Set your DSP application's destination(s) to be the sound card's analogue outputs (or SPDIF). Set your DSP application's source to be the same sound card's input, and select whichever input you want ('Wave', SPDIF etc.) if you have the choice, or the simply the sound card's mixer as the source. From now on, any standard media player will route its audio to the sound card's 'Wave' input, and you can also take in SPDIF or analogue line in if you want. Set the Control Panel->Sounds and Audio Devices->Audio->Sound playback->Default Device to be the sound card in question. Once you have turned off the sound card's internal routing, the setup for bit-perfect grief-free active crossover (in Windows at least) is as follows: You can also turn off any internal routing - which is what you need for DSP processing.
#Loopback audio drivers#
The card's standard drivers allow you to connect any input to any output with a sort of matrix arrangement. The more up-market Creative X-Fi can work at a variety of sample rates in 'bit perfect' mode, and its re-sampling (should that be necessary) is supposedly very, very good anyway. Unfortunately the Audigy always re-samples internally to 48kHz, reputedly not particularly well - although it sounds OK. However, the open source Kx Project drivers allow you to turn off this internal routing. The Creative Audigy, for example, seems to do this unavoidably when you're using the Creative drivers. The problem, as far as I can tell, is merely that the default routing of most sound cards is to connect any incoming stream internally to the analogue outputs. I'd like to know which cards make it possible, and which don't. As I understand it, this thread exists because people need to route audio from any source (SPDIF, CD, Windows media player, Spotify, Youtube) via DSP-based processing and finally out to their speakers, and it isn't immediately obvious that this is possible without resorting to two sound cards linked by SPDIF (jitter, re-sampling), or 'virtual audio cables' (re-sampling).įrom my limited experience it is possible to do exactly what they need using only a single sound card and nothing else, although it isn't possible with all sound cards. Windows comes with a Virtual Loopback Network Adapter, why not an Audio one? Does anyone here have experience with writing Audio Drivers in Windows?
#Loopback audio driver#
It can be optimized for minimum overhead and since it's a driver it will run continuously in the background. It could receive all audio streams, process them and transfer them to the actual Sound Card Driver to output. It should be possible to create a standalone Virtual Loopback Audio Driver without attaching it to hardware. Media Player -> Reaper ReaRoute -> Reaper VST DSPs -> Sound Card -> Amplifier It has a very good virtual audio driver called ReaRoute and a VST host simplifying this type of work.
Another popular solution is the DAW Reaper. The hardware of SoundCard1 is not necessary, the sound stream is usually routed in the driver and never reaches the card itself.
#Loopback audio software#
Media Player -> SoundCard1 -> DSP software -> SoundCard2 -> Amplifier Then the software sends the processed sound to SoundCard2 which outputs it to the amplifiers. Usually that is done in a VST host that runs several plug-ins.
#Loopback audio Pc#
A software that runs continuously on the PC picks up the stream from SoundCard1 and does the necessary processing. SoundCard1 routes the stream internally and makes it available at its inputs. All sound applications output to SoundCard1. The most popular solution for a PC crossover seems to be using 2 sound cards.