If you ever find a solution to this, please let me know.

Me too – I have SPDIF for my home theatre but i want system sounds to play through my stereo computer speakers. I want this to be automatic – like some global ‘program control’ so I can specify where audio from each app should be sent.

Let me know if you find anything.

I’ve got same problem with you guys

Same here; if you find out how to fix this, please post it. This is crazy. MS should have some sort of global mixer to allow multiple device stream playback.

I’m in the same boat. I’ve been checking for answers for 2 weeks to no avail. If I find a cure, I will gladly come back and share.

Same problem here, please post a fix if you find one

Yep same issue here! I want sound on my Spdif, computer speakers and headphones at the SAME TIME. WTF was M$ thinking this time!?!?!?!

same problem >.

Ditto here, this totally sucks.

Still looking for a solution…

Regards,

Vigoras

I am starting to regret to having switched to Vista because its so impossible to do a lot in the media section. I have upgraded and now I dont have sound because its telling me that I have not installed Audio Device….I have broused the net the whole day and read just about anything in that regard and am still stuck with sound.
If anyone is so brilliant with this nonsense in Vista please come to my rescue..they should have just let us remain in XP atleast we were able to do whatever we wanted. In my opinion Vista is not ready for use at the moment…it has even slowed down my PC

i just talked to a hp tech sup. and after bout half an hour she told me it is the way Vista is designed. i use nice pc speakers and the SPDIF for my surround sound. she said since it how they designed it there is no way to fix this problem. i like vista my games run better and media center looks better. if u want to be able to use both a certain times try dual boot if u still have ur xp. its a pain but hey i use both xp and vista for their strongpoint . which means i dont use vista much (hahaha).

There’s got to be a software fix. I can run one program and get a sound from my speakers. I can then change the default device and open another program and get 2 different sounds from 2 devices simultaneously. So this can’t be a hardware issue. It would seem easier to get the same sound from 2 devices. Please let me know if you come up with something.
Thanks, Nathan

I believe you are so right Nathan Johnson! It cant be a hardware problem since it worked for me ind xp. There must be a software fix or someone shuld make it!

It is up to each application to determine which audio device to use. Most applications use The default device, but some, better applications such as for example Skype you can select your device manually and make the sound go to which ever set of speakers or headset you want no matter which is the default. Works the same in both Vista and XP.

Hey guys,

If there is no way to get around it. Then what if someone made a sidebar gadget that

displayed your audio devices so that switching from one to the other wouldn’t be so

monotonous?

Hey guys,

If there is no way to get around it. Then what if someone made a sidebar gadget that

displayed your audio devices so that switching from one to the other wouldn’t be so

monotonous?

@campo:
Thats the next big problem on vista, the new sound core API of vista does not have any public API to change the default sound device of windows by code. So its impossible to build a tool or gadget like this.

@campo:
Thats the next big problem on vista, the new sound core API of vista does not have any public API to change the default sound device of windows by code. So its impossible to build a tool or gadget like this.

I should have never switched to Vista. I hate Microsoft!!!

@Tomten: if that is the case, then tell me why when I boot to XP I get sound from both the front and rear panel at the same time, but under Vista it only comes out of the “Default” device (usually rear panel)?

I posed this question to person in the know as it would seem something that shouldn’t be so difficult with the new audio stack, with any luck he’ll come and reply here. I wouldn’t be expecting a fix before Vista SP2 though as the SP1 is almost in beta.

Possible Solution:
I have some usb speakers and found out when I unplug them the regular speakers work again (set as default) when I plug the usb back in they also work. I was using windows media player and that continued throught the headphone jack while new applications used the usb.

Possible Solution:
I have some usb speakers and found out when I unplug them the regular speakers work again (set as default) when I plug the usb back in they also work. I was using windows media player and that continued throught the headphone jack while new applications used the usb.

I had burn all my salary to buy a retail copy of Vista Ultimate Retail and now it do less than XP… M$ where’s the solution?!?!?, if there’s…

MS screwed Vista’s audio architecture up completely. It’s a violation of the Vista logo program for an audio device mfg to enable multiple simultaneous audio outs (athough it is perfectly doable). Go figure.

I think MS has finally fixed this. After installing the new hotfix collections (http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyId=11&articleId=9029618&intsrc=hm_topic)
I’m getting simultaneous output from both SPDIF and my computer speakers. My computer speakers are set to Default and I’m using a bluegears b-Enspirer sound card.
I don’t see any mention of the change in the list of hotfix changes though.

I had install the patch Windows6.0-KB938194-x86.msu but I still have same issue.

Installed both patches, and it’s still one device or the other.

Yeah, the patches didn’t solve the issue for me either. Bummer!

VAIO RC-210G

I Installed a different set drivers sound drivers from http://www.analog.com/en/subCat/0,2879,765%255F803%255F0%255F%255F0%255F,00.html
which fixed this problem for me

opps sorry wrong link http://www.analog.com/Analog_Root/static/technology/audioVideo/soundMAXtechSupport.html

That page goes to the single manufater support pages, to dowload updated drivers, but here many users have same problem with different hardware, this solution doesn’t solve the issue to all. Thanks anyway but this not help me.

I got speakers which themselves have jacks for headphone..so when I plug in my microphone, speakers are automatically muted. But then I can’t keep my microphone attached all the time which is another PITA.

I have both patches already installed. I still only get sound out of one device…worse, vista won’t automatically switch between devices. If I unplug my headphones, I have to go back to the playback window and disable the device before it will switch to my speakers. the “test” will always send sound to the speakers, but directsound won’t switch the playback device…

I’m also having problems getting my mic to work. It will work, then stop…requiring a reboot to work again.

Unfortunately, vista sucks…

I found a workaround. Say you want to hear sound through the spdif interface. Switch the default playback device to spdif. Then launch the application. Then switch the default playback to speakers. The application seems to stick with what was defaulted at the time of launch. Right now I am listen to music on my stereo via spdif and still have sound coming out of the desktop computer speakers. Didn’t think it could be done, but apparently the programs “stick” with the default device present during launch.

Not a perfect solution, but a workaround of sorts.

Actually that feature of programs sticking to the device which was default when it opened is horrible. When i move my music or lecture from my office to my kitchen, i have to stop the file, and reset it to where it was… of course in XP i had no problem.
is there a way to get rid of this “stickiness”?

Tnx Jiten rama!

Your success story solved my problem.

went to asus, downloaded audio drivers for my motherboard, and voila!

what was once headphone and speakers, now became one device with the proper driver installed – and not default vista drivers.

I can still change volume seperately.

Tnx Jiten rama!

Your success story solved my problem.

went to asus, downloaded audio drivers for my motherboard, and voila!

what was once headphone and speakers, now became one device with the proper driver installed – and not default vista drivers.

I can still change volume seperately.

i am wondering how do you discover what type of motherboard you have so that you can get new audio drivers….I am having sound problems like all of you talked about in vista also

I’m having the problem of using my bluetooth headphones. I start a program playing sound then I grab my headphones, turn them on and then I can’t transfer that sound that is coming out of my laptop speakers to the headphones. I can’t figure out how to do so without shutting down the program and starting over. Any ideas anyone?

Just installed Vista SP1 and they fixed the problem

SP1 hasn’t fixed the problem for me. Anything you could have done bigdave? Other type of updates?

nope just kept my pc up-to-date with reccomended updates

Well I’m in the same boat… I want to play my Call of Duty 4 through my monitor’s built-in speakers, my SPDIF surround sound, my front and rear audio jacks, and to top it all off I want to play it through my headphones as well. I know its asking allot but I would also like to be able to input through three different microphones. I believe if Microsoft would stop over thinking everything and over complicating everything that they could make a descent OS. In my personal opinion it would make allot more since if it just assumed that if you took the time to plug the speakers in that you would like there to be sound coming through them. Not to mention that there would be a hell of allot less coding to do… I think that the software developers the hire just do things like that so…

A. They get paid more because it takes it longer for them to finish &
B. They get paid more because they have to fix it when people start to complain.

ok thats just my 2 cent.

I kindof like that you can choose where to send your audio. Sometimes I want to hear a game through headphones while playing a movie/show to my TV with that sound going to some speakers. Then other people can watch the show without hearing the game, and vice versa. I would find it annoying if all audio went to every device and I had no way to control it.

I would, however, like the option of sending audio from each app to an arbitrary number of devices. By default I think it should go to all of them. I think the average user would just want to plug a device in and get their sound out, and doesn’t want to (know how to) muck around with settings and drivers.

http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.html

This is viable and I have tested, with HDMI through my ATI 2400 XT, as well as the SPDIF out on my motherboard, but I’m only able to get 2 Channel Stereo to work so far. I’ve emailed the author to see if I’m missing something in the setup.

This is the best solution I’ve seen so far in terms of splitting the Audio signal accross multiple physical audio devices in Vista.

We shouldn’t have to find/buy a 3rd party solution for this, but if you really need something, it appears to be a working solution. Especially if I can get 5.1 passthrough to work.

Mark

http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.html

This is viable and I have tested, with HDMI through my ATI 2400 XT, as well as the SPDIF out on my motherboard, but I’m only able to get 2 Channel Stereo to work so far. I’ve emailed the author to see if I’m missing something in the setup.

This is the best solution I’ve seen so far in terms of splitting the Audio signal accross multiple physical audio devices in Vista.

We shouldn’t have to find/buy a 3rd party solution for this, but if you really need something, it appears to be a working solution. Especially if I can get 5.1 passthrough to work.

Mark

I’ve downlaod VAC, can you explain simply the trick you used to make the output from both spdif and hearphones?

Thanks

Hi, i have also managed to get it to work using vac, as well as written a simple program to automatically configure everything each time I start my computer. It does create a slight delay, but its hardly noticeable, and the size of it can be changed in the settings. If you cant get it to work, or need help, email me at day1118@gmail.com and i will explain how i got it to work!

Is the delay significant enough where it’d look odd when watching video? I have a bluetooth headset that was really bad.