Restoring Stereo Mix
Finding Nemo was difficult enough, as computer-animated film fans will know, but we look for that favourite among live recording option in Windows 7 PCs, Stereo Mix.
If, upon delivery of your new Windows 7 PC, you discover that the Recording tab in Control Panel / Sound doesn't offer the very useful Stereo Mix option, even after you've switched on hidden devices, what are you to do about recording sound output via any of the many software products that can ostensibly do this for you? For example, Audacity, Audio Recorder for Free, or even the very basic Sound Recorder that's offered by Windows itself. These, among many others, rely on Stereo Mix being available to record streaming audio - radio via the Internet, webcasts, general music, LP conversion, records, tapes and so on - about which, more in a minute. Basically, Stereo Mix, or 'What U Hear' as Creative call their version, makes your audio system able to record anything you can hear from your computer.
If Stereo Mix is missing, the problem is pretty obvious, though perhaps surprising on a new PC and Operating System. You need a driver update. But that may be rather easier said than done. Windows Update may not offer one. DriverMax, or whatever you use as an additional source of new drivers, may also remain silent on the matter. Well, before looking to the Web, the first question to ask is, whose HD Audio Driver am I already using ? That may not be quite as simple a question as you think.
You may believe, after looking in Device Manager under HD Audio, that Microsoft themselves provided the audio drivers:
But the correct way to check for the vendor is to look in Device Manager's Sound, Video and Game Controllers HD audio section / Details, then click on the Properties down arrow and select Hardware Ids. Somewhere around the middle of each of those line entries you'll find a code such as ....1106&DEV.... That 1106, or whatever you see at that position, is the clue to the actual company that produced the drivers, and it's to them you'll have to turn for the update that can switch on Stereo Mix.
Copyright protection
Of course there's the point that DRM-protected music can then be recorded to standard MP3 files, or whatever format you prefer, and it's probably a primary reason why Stereo Mix is disabled in the audio drivers delivered to your desktop with OEM version of Windows 7, though we note that even our Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade didn't improve things in this respect. Copyright protection is a valid concern, so just bear that in mind, though there are lots of applications of Stereo Mix that do not impinge on copyright issues in the least, such as recording your own musical compositions, for example.
Having found that code, then search for the relevant device vendor's name by going to the following web site and entering the code you saw in Windows' Device Manager:
Here you can search by either the vendor or the device. In this case it will be the former, as shown in the screen shot.
You'll find, as just two examples, that RealTek uses code 10EC, and code 1106 is used by VIA Technologies. It's the relevant web site that you then need to search for the drivers for the device in question. You may even discover, as we did, that the vendor's own web site doesn't list the most recent drivers they have produced. We found a more recent update for our system in a forum reference, so we checked that out with the Vendor's technical support and they confirmed that their package version 8.3 listed in the forum, was indeed a genuine update to their own listed version 7.5.
This package download was, as we said, a Codec, ie an assembly of software relevant to the vendor, but we thought it worth having as it also gave us accessory software appropriate to the product. In our case that was VIA HD Audio Deck, a useful front-end menu system for tweaking the product, but also a source of driver version information and Codec reference in the event that we had queries. The audio driver actually doing the business was, in our case, v6.0.1.8300, and that's what now appears in Device Manager.
When you've found it and downloaded the Codec (presuming you face the same scenario as ourselves) and run the executable file, look in Control Panel / Sound / Recording again and you should see the Stereo Mix option ready to press into service as the default device if you choose.
In conclusion
Why would the OEM installation of Windows 7, or indeed the Ultimate version upgrade which we were using, give the impression that Microsoft produced the drivers for the device in question? We can only assume that the customary rush to get the OS out to the public meant this listing was premature, leaving the novice user to grope his way to finding the true ID of the vendor. But the clues are there if you know where to look, and the rest of the information you need is on the Web.
We'd recommend that you create a System Restore Point before installing the new drivers, just in case, but there should be no problems if you've been careful during your selections. In any event you could always use the Roll Back facility in Device Manager if the new driver doesn't suit.
With Stereo Mix in action, the world of personal sound recording is yours for the taking. It should have been present by default, perhaps, but that's life.
