Why doesn't Audacity see my sound card?

February 15, 2009 2:48 PM

Why does Audacity think I have no sound card installed?

Just got a new desktop PC (this one, if it helps), with on-the-motherboard audio. But Audacity says I don't have any sound cards installed.

In Device Manager, two items are listed under sound controllers: NVIDIA HDMI Audio and Realtek High Definition Audio. Sound works just dandy on every other application, as far as I'm aware.

Running Vista Home Premium. So, is this a Vista problem or an Audacity problem? Do I really need to install drivers of some sort?

posted by jbickers to computers & internet (2 answers total)

Just a shot in the dark, but I've found some Vista audio drivers will tell an application that there's no device if there are no speakers or headphones plugged in. I've seen this happen in some games.
posted by EmptyK at 4:33 PM on February 15, 2009

Audacity might not know which driver you wish to use.

Under Edit -> Preferences -> Audio I/O there is a setting for Playback that should show any available audio devices in a drop-down list. I suspect that the driver that matters here is the Realtek HD Audio, which should show up in that list -- as it does in mine -- as "MME: Realtek HD Audio Output" or something similar.

Of course, something else might be hogging your sound card and not letting Audacity play with it, but start with the Preferences and go from there.
posted by grabbingsand at 6:48 PM on February 15, 2009