reason hijacking audio outputs and i cant control it!

[frm5993]

so, as mentioned in other threads, while reason is open, youtube wont play from inbuilt speakers or headphones. I inserted usb speakers to use with reason, but reason refuses to connect to them, instead coming out of the inbuilt speakers, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE DISABLED IN WIN SETTINGS. sometimes now reason does not respond to the comuter's volume control. i discovered that youtube comes out of the usb speakers when reason is open, as if it werent complex enough.
also, at random times, after exiting reason, youtube's audio will not change volume except in youtube itself. the windows volume control responds visually, and says it is down, or up, or muted, but does not affect youtube's output. it only fixes itself when i restart the computer. also, after using reason with the speakers of an electric keyboard (attached via headphone jack), i tried to watch amazon video in chrome through hdmi, but the sound would not rout to the tv until i switched to firefox. it was fine before i used reason. still not fixed.
the only output settings in reason are the "output channels", but they are GREYED OUT. i cannot change them. in the windows settings app volume mixer, where it shows each app's input and output routing, reason simply doesnt show up.
help!
all i want is for reason to come out my speakers. is that too much to ask?

[jam-s]

Sounds like a problem with your audio card driver to me.

[demt]

check the asio settings

[EnochLight]

so, as mentioned in other threads, while reason is open, youtube wont play from inbuilt speakers or headphones. I inserted usb speakers to use with reason, but reason refuses to connect to them, instead coming out of the inbuilt speakers, EVEN WHEN THEY ARE DISABLED IN WIN SETTINGS. sometimes now reason does not respond to the comuter's volume control. i discovered that youtube comes out of the usb speakers when reason is open, as if it werent complex enough.
also, at random times, after exiting reason, youtube's audio will not change volume except in youtube itself. the windows volume control responds visually, and says it is down, or up, or muted, but does not affect youtube's output. it only fixes itself when i restart the computer. also, after using reason with the speakers of an electric keyboard (attached via headphone jack), i tried to watch amazon video in chrome through hdmi, but the sound would not rout to the tv until i switched to firefox. it was fine before i used reason. still not fixed.
the only output settings in reason are the "output channels", but they are GREYED OUT. i cannot change them. in the windows settings app volume mixer, where it shows each app's input and output routing, reason simply doesnt show up.
help!
all i want is for reason to come out my speakers. is that too much to ask?

Windows cannot run aggregate devices out of the box, and adding USB speakers doesn’t help matters. Reason requires an ASIO driver to record audio and get low latency for real-time audio.

1. Did you install any additional 3rd party audio drivers?
2. What ASIO driver are you using? Did it come with your laptop?
3. Have you tried ASIO4ALL?
4. What audio device is selected for use in Windows audio playback settings?
5. What audio device is selected in Reason Preferences?

[RandyEspoda]

You just need to go to the windows sound settings in the control panel and disable the 'take exclusive control' option for the device, in the audio properties of the device. Chances are that fixes it.

Or you can just ignore my comment like someone else in the last thread, who is still struggling to fix a similar issue caused by the same setting.
Whatever.

Good luck.

[EnochLight]

You just need to go to the windows sound settings in the control panel and disable the 'take exclusive control' option for the device, in the audio properties of the device. Chances are that fixes it.

Right, this is a great suggestion.

[frm5993]

@ jam-s you have got to be way more specific

@demt you have got to be way more specific

@RandyEspoda tried it, no luck

Windows cannot run aggregate devices out of the box, and adding USB speakers doesn’t help matters. Reason requires an ASIO driver to record audio and get low latency for real-time audio.

1. Did you install any additional 3rd party audio drivers?
2. What ASIO driver are you using? Did it come with your laptop?
3. Have you tried ASIO4ALL?
4. What audio device is selected for use in Windows audio playback settings?
5. What audio device is selected in Reason Preferences?

1. i got asio4all for use with reaper, and asio4all also came with reason
2. for windows itself? no idea. yes.
3. with reason. dont know how to use it for windows. i have looked in settings and not found it where it was alleged to be.
4. i have tried all combinations. right now, usb speakers are enabled and set as default, and inbuilt speakers disabled, but reason still plays out of the latter.
5. i can find no such setting. the output channels dropdown is grayed out, if that is what you mean.

[demt]

@demt you have got to be way more specific

i doubt after the years of musician ship on this forum there is any specific left these days i merely get< the,a >point accross your sorta advising 10,000 relevent posts with 7 unless of course your in disguise but thats a diffrent story
yet do you have a soundcard or audio interface if you do upgrade the drivers and no longer will they be greyed out if youve turned it on

[EnochLight]

Windows cannot run aggregate devices out of the box, and adding USB speakers doesn’t help matters. Reason requires an ASIO driver to record audio and get low latency for real-time audio.

1. Did you install any additional 3rd party audio drivers?
2. What ASIO driver are you using? Did it come with your laptop?
3. Have you tried ASIO4ALL?
4. What audio device is selected for use in Windows audio playback settings?
5. What audio device is selected in Reason Preferences?

1. i got asio4all for use with reaper, and asio4all also came with reason
2. for windows itself? no idea. yes.
3. with reason. dont know how to use it for windows. i have looked in settings and not found it where it was alleged to be.
4. i have tried all combinations. right now, usb speakers are enabled and set as default, and inbuilt speakers disabled, but reason still plays out of the latter.
5. i can find no such setting. the output channels dropdown is grayed out, if that is what you mean.

1. ASIO4ALL does not come with Reason. That's something you have to download and install separately, unless it was packaged with your laptop when you bought it. If it did come with it, then it was just a cheap way for the manufacturer to provide some sort of ASIO driver in-the-box for free (since ASIO4ALL is open source and free to download).

2. No, not for Windows - for audio production (which you answered for me in #1).

3. You don't use ASIO drivers with Windows - it's meant for low latency in audio production software only. "Alleged" to be? Assuming it is installed right, it will usually only appear in your Taskbar once you launch a program that uses it (such as Reason). As of version 2, the icon is a small green arrow that looks like this:

xczzxcz.jpg (90.96 KiB) Viewed 3278 times

4. USB speakers act as an audio driver/soundcard in themselves, and really aren't the most ideal option. Do they have an analog line-in that you can run a 2.5mm line out cable from your laptop's line out and into the USB speakers, and - assuming your USB speakers are active (read: powered) - plug them into a USB wall wart to power them instead? This way you can use ASIO4ALL in Reason and monitor over the speakers on the laptop or - when the line-out is being used - over whatever speakers the line-out goes into (such as proper studio monitors or another analog powered speaker setup).

5. If the audio selection is "greyed out", then you most certainly have a problem with your ASIO4ALL installation, or your USB speakers are causing the issue since they're not an ASIO soundcard. These appears to be the crux of your issue. Have you considered picking up a proper audio interface to use with Reason? There are a plethora of USB based options out there that are affordable. The bottom line is: don't use USB speakers as your powered monitors. You need this in Reason:

fdsafdsafsda.jpg (96.71 KiB) Viewed 3278 times

[frm5993]

in that case, i was mistaken. i had asio4all when i got it for reaper, and reason automatically used it.

so usb speakers and asio4all are mutually exclusive? there has got to be a workaround.
alas, the usb speakers have no other ports. i will just have to get other speakers.

what would an audio interface do for me?

ah, i see. i didnt know the audio card driver was where the speakers were. i now have it coming out the speakers. but is there some advantage of asio4all that i am losing? so what are the "active output channels"?

[EnochLight]

in that case, i was mistaken. i had asio4all when i got it for reaper, and reason automatically used it.

so usb speakers and asio4all are mutually exclusive? there has got to be a workaround.
alas, the usb speakers have no other ports. i will just have to get other speakers.

what would an audio interface do for me?

ah, i see. i didnt know the audio card driver was where the speakers were. i now have it coming out the speakers. but is there some advantage of asio4all that i am losing? so what are the "active output channels"?

The only advantage to using ASIO4ALL is if you insist upon using your laptop's cheap integrated soundcard to produce low latency audio and/or record low latency audio (in Reason or Reaper). The whole point of the open-source/free ASIO4ALL program was to offer low latency options with audio recording to cheap integrated computer audio cards, popular in consumer rigs.

For any prosumer or professional music production rig, you'd add an external USB audio interface instead and use the ASIO drivers that come with it. That said, by adding a proper USB audio interface (I'm talking about one with mic pre-amps and good low latency ASIO drivers), you would absolutely need to use either headphones plugged into it to monitor, or active (read: powered) studio monitors to monitor. Quality interfaces can be found from RME, Focusrite, PreSonus, and plethora of other manufacturers.

Reason (as well as Reaper, I think) requires ASIO drivers to record audio. You can run both with non-ASIO drivers (such as stock Windows drivers), but your latency will be shit and it will usually use more CPU cycles.

[Molotovbeatz]

Yes when ASIO4ALL enabled in Reason or in another DAW, there will be no other sound outputs simultaneously in other audio programs. You have to close Reason first or set the Audio Hardware in Reason to stock pc sound instead of ASIO4ALL

[frm5993]

yeah, so this is happening again: after trying to get a usb mic to work in reason, all sounds on the whole computer dont work. sound still comes out of the tv with hdmi, but not through inbuilt speakers or headphones. wth?

yes, i have shut down and restarted and all.

and sometimes in the past chrome has worked while reason open.

update: reason sound started working again, but still no other sound.

update: so, i clicked over to chrome, and videos play instead of saying audio cant work, but audio doesnt play. and reason sound stops. go back to reason, reason sound back, click to chrome, gone. then click to reason and nothing works again.