is there a way to output sound to multiple devices

[andreasaspenberg]

i have 2 sound cards in my pc, one on the main board and one on the graphics card. i am wondering if there is a way to output the sound to multiple devices at the same time.(one per sound card.)

 

[Squiggy]

I suppose you run windows 7 or higher.
https://www.raymond.cc/blog/virtual-audio-cable-enables-multiple-audio-outputs-in-windows-7/

 

[andreasaspenberg]

that costs money.

 

[edo494]

nothing is free

 

[Zwiebelchen]

The easiest way is to use Audio-over-USB and an appropriate ASIO driver.

The number of ins and outs possible on the audio bus is defined by your sound driver.


For example, when I plug in my 16x4 USB mixer and use the sound driver from the mixer, I can record 16 channels and monitor 4 channels individually.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i have 2 sound cards with different drivers.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

i have 2 sound cards with different drivers.

Unfortunately, Windows only allows you to select one driver at the same time.

For what you want to do, I recommend buying a cheap USB audio interface like a focusrite saffire and connect your devices to the audio interface instead directly to your sound cards.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i have been able to output sound from 2 different programs to 2 different devices by starting the first and then changing sound output afterwards. games will always output sound on the device that was configured when the game started.(even if i change device.)

 

[Zwiebelchen]

i have been able to output sound from 2 different programs to 2 different devices by starting the first and then changing sound output afterwards. games will always output sound on the device that was configured when the game started.(even if i change device.)

You can set drivers on a per-software basis.

DAWs usually have a driver setting unrelated to the windows driver selection. However, you still can not run two drivers within the same software at the same time.
So, again, if you want to route all sound regardless of software used to multiple outputs, you need to use an audio interface.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

i do not want to run 2 drivers with the same software but different software on different sound devices. for example sound from a chess tournament on my tv and sound from a game on my speakers.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

i do not want to run 2 drivers with the same software but different software on different sound devices. for example sound from a chess tournament on my tv and sound from a game on my speakers.

Unless your software allows selecting a sound device (like a DAW) it will always use the sound device selected in windows.

 

[Dr Super Good]

You could try piping the output of one audio output through the "Stereo Mix" input device (for internal sound capture of output sounds) and then outputting that input through the other speaker.

Do note that running two sets of speakers with the same range of frequency operation outside surround sound placement is not recommended as the inconsistent latency and offset placement will result in audible artefacts such as interference or echo. This is why by default only 1 output device can be selected.

 

[Zwiebelchen]

You could try piping the output of one audio output through the "Stereo Mix" input device (for internal sound capture of output sounds) and then outputting that input through the other speaker.

This is more or less only possible in DAW that allow for customized In/Out routing.
Windows doesn't support that without special software.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Windows doesn't support that without special software.

It often does, depending on your drivers. Some audio hardware drivers will have such internal feedback device.

Windows actually supports outputting on all sound devices at once as far as I can tell. It is just the software run on Windows which only allows you to select a single output device. As such it is not even a Microsoft problem, more a lazy software design problem. Something similar applies to GPUs now, where in theory you could run an AMD and NVidia card in parallel with each rendering the scene completely separately (eg on at your display resolution, while the other for a HDTV at a different resolution) however it is unlikely any software will implement such a feature.

 

[Squiggy]

that costs money.

You got what you asked for, nonetheless.