Sound Settings or Drivers Messed Up - Can't record...

Hi everyone



I’m having my first real sound issue, and am not very technical to be able to sort it out. I’m just starting to work with music on my PC, and have been trying out a couple of the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) packages for this. I've been trying a DAW called Cakewalk for a week or so, and a couple of days ago downloaded another, Cubase Pro 13 to try/learn.



At first, it seemed to work fine (even though I could do almost nothing on it yet), and I was trying to follow tutorials to learn it, but found that whenever I had Cubase open, I couldn't get any sound out of Youtube. ChatGPT "helpfully" advised me to go into my PC sound settings and prevent applications from taking exclusive control of my sound. That's when the problem started - I couldn't get any sound at all out of Cubase (or Cakewalk) after that, though other PC sound was fine and the indicators within these programs showed that there was a signal being generated. Switching the PC sound settings back to where they were didn't work, even after several restarts.



Someone advised me to download and install ASIO4ALL drivers and try that. That helped a little. I switched the DAW settings to this new driver, and now I can get sound out of the DAWs (though with Cubase, I often need to fiddle around a lot in audio settings to get even that), but I still can’t record anything. It look like it's recording and it does show a signal, but when I stop the recording, there's nothing there.



And if I switch back to the General Low Latency drivers (the default driver setting in Cubase), there is again no sound at all.



I’ve been playing around in the audio settings of the DAWs, but nothing seems to help and it’s really frustrating me.



Does this make any sense to anyone? Does the story above give any clue as to what the issue might be.


Windows 11 Version 23H2 (OS Build 22631 3737)

Hi guy500 and welcome to the Eleven Forums.

I am familiar with Cakewalk but don't know a thing about Cubase. I will try to help nonetheless. First, what driver mode are you in? You should use ASIO. Forget about ASIO4All and delete it from your PC. Also, what kind of interface, if any, are you using? If you are relying on your internal sound card, such as Realtek, then you will have problems. There are many possibilities here. What buffer settings are you using? Try to give me as much info as you can.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Hi Tecknot. Thanks for this. I was using the General Low Latency Driver that was the default in Cubase, but installed ASIO4ALL when it didn't work with other audio on the PC. That just made the problem worse and the default driver doesn't work anymore at all.

I have only one sound card (an old Soundblaster Live External), but I really don't understand anything about how sound works on a PC. If I get another sound card will this somehow solve the problem? i thought I was solving in by downloading ASIO4ALL. But now that that's installed, I can't get any sound using the General Low Latency one that worked before.... I haven't changed the buffer settings.

It was originally working as expected, but when I changed the sound setting is when it all started to go wrong - even after I'd changed it back....

Hi guy500,

Do you have any other driver options like WDM or WASAPI? I would try WASAPI first (if available). Check you audio buffer settings. Set it to 500KB. Also check your Sample Rate and Bit Depth. They should work at 44100 and 16, respectively, but your sound card may only work at 48000 sample rate. Unfortunately, I don't have Cubase so I can't show any screenshots.

Kind regards,

tecknot

I use a program called Total Recorder. I have it set to the choice to record any audio being heard in the speakers or headset. I've recorded a number of YouTube offerings using it. If there is extraneous sound at the beginning or end of the recording it can be clipped. It's not hard to use, cllick the Record button then click the Source Play button. Only downside is it will also record/include any of the Windows dongs or beeps and other sounds that occur during the recording.

tecknot said:

Hi guy500,

Do you have any other driver options like WDM or WASAPI? I would try WASAPI first (if available). Check you audio buffer settings. Set it to 500KB. Also check your Sample Rate and Bit Depth. They should work at 44100 and 16, respectively, but your sound card may only work at 48000 sample rate. Unfortunately, I don't have Cubase so I can't show any screenshots.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Click to expand...

Hi Tecknot - the only ones that show in Cubase are the General Low Latency (which doesn't work) and the ASIO4ALL. It was suggested to me that I try a different MIDI keyboard, which I did and which seems to have re-enabled the record function. However, I'm still at a loss as to why the Low Latency driver, which did work fine, has now completely stopped producing any sound.

Hi guy500

A couple of things... Is your output pointing to the Main output in your track(s)? Also, check you that your format matches that of your sound card under Control Panel (see steps below):



Kind regards,

tecknot

Thanks Tecknot. I'm not entirely sure what those things all mean, but I've taken the snapshots from the Output and Recording default settings. I've also noticed there's another recording device (WAV) which might be more suitable to set to default??? But I haven't made any changes as yet. I see that the bit rates are different for the Recording and Sound devices. Which should I change?

(also, I've now been locked out of Cakewalk too. I tried using different drivers from the list they had available, but with one of them, this box popped up. Now, whenever I try to open Cakewalk, this box pops up and stops Cakewalk from opening.....)

Good morning guy500,

All of your devices should match. But what's more important, they should match with your sound card's settings. Can you post a screenshot of your sound card's setting (your sound card should have its own software)?

How are you locked out of Cakewalk? Is it a matter of authorization? The Wave Profiler (the box that pops up) is a regular part of Cakewalk's operation. However, it shouldn't pop up every time you start Cakewalk. Do you have WASAPI as a driver option? Try that if you do. You may get the Wave Profiler again, but that's standard.

Hope the above makes sense and is helpful.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Sorry - where would I find my sound card's settings? it does have its own software as I installed it recently, but I have no idea where to find the settings if they're not in the box I've already been looking at.

re. Cakewalk, there was a WASAPI driver selected, but I was seeing what happened if I tried otehr drivers. There was one on the bottom of the list and when I chose it, that box popped up and Cakewalk closed. After that, every time I try to open Cakewalk, I get that box again along with the black Cakewalk startup window, but it never goes any farther than that. They both disappear then....

Hi guy500,

I went to the Creative (maker of your sound card) and I found out that it is at least 24 bit. You are right, there is no software for it. I could only guess that the Sample rate is 48000. Can you provide your computer's specifications?

Kind regards,

tecknot

Hi guy500,

Further to my above message, there is one more thing I would like you to try. Go to C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core from the File Explorer. In that folder delete file "AUD.ini". Don't worry, Cakewalk will recreate the file when you do another Wave Profiler scan.

I still would like your response to the above message.

Kind regards,

tecknot

Is this what you mean? It doesn't seem to give any info about sound. Below is the list of PC specs that I got when I bought it, but that also doesn't seem to mention sound, strangely....

Main remaining issues are - Cakewalk doesn't open anymore; Cubase doesn't recognise it's default Generic Low Latency Driver anymore (no sound when it is selected rather than ASIO4ALL), and computer sound seems to have gone a lot more tinny since I started on this journey a few days ago....

Cool. You have excellent specs. There would be no sound specs listed. I just wanted to know you CPU and amount of RAM. So your problem has nothing to do with hardware, except maybe your sound card. I would suggest a Pro level sound card the likes from Focusrite, Presonus and the like. You can get one for just under $100 (USD). I held back from mentioning this because I wanted to work with what you got and not incur additional costs to solve your problem.

Did you try to delete the AUD.ini file for Cakewalk? (Make sure Cakewalk isn't running when you delete the file.)

Kind regards,

tecknot

Thank you. Would this be a good interface? Since starting messing around with settings, my computer's sound has gone all tinny and there are fewer drivers showing as available in Cubase and the main one they have (General Low Latency) doesn't give any sound any more. Do you think a sound card like this will resolve all of these issues?

In reference to Cakewalk, I have searched for this file but I don't find it. in the CakeWalk folder in Program Files, I see only a Theme Editor folder. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place...?

guy500 said:

Thank you. Would this be a good interface? Since starting messing around with settings, my computer's sound has gone all tinny and there are fewer drivers showing as available in Cubase and the main one they have (General Low Latency) doesn't give any sound any more. Do you think a sound card like this will resolve all of these issues?

In reference to Cakewalk, I have searched for this file but I don't find it. in the CakeWalk folder in Program Files, I see only a Theme Editor folder. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong place...?

Click to expand...

Hi guy500,

I am most certain you would get better results using any of those interfaces. As for Cakewalk, start in the USER directory then in the USER NAME (name of the user) folder and in that pick the Appdata, then Roaming folder, then to the Cakewalk folder and finally in the Cakewalk Core folder. The AUD.ini folder should be close to the top if not on the top.

copy this path: C:\Users\YOUR USER NAME\AppData\Roaming\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core (replacing the "YOUR USER NAME" with the name of the User) into File Explorer.

Kind regards,

tecknot

OK, cool, thank you. I'll get that soudn card and see what happens....

I've found the AUD file (you're pretty hot at understanding how the computer works!!!) and deleted it, but the issue persists....

Hi guy500,

I really am not an expert in computers, but there are a few on the Cakewalk forums who can help you too. I would suggest you give it a try.

This is probably be my last message for a while since I will be on the road for a while. I do hope you get your situation resolved and that you enjoy your new interface.

Take care,

tecknot