What are some specific audio / sound card / driver setups that still allow you to “record what you hear”

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The ability to record what you hear, aka recording "Stereo Mix", is something that is fading away. I thought there was nothing to it, based on how many people make YouTube videos of themselves talking while playing games and such, but I spent about three hours tonight wrestling with my motherboard sound, drivers, and Control Panel, trying every combination to get this to work.

I finally was able to get "Stereo Mix" to appear as a device in my Recording devices list by just trying driver after driver. But, even though it "appears" there and is "enabled," it's actually disabled. Any attempt to record the sound, every application throws it's own version of, "unable to record because the audio device is in use."

After stumbling across What's the reason behind "Stereo Mix" becoming a missing option?, it became clear that this is a rather increasingly common problem, especially since Vista and Windows 7.

Even if I accept the fact that my current motherboard and available drivers simply don't have the ability to record the sound coming out of my speakers, I can't seem to find any kind of list of sound cards and drivers that are confirmed working with no BS/third party intervention/driver hacks to "enable" the ability. I don't mind going out this weekend and picking up a sound card for my system, but I want to know, EXACTLY, what sound cards are available that will let me record what I hear without any trouble. That's all I want, just a brand, a model number, and driver version, that is confirmed working, and will work with Windows 7 64-bit, and will allow me to record microphone input at the same time.

Just for the record, so in case some other poor soul stumbles around the internet looking for an answer like this, my motherboard is Asus Model: P7P55D, and the drivers they offer are all "VIA High Definition Audio" by VIA Technologies.

Best Answer

Get a stereo 1/8" audio cable and connect it from your computer's sound output to your computer's sound input.

Then use whatever recording programs you want to record from your computer's sound input device.

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