What's up with not being able to select audio devices

I encountered this problem in Windows Vista 64 bit edition, and am still encountering it in XP 64bit edition...

I have 2 sound devices, one being an onboard AC97 Realtek sound chip, the second being a Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card, I have all the most current drivers for both devices, and have no problems selecting the proper device in other programs such as Teamspeak and Skype.. When i try to select a sound device in the voice options tab it will change to it... but not actually use the hardware i select.

Are there any known solutions to this problem... Or am I the only one experiencing this issue

You have to reset voice for it to take effect. If you've done that, then yeah I have noticed SL will sometimes revert to whatever the Window's default is instead of what I've selected.

Perhaps the issue is, you are using 2 sound devices? I don't quite understand the logic in having 2 sound devices enabled on a single system.. it could potentially confuse not just programmes, but also the OS.

I did have the same problem you denote, I cured mine by completely removing all previous versions of FirstLook and running a registry cleaner, then reinstalling a fresh copy, I could then select my sound board.

You might also check the Audio icon in Control Panel, in the various tabs, that you have selected your prefered soundboard and not left it at OS default.

Yes, that's bad practice.

If you're using a separate sound card, then you should go into your system's BIOS and disable the onboard RealTek sound.

I keep both enabled because the inputs on my X-Fi still aren't fully supported on Vista. Skype, GoldWave, Audacity, Premiere, and Vista itself all seem to handle it fine. SL doesn't really seem to have a problem with the two cards, it just has trouble remembering the settings.

Just to comment on the people saying you shouldnt have 2 sound devices, its bad blah blah. Biggest load of rubbish ever...many people use multiple sound devices, in SL multiple sound cards/devices is pretty much standard for DJ's as it for any Internet Radio/Broadcast worker.

I didn't read any posts whereby anyone said you 'SHOULDN'T' use 2 sound devices, what was suggested, is that it is not good practise. The poster was having issues getting voice enabled, not running a DJ system. Perhaps if you have such a setup, and you can enable and use voice, you could share your settings with the poster?

Wow, you really don't understand how audio hardware works. And you saying that it could potentially confuse the OS, is completely false.

I've worked with digital sound recording for many years, and for many of those many years, I've ALWAYS had more than one or even more than two sound cards in several machines. Sound cards don't conflict with each other. They're easily distinguishible from any other sound card in the system, and even windows 95 was designed to run with more than one sound card. Did you know that when you plug in a USB headset, that it's its own sound card? So, right now on my machine at home, I have 3 sound cards. The crappy on board one, the good SB X-fi, and the USB headset.

The fact is that it's not just SL that has this issue. Granted, SL audio card selection SHOULD work, it doesn't work as it should. Plugging/unplugging a USB headset should auto switch sound cards, but even the manual switch doesn't work.

This same issue occurs with Windows Media Player, so it's not just SL. Start playing something with media player, then plug in a usb headset. wmp doesn't switch to the headset until you restart the app. SL acting identically.

There are audiophiles out there that have cards that are actually 8 separate sound devices in one card. This is for doing multi-track digital recording.

From my recollation, Black was asking how to get voice to work in SL, not be educated on how to setup SL to run multiple devices or a sound studio. My advise was simple, deactivate one device and try setting the remaining one to work with SL... assuming that works, perhaps enabling any other device. I am simply trying to assist in getting the issue cured for Black... not teaching him about the rights and wrongs, or confuse the issue even further.