No Stereo Mixer

I wanted to blog this issue I had a few days ago before I forgot.


I needed to figure out how to record some audio clips from youtube using the same PC.  We have 3 popular options:

1. Male to Male headphone cable

Plug 1 end to of the cable to the 'audio out' and the other end to 'line-in' on your soundcard.  Adjust volume as necessary.

2. Enabling Stereo Mix option (Windows 7 users)

By enabling the hidden Stereo Mix option under Recording Devices, it should allow you to record any playback on your computer.  For a step by step guide, check How To Geek's guide: How To Enable “Stereo Mix” in Windows 7 (to Record Audio)

3. Using 3rd party apps

There are a few 3rd party apps specifically made for recording audio that comes out of your PC, some better than others, such as AV-Replay and Freecorder.  Personally I'm cautious of installing these types of apps, so read reviews before downloading.

You can find a comprehensive list from the stream-recorder.com forums

Problem:
I opted for choice #2 as I didn't have a free male to male cable and didn't want to install any 3rd party apps.  The issue I had is after selecting 'show disabled devices' the stereo mix icon was still not there.


Solution
Reinstall your soundcard drivers via your manufacturer website.  When I originally installed Win7 I opted to use the soundcard drivers the windows update service provided to me and it seemed to work well.  Little did I know, the updates are known to remove the stereo-mix option and it has been suggested Microsoft purposely does this because of Microsoft’s DRM (Digital Rights Management).

In any case, once after I reinstalled my drivers from my manufacturer (onboard soundcard from MSI aka RealTek) and a reboot, the Stereo-Mix option is now viewable and ready to use.


Happy Tech-ing!