Regardless of the DAW this capability needs to be available in the interface. Basically you need the output routed back to the input. Most onboard audio (e.g. Realtek) and basic soundcards can do it by changing the Input in the mixer app from Mic/Line to 'What U Hear' or 'Stereo Mix'. More advanced ASIO interfaces may have a mixer app in which you can set up a virtual loopback path.

If you use windows audio instead of your interface, windows sounds are routed into S1.

Where you select your audio interface, audio setup.

Tacman7 wroteIf you use windows audio instead of your interface, windows sounds are routed into S1.

Where you select your audio interface, audio setup.

Can you be more specific/detailed? When I fire up S1, it says windows audio, but when I try to build a track the inputs say things like "input L+R -> disabled 1+2". When I record, it's just flatlined.

Loopback capability on your audio interface, as mentioned. If it doesn't have to be in real time, you can use software such as VLC Media Player. Only there's a learning curve. Those are the paths I'm aware of.

I thought you should hear audio from windows audio so I tried it and it recorded youTube.

But this morning I looked closer and I was getting the loopback from my interface.

Sorry, looked good at the time.

There's a lot of ways, google this: virtual audio loopback



I tried turning the Motu off but then there's no audio input.

FYI (for Mac users reading this).

On Mac you can still use soundflower. You have to create a multi-output device and incorporate both sunflower and your regular monitoring system so you can hear what's being recorded.

Macs are a little more tricky. There are internal routing apps that you can buy for this, too.

I do this all the time. In Windows make sure you select the normal (PC) audio device to play sounds.
Then, I use a jack like this: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-3- ... P7DR&psc=1

The 1/8" side goes to your Headphone jack. The 1/4" goes to AUX Input of your interface. In your case, I believe you would select Line level input, but you can play with that. Start with the PC volume level low as it may overdrive your interface.
Use the interface to monitor. I do this with My Behringer X18 as well as my Behringer UMC204HD.

Read the OP carefully. The OP does not want to use any audio interface at all. All suggestions using any form of interface attached are irrelevant. He wants to just use WIndows audio only. Nothing else.

It can be done. (brundle-fly explained it earlier) Nothing extra is required. Firstly you set the audio device as Windows Audio in Studio One. Then you need to go into Windows and pull up the more advanced sound settings. (Sound Control Panel) Go to the Recording tab. You will see Stereo Mix as one of the options but it may show up as disabled. (default) Click on properties and enable it. Click Apply.

Now you can open YouTube etc and play a video. Go back to Studio One and set up an audio track. You will see stereo mix as the input source.

Only thing here is do not input monitor in Studio One as you get a feedback loop. Just enable record on that track but not input monitor.

Latency wont be great but as you are just recording audio from YouTube it does not matter.

Since when did we start answering the actual questions being asked? I didn't get that memo.

So my channel input is "Input L+R -> Stereo Mix (2 Realtek Audio) 1+ 2" and record is enabled without monitoring. In Windows, the input is set to stereo mix. But I still so no activity on the input in the console, and when I record it is totally flat. What else might I be doing wrong?

Thanks for the help.

Have you set Windows Audio as the interface in Studio One. I tested this and it definitely all worked great. Have you set Windows sound output as the speakers too. I have got a bluetooth speaker in my house and my Windows laptop tends to output to that. I have to manually tell it to go to the speakers.

Do you hear what you want to record through your laptop or computer speakers. The Windows volume control also effects the level going into Studio One. Is it down? Its important to get sound coming out from your computer first.

Is your Windows audio enabled as well. For example many of us who have interfaces attached disable the internal Windows audio completely. You may have to re-enable it.

Yeah, Windows Audio is what S1 is using. It sees the stereo mix as an option, it just doesn't seem to do anything (no audio activity). I'm listening on wired headphones ("Realtek HD audio") and hear the audio correctly. S1 is outputting to "Realtek digital audio", which I'm not sure what that is exactly - when I switch to that in Windows settings, I hear nothing. It apparently connects to an optical output on the back of the PC. Should the output be critical to seeing activity on the input?

FWIW, I have a little mic icon in the taskbar and it says S1 is using the mic. It seems like it's hooked up on the S1 side, but the audio isn't actually routing there. But I still struggle a little sometimes with S1 settings. I have the console up and see an input for stereo mix. I should see activity there shouldn't I? My audio channel is hooked to that input.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Well, I kind of got it to work. On a lark, I plugged my headphones into the speaker jack on the back of the PC instead of the headphone jack on the front. This somehow enabled it. I guess the stereo mix is linked to the speaker output, and Windows doesn't send audio to a jack if it doesn't see something plugged in there? Tomorrow I'll see if I can just plug a spare extension cable in there or something to keep it alive and still use my headphones with the front panel jack.

The only thing that works is when you send Windows audio to the speakers. You must hear the audio first through the speakers in your laptop/computer before this will work. One reason it may not be working for you is you are sending the Windows audio somewhere else.

Ok I just checked with my laptop and when I plug headphones into the headphone jack on the side, the audio is fed to the phones and it still goes to Studio One. Desktop computers might be different to this though, I do get that. You have already found front and rear phone jacks are different for you.

Also Studio One may record the microphone but that is also incorrect. When I do this the microphone in the laptop produces no levels. Only the audio from Windows from Youtube etc..

I have noticed the background or quiescent noise is higher doing it this way. Recording from another computer into my main computer via an interface is much better in this regard.

Yeah, on my desktop, the back panel speaker outputs are considered as different from the front panel headphone jack. Windows can only route one place at a time, and stereo mix corresponds to the speakers specifically, not headphones. If I plug a dummy connection into the speaker port, it becomes an available option for routing in windows, but unless I specifically route there, S1 doesn't see any audio.

It's not a big deal since I won't be doing this often, but if I wanted to make the setup more slick, I could just get some speakers with a headphone port and ignore the front panel

The only thing left is to confirm that I can actually hear playback from S1. The I/O setup shows the output routing to "Realtek digital audio" and I'm not 100% what that means. Hopefully it finds its way to the speaker. I'll check that tonight.

I've always kept Audacity installed to keep from mucking about with my DAW configs.

Chuck37 wroteI guess the stereo mix is linked to the speaker output, and Windows doesn't send audio to a jack if it doesn't see something plugged in there?

That sounds right, but it may also be that the headphone jack is wired to physically interrupt the output to to the speaker jack. I've encountered both these scenarios with different onboard audio systems.

Glad you got it sorted in any case.

Jemusic wroteRead the OP carefully. The OP does not want to use any audio interface at all. All suggestions using any form of interface attached are irrelevant. He wants to just use WIndows audio only. Nothing else.

My Bad!

BobF wroteI've always kept Audacity installed to keep from mucking about with my DAW configs.

Audacity is a handy tool to keep on hand. And the fact that it can use Windows audio WASAPI means that it is always ready to output to my audio interface.

No messing with my DAW here! Can grab the loopback directly from my USB audio without changing anything else, just by making a one-click setting in the Audacity interface.