Winamp and External Audio Sources

[phoenix9286]

Let's more or less cut straight to the chase. Milkdrop is sexy to watch. Unfortunately, it only works with audio inside of Winamp. What I'd like to do is have Winamp listen in on other audio sources. Like, say, my Pandora stream, and in so doing, allow me to use Milkdrop to visualize it.

I've looked over the Line-In article in the Greatest Hits forum. I think it's largely useless because it's completely outdated, missing images, and not once have I ever managed to make it work. I'm also 99% sure that's not what I want ANYWAY, seeing as how nothing is coming through my Line-In.

So that said... I know Winamp has the ability to at least listen to my Line-In. Can it listen to anything else? Pandora was just an example, ideally I'd like to be able to have Milkdrop visualize every piece of audio my computer outputs.

[JonnyMac]

As far as Winamp is concerned, you just need to type inein:// in Winamp's Open URL box click the Open button

Depending of the audio source, you will need to set the Windows mixer...
1. double click on the little speaker icon in the systray (tasktray).
2. Options > Properties
3. select/bullet Recording
4. For audio sources external to the computer, make sure 'Microphone' and/or 'Line In' is checkmarked
for a audio source such as a another media player or browser radio, it will vary with the audio card. Select something like "Stereo Mix", "Wave Out", "What you here", etc.
5. then respectively select the correct slider in the Recording mixer control (<-- Microphone as example).

The above Windows mixer instructions is based on Win XP/2000 and will vary with Vista and Win 7. Apparently with Vista and maybe Win 7, the "Stereo Mix" & "What you here" (etc.) are hidden or disabled by default. No having Vista or Win 7, I can only point you to YouTube video...

How to enable Stereo Mix in Vista and set devices

[JonnyMac]

Hello phoenix, any luck?

[phoenix9286]

Not as such.

At this point I'm starting to believe it's all down to my sound card. I have an M-Audio Revolution 5.1, and when following the provided instructions, I simply have no Stereo Mix/Aux/What-You-Hear option.

It's a problem that's more or less plagued me since I bought this card. As long as I'm not asking anything from it, I love it. But as soon as I need to record audio from a source originating on my computer, or do something like this, I hate it.

I appreciate the help, but this all seems to be coming back to a problem I've had for some time. A problem that extends beyond Winamp and into Hardware/Driver/Ignorance territory. That said, I think I'm just going to choose to not worry about it anymore at this time.

[Tots]

Posting here because and there is no good solution anywhere and it seems to be a common inquiry. Hoping this will help others.

Using audio sources other than Winamp for Milkdrop

The common solution is to use linein:// as the location for winamp take sound from. This solution only works if you are using an external device for audio, like a microphone or MP3 player, connected to your Line-in jack. However, since this isn't the case the solution is missing a key part. Most sound cards will support a recording option called "Stereo Mix" or something similar. This uses all the sounds going through the soundcard as input. Setting this as the active input device and disabling the other devices will effectively send all sound being played on the computer to Line-in.

On Windows 7 this can be accomplished by opening the Recording Devices panel.


Then rightclick in the whitespace and select "show disabled devices" if you don't see it. Enable the device and set it to the default device and disable the other devices.


Now all your sound should be mapped to linein:// which you can open in WinAmp by pressing Ctrl+L or File>Open>URL



Hope this helped someone.

For other configurations, including other versions of Windows and other Sound cards, it will be the same idea but the steps you take to include the "Stereo Mix" as your recording device will be different. Just google "Enable stereo mix yourdevicehere.

For this case it may not have worked if pheonix could not see disabled devices. Make sure to right click and select View Disabled Devices in the recording devices panel.

[Radiofreak1041]

Hello,

I want to play music with a music player (Spotify, Windows Media Player), get the stereo mix signal with winamp (somthing like stereomix://), take it trough the DSPs in Winamp and play it through my sound card. Is that possible, or do I have to use a second PC, or two sound cards?

[Aminifu]

You could record the stereo mix as a wav file and then play it back thru Winamp and apply the DSP enhancements.

Otherwise you need 2 sound cards and a cable to connect the stereo line out port of one to the stereo line in port on the other (i.e. play the stereo mix out with 1 that's fed into Winamp which plays out thru the other).

One card would be set up as the system default (with the Windows sound utility in the control panel) and used by the other media player to output the music thru it's line out port. Winamp must be set up to use the other card (with the device selection option in the DirectSound output plug-in's configuration options) and then configured to use it's line in port (with this card's output connected to speakers or headphones).

Sounds like a lot of unnecessary trouble to me. Why not just use Winamp to play the original music (Winamp plays streams from the internet as well as local files)?

[Dr.Flay]

I can see why you may want to route the isolated spotify through Winamp, but Media Player can't do anything that Winamp cannot.
That makes no sense at all, unless you are having problems with DRM content maybe.

If you have a desktop then you may find that your multi-channel sound card can split the front and rear as 2 separate outputs.
This is a common feature in modern Realtek drivers.

Using a replacement Volume control panel can help allocate the correct ins and outs
Volume² - https://irzyxa.wordpress.com

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by Dr.Flay

If you have a desktop then you may find that your multi-channel sound card can split the front and rear as 2 separate outputs.
This is a common feature in modern Realtek drivers.

Well, the Realtek sound device is actually an IC chip on the motherboard (not a separate sound card). However, Radiofreak1041 may also be calling this sound chip a sound card. It's important to try to use the correct terminology when seeking forum help with computer related issues.

I can see how 2 media players could output 2 different things at the same time using this feature, but I don't understand how the output from an different media player gets routed to Winamp so that it can output the same thing with DSP enhancements (your link is in a language I can't read ).

[Dr.Flay]

*ahem* Well spotted...my intentional mistake.... that I forgot.... a key item.
It still requires routing an output to a mic or linein, so an audio cable is needed.

True, my Realtek chip is on my MoBo, but I could buy the same chip on a card.
Not all chips are on cards, but all sound cards have a sound chip.
I would argue that fitting the chip to the motherboard or a daughterboard does not change what it is, or what it does.

Technically speaking all surround-sound chips are capable of this, as they already split the audio into 2 or more pairs.
It just takes someone to think of the idea and adding it to the driver, or the playback software to be capable of handling multiple inputs.

Depending on specification, there is the possibility that the soundcard/chip will support ASIO, so re-routing can all be done in software, but I don't know of a plugin for WMP, and I don't think the visualiser works in Winamp with it anyway.

Sorry, I forgot that site is in Russian, my translator plugin for Opera translates the whole page as I arrive, so all the net is in English for me....Often poorly written English, but then again most of the UK "cnt spel anywayz coz iz all 2 borin innit bruv."
I found the authors Deviant art page. They have the English info there
http://irzyxa.deviantart.com

An alternative
http://sourceforge.net/projects/audioswitcher/
http://codecpack.co/download/Audio-Switcher.html

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by Dr.Flay

I would argue that fitting the chip to the motherboard or a daughterboard does not change what it is, or what it does.

That is true in some cases. I don't have a high end mobo, so the Realtek chip it uses is not mounted on a daughterboard. The mobo's sound contains a fair amount of noise. I don't know if it's the version of the chip or the layout of the mobo that's causing it. I use an old Creative soundcard instead which provides a very clear sound. I know Creative's reputation has dropped quite a bit, but my Audigy Platinum 5.1 still works fine (with DK's modified drivers).

Many mobo vendors use Realtek sound chips. Is it because of their quality or their cost? The frequency of Realtek sound driver updates makes me wonder what's really going on, since they never provide any details about what the changes are. Bug fixes, new features, or both? I keep up with the updates for my apps and drivers, but I don't like to update just for the sake of updating.

Originally Posted by Dr.Flay

Sorry, I forgot that site is in Russian, my translator plugin for Opera translates the whole page as I arrive, so all the net is in English for me....Often poorly written English, but then again most of the UK "cnt spel anywayz coz iz all 2 borin innit bruv."

NP, I have the same issues when trying to translate a webpage. Thanx for the links to the other sites. I mostly use Pale Moon and have Firefox and IE installed for those rare sites that don't work well with Pale Moon. Also because Winamp uses the IE engine when displaying web content.


Anyway, I hope Radiofreak1041 returns and lets us know how he's getting on.

[Dr.Flay]

I figure that we see lots of Realtek updates because they use a unified driver for each class of sound chip.
Some updates may only add or fix features with certain chips.

You raise probably the most important difference between a card and a chip on the MoBo.
Isolation on a daughter-board means that you are less likely to suffer with random crackles and buzzing.

If a user has a mixed setup, what do you think ?
Feed the onboard chip from the cleaner output of the card ?
I am guessing you would be less likely to amplify any buzzing the you may get on the MoBo chip.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by Dr.Flay

If a user has a mixed setup, what do you think ?

I would not use any sound system that injects audible noise into the music, except for limited special cases.

For example, when I'm DJ-ing parties, I use headphones connected to my mobo's soundchip to preview songs, to help me decide how (mix points) and what I will play next thru my soundcard and speakers. Winamp is awkward to use for live DJ work, imo. I'm currently using "VirtualDJ" (http://www.virtualdj.com/) for this. The free release of version 8 is loaded with features, I highly recommend it.