Vista - Using multiple sound devices?

I'm new to Vista. I use a headset to communicate to others. At the same
time, I could have music playing out my PC speakers. I use Ventrilo and a
USB headset, and when the other person would talk back to me, I could get the
sound out of the headset earpiece. However, now I can only set up the sound
devices it seems to have all the sound come out either the speakers, ot the
headset. I cant figure out how to manage both devices so I can set up
Ventrilo for the earpiece only, and have all other computer sounds come from
the speakers themselves. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TY!!

"id2663" <id2663@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F7FA26B5-0B85-427E-8A8F-89F52F2D15E5@microsoft.com...
> I'm new to Vista. I use a headset to communicate to others. At the same
> time, I could have music playing out my PC speakers. I use Ventrilo and a
> USB headset, and when the other person would talk back to me, I could get
> the
> sound out of the headset earpiece. However, now I can only set up the
> sound
> devices it seems to have all the sound come out either the speakers, ot
> the
> headset. I cant figure out how to manage both devices so I can set up
> Ventrilo for the earpiece only, and have all other computer sounds come
> from
> the speakers themselves. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TY!!

This should be very easy. The majority of games will not allow you to
select which sound device they are going to use, and just pump everything
out of the "default" device. If you want to check/set your default device
you can do this by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your taskbar.
Those nice people at Ventrillo (and teamspeak for that matter) are not
unfamiliar with your needs and so have their programs set-up so that you can
explicitly specify which device you want their input (mic) and output
(headphones) to use.

I've been doing this sometimes myself, with my Creative X-Fi setup to play
gamesound from surroundsound speakers and using the mobo "High Definition
Audio" (ADI 1988B) for the microphone-headset. If I'm just using the one
device, it has to be the X-Fi, there is no comparison between the
specialization and clarity of the two audio systems in my PC.

Crimliar

I'm still having the difficulty. I have made the output selection on the
Ventrilo options to the headset, but having the speakers set on 'default' on
the control panel still overrides my choice. The only way I can get sound to
the headset still seems to be to set the earpiece to 'default sound device',
but then ALL sound comes out. This is an unique problem I've had with Vista
only. I didnt have this difficulty with XP.

"CrimLiar" wrote:

> "id2663" <id2663@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F7FA26B5-0B85-427E-8A8F-89F52F2D15E5@microsoft.com...
> > I'm new to Vista. I use a headset to communicate to others. At the same
> > time, I could have music playing out my PC speakers. I use Ventrilo and a
> > USB headset, and when the other person would talk back to me, I could get
> > the
> > sound out of the headset earpiece. However, now I can only set up the
> > sound
> > devices it seems to have all the sound come out either the speakers, ot
> > the
> > headset. I cant figure out how to manage both devices so I can set up
> > Ventrilo for the earpiece only, and have all other computer sounds come
> > from
> > the speakers themselves. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TY!!
>
> This should be very easy. The majority of games will not allow you to
> select which sound device they are going to use, and just pump everything
> out of the "default" device. If you want to check/set your default device
> you can do this by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your taskbar.
> Those nice people at Ventrillo (and teamspeak for that matter) are not
> unfamiliar with your needs and so have their programs set-up so that you can
> explicitly specify which device you want their input (mic) and output
> (headphones) to use.
>
> I've been doing this sometimes myself, with my Creative X-Fi setup to play
> gamesound from surroundsound speakers and using the mobo "High Definition
> Audio" (ADI 1988B) for the microphone-headset. If I'm just using the one
> device, it has to be the X-Fi, there is no comparison between the
> specialization and clarity of the two audio systems in my PC.
>
> Crimliar
>
>

I may have narrowed it down a bit. Looking on my old PC, I would start the
game, which would bring sound out my speakers. Then I could plug in my USB
headset, which would allow sound from Vent, since I wouldnt start Vent until
after I started the game and tabbed-out. Looking at my control panel, when I
plugged the USB set in, the default sound device automatically changes to the
USB set. The Vista version doesnt change the default, no matter what order I
plug it in. It only reads that a device is plugged in, and doesnt
automatically go to it for future programs run. Again, I have to manually
change it, however, all programs are switched. How can I get around that?

"CrimLiar" wrote:

> "id2663" <id2663@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:F7FA26B5-0B85-427E-8A8F-89F52F2D15E5@microsoft.com...
> > I'm new to Vista. I use a headset to communicate to others. At the same
> > time, I could have music playing out my PC speakers. I use Ventrilo and a
> > USB headset, and when the other person would talk back to me, I could get
> > the
> > sound out of the headset earpiece. However, now I can only set up the
> > sound
> > devices it seems to have all the sound come out either the speakers, ot
> > the
> > headset. I cant figure out how to manage both devices so I can set up
> > Ventrilo for the earpiece only, and have all other computer sounds come
> > from
> > the speakers themselves. Any help would be greatly appreciated. TY!!
>
> This should be very easy. The majority of games will not allow you to
> select which sound device they are going to use, and just pump everything
> out of the "default" device. If you want to check/set your default device
> you can do this by right-clicking on the speaker icon in your taskbar.
> Those nice people at Ventrillo (and teamspeak for that matter) are not
> unfamiliar with your needs and so have their programs set-up so that you can
> explicitly specify which device you want their input (mic) and output
> (headphones) to use.
>
> I've been doing this sometimes myself, with my Creative X-Fi setup to play
> gamesound from surroundsound speakers and using the mobo "High Definition
> Audio" (ADI 1988B) for the microphone-headset. If I'm just using the one
> device, it has to be the X-Fi, there is no comparison between the
> specialization and clarity of the two audio systems in my PC.
>
> Crimliar
>
>

"id2663" <id2663@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:0D84BED8-8E38-4C1C-B193-EE5871334B7F@microsoft.com...
>I may have narrowed it down a bit. Looking on my old PC, I would start the
> game, which would bring sound out my speakers. Then I could plug in my USB
> headset, which would allow sound from Vent, since I wouldnt start Vent
> until
> after I started the game and tabbed-out. Looking at my control panel,
> when I
> plugged the USB set in, the default sound device automatically changes to
> the
> USB set. The Vista version doesnt change the default, no matter what
> order I
> plug it in. It only reads that a device is plugged in, and doesnt
> automatically go to it for future programs run. Again, I have to manually
> change it, however, all programs are switched. How can I get around that?

Reading this, I'm not sure that you have set up the default device, if you
have I'm sorry, I'm just trying to cover all bases. Firstly make sure that
both your sound devices are connected, every time you connect or disconnect
them there is the possibility that the drivers will try to re-set it to be
the default device (and ruin your work). Ok then, right click on the
speaker icon in your taskbar select "playback devices", and click on the
device/speakers/whatever you want to be the default device, and then on the
set default button. Before you close the dialogue, click on the "recording"
tab and use the same sequence to select your own choice of "default" device.
You need to do this as dependant on your system Vista may well not have set
up the speakers to be the default. From now on, any program that doesn't
give you the choice to explicitly choose another playback or recording
device will use those defaults. Ventrillo, gives you the ability to
explicitly specify playback/recording devices and so you can set it up to
use your headset.

Crimliar