Enabling Stereo-Mix recording on SoundMAX audio

GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
edited March 2011 in Hardware
Took me awhile to Google this up, so I thought I'd post it here for posterity.

It looks like most AD/SoundMAX chips support Stereo Mix, but Asus doesn't enable Stereo Mix in their drivers. Turns out all you have to do is change a value in the INF file to re-enable it. While this problem (and its solution) have been around for years, people are still posting all over the place asking about it.

Matthais Gall figured this out in 2007, but referred to a specific driver package under Windows XP. I just wanted to share a generic version of the trick he posted that still works with other SoundMAX chips, newer drivers, and newer versions of Windows.

  1. Figure out what version of SoundMAX (also Analog Devices) chip your motherboard is using. I found out my Asus P5K-E uses the AD1988B by checking Asus's specification page for the board.
  2. Download the latest drivers from your motherboard manufacturer and expand them from whatever compressed file they come in.
  3. You should have a directory structure that organizes the drivers by version of Windows. Open the folder for your version. In my case, I navigated to Driver\Win7\amd64\Vista.
    • Note that Vista is the latest version of Windows in my driver package, but works just fine for Windows 7.
    • 32-bit versions of Windows will use the i386 folder instead of amd64.
  4. Open the ADIHdAud.inf file in a text editor.
  5. Search for lines that contain the words <code>Disable Stereo Mix</code>. It may appear multiple times, each time for a different version of the SoundMAX chip. The first part of the line will contain the chip version. For example:
    • HKR,AD1988\\Disable, "OutR", 1, 01 ; Disable Stereo Mix Capture Node
  6. Find the line that begins with your chip and contains "Disable Stereo Mix", then change the 01 to 00.
  7. Save the file.
  8. Run the driver setup program. While there will be a generic setup program that works for all versions of Windows, I opted to run the one in the Win7 folder.
  9. Restart your computer.
  10. Stereo-mix starts as disabled, or at least it does in Vista and Win7. You'll need to open the Sound control panel, recording tab.
  11. Right-click, and tell it to Show Disabled Devices.
  12. Stereo Mix should show up, now. Select it, right-click it, and click Enable.
Boom. Stereo mix shows up in programs like Audacity.

Comments

  • tom70508tom70508
    edited March 2011
    I'm a fairly new user. Could you help me with step #8 in the "Enabling Stereo-Mix recording on SoundMAX audio" tutorial. My attempts just end with that the driver is
    the latest and working OK, I must be in the wrong place. One more attempt - then I will have to get the i-Sound recorder from Abyssmedia.
    Thanks / Tom
  • TushonTushon I'm scared, Coach Alexandria, VA Icrontian
    edited March 2011
    From the instructions, it seems you should have a folder open that has a setup.exe in it. Run that.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited March 2011
    I'm not sure what you've been trying in Step 8. Could you clarify?

    Tushon's right - all you need to do at that point is navigate to the correct folder for your operating system and run the setup executable.
  • tom70508tom70508
    edited March 2011
    win7 64
    after changing the "HKR,AD1984A\\Disable, OutR, 1, 01 ; Disable Stereo Mix" value, I saved it, no other folder open. The SoundMax in the system tray now has a red circle with a line thru it. As I said I'm a novice so I won't bother you guys further, I'll just use the recorder from Abyssmedia, no mixer necessary.
  • tom70508tom70508
    edited March 2011
    Well now, after I pulled my hair out and gave up, the mixer is there. Thank you. / Tom
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