with it unplugged it didn't. Go figure!

I will try it on my Qosmio and report back.

Report · Apr 05, 2010

Question for GhostZero: It is intesting that you say your MS Sound Recorder works, but Audition does not. Does the Sound Recorder record "what you hear" - say a video clip playing? With my machine neither one records from a video clip, so I've been blaming the computer/sound card drivers, not Audition.

that might just be a problem with copy protected video?