Windows virtual audio?

March 20, 2005 7:07 PM

I need to make an audio application work on a windows xp computer that doesn't have audio hardware.

In normal operation, the software sends and receives lots of audio through the sound card. I need to use the software in an obscure way on a computer that doesn't (and can't) have an audio card. Is there a virtual or loopback sound driver for windows? I've tried Virtual Audio Cable, but that doesn't seem to work if you don't already have an audio card installed.

I don't need to hear or record the sounds, I just need something that will satisfy the program's need for audio hardware.

posted by b1tr0t to computers & internet (7 comments total)

What program is it, someone can find a replacement/plugin/hack for it perhaps?
posted by ALongDecember at 7:40 PM on March 20, 2005

it wouldn't surprise me if you could do it with the kx-project driver...
posted by fake at 8:15 PM on March 20, 2005

If you want the easy way out, and can spend a little money, just get a USB sound adaptor and be done with it. This one, by Xitel, looks like it might be pretty decent to have just as a home stereo connector anyway, and costs about $40. It's totally plug and play, so no drivers needed.
posted by true at 5:21 AM on March 21, 2005

Another option would be to install a PC speaker/squeaker soundcard driver.
posted by majick at 6:52 AM on March 21, 2005

I don't think the kx drivers will work - they'll just error out if you don't have a compatible soundcard installed. But I bet they CAN do it - if you can hack around the errors...
posted by 31d1 at 9:05 AM on March 21, 2005

The problem is this: modern soundcards are themselves quite sophisticated signal processing computers. They're implemented (mostly) in hardware, rather than software, because software would be significantly slower.

It's not just a matter of loop-back, it's a matter of emulating in software all that the sound card does in hardware. It's obviously possible, but it's not trivial nor would the resulting software be speedy.
posted by orthogonality at 2:36 PM on March 21, 2005

true - the system is colocated, and the vendor doesn't like dangling hardware. I think we have a card filling the PCI slot already.

majick - I jumped through the hoops to download that driver, and unzipped it. What I found was a repackaged driver for some sound card. I really don't trust loading something like that into my kernel.

orthogonality - I don't need the driver to function, I just want it to return S_OK or E_NOTIMPL for all of the functions and send whatever data it receives off to the bitbucket. I don't need anything as sophisticated as VAC.

thanks for all the responses so far!
posted by b1tr0t at 5:16 PM on March 21, 2005