love it :)

Loved this feature and wrote about it many months ago... http://someguywitha.com/2006/09/11/sound-mixer-the-best-vista-feature-youve-never-heard-of/

There is IndieVolume which works on Windows XP; Here on Softpedia @ http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Other-Desktop-Enhancements/IndieVolume.shtml

and many simple solutions that work with XP making Windows Vista quite unnecessary for most of the time..:)

What are you guys talking about! Vista sound volume is awful, OK you may be good for muting individual programs, but as a result of the new volume mixer you can no longer actually make music on Windows, due to teh fact that it wont let you select which source you want to record (no record volume), no basic bass & treble controls, and no way of muting the background noise that the cd drive makes. If anyone knows how I can get my old volume mixer from XP, on vista I would greatly aprieciate you letting me know jeffpuk@hotmail.com

I use the IndieVolume program, too, and it works perfectly on Windows XP SP2, as nimd4 said. It gives the same amount of control as Vista's mixer. It's shareware, unfortunately, if anyone knows of a freeware alternative that would be great. I have a brand-new computer, Quad-Core 2.66 GHz with four megs of RAM and powerful graphics card. Yet I find myself using my ridiculous old Pentium 3 tower 99% of the time because I just can't take Vista. (PS, I don't like Linux, but ironically I found out that the salesman who sold me my Vista computer actually uses Ubuntu--seriously! XD)

Does anyone know how to balance the audio I want to force it Mono. Help Me please

I don't know if it's because of vista or not, but I don't like that there's no options, such as on my xp computer i can turn mic output up, so that sounds from mic or from line-in play back on speakers so if i wanted i could use computer like amp, can't figure any way of doing this in vista. no options other than i can mute different programs, which i don't really care about

the vista volume controls are rubbish..
I need the old one for my home recording..how can I get it?
can anyone help me please..
Thank
Hugo

I hate the Vista Volume Mixer. First of all, the apps that I do have running that do play audio are capable of, so I don't need to be able to adjust each one.

Secondly, I agree with some of the other comments, I want to be able to control the volume for my other devices to playback, such as Mic, Line-In, CD-ROM, etc, in the case that I want to use the computer as an amplifier, or if I want to mute one of the devices. The speakers are playing back the audio from one of the devices (I think Line-In) and it's picking up extra noise which adds a hissing sound at high volumes. If I could mute each device, this would be helpful. Controlling the volume for each app is very secondary, I miss the XP style volume mixer.

I hate the new mixer, with the old one I had immediate access to each of the (10 ) inputs on my sound card and I could control which ones displayed for easy access. Sure the new one has some improvements, but to just get rid of the old one altogether was a really bad idea. Now I have to go through 4 menus and move over a couple tabs and scroll down and hunt for the input I want to mute/change the volume of.

Is this availliable for XP? :D
With my xp skin of course koz vista's is so ugly:P

While working I often launch a dozen or so ie7 windows, and dozens of tabs within each task, so I often have hundreds of web pages open simultaneously. A bunch of tabs often are playing sounds, so I welcome the new Mixer because I can mute all windows except one, which I couldn't do in XP. However, Microsoft didn't go far enough, because I still must hunt through all the tabs within a window to find the ones playing sounds, and I must end those tabs so I can hear the one I want. Hence, controlling individual IE7 tabs in addition to applications would help greatly.

I have a physical volume to my headphones and in Winvista the volume comport strange: if I set volume low the bass increase and if I set it high the bass decrease and high increase... in WinXP the volume works perfect! I test it in 2 different computers with vista and in one with XP, so I think the problem is vista... I WANT to use my volume in a normal way: if I decrease volume not increase bass, decrease volume and if I increase volume to not increase only high... I don't understand why no one see this until now... I think this is a REAL problem in Winvista... I saw similar comportment at notebooks volume...this is crazy!

I hate it. I have a USB soundcard with an internal microphone which I now can't use because I can't mute it's microphone. Also any recordings sound like their clipping but that may be another issue. Does anyone know if there is a fix in SP1?

I also feel that I no longer have any control over mic/line levels and cannot record any source to my multitrack anymore, does anyone have a workaround?

Here here, Vista Audio sucks, bring back! bring back! bring back my XP to me! to me! It whomps I wanna record my device playback...

I totally agree. This application-centric idea is cumbersome and gives no control over device volumes - where's the sense in that? -other than for soembody that doesn't know how to turn an application volume up and down!!!
Bring back the old version please.

Actually I didnt like it either because of the same reasons you guys mentioned, but I believe I found those extra controls in control panel (classic view) sound. play around with it, I think they're all there.

I think that the Vista Mixer is a n00bs tool. If it aint broke, don't fix it. I'm a Electronic Music producer, and I like maximum control over ALL of the inputs and outputs on my card. Windows XP did this perfectly. Vista just screwed it all up, by oversimplifying stuff.

I liked the "record what you hear / Stereo mix" options in XP. very handy. in vista...I cant figure out how to do that. looked all over the web. I've just come to the conclusion that Microsoft, in all of its wisdom, has ruined windows. Lets hope windows7 is actually an improvement over xp, and not inferior, like Vista turned out to be.

You can' t change line in/mic volume through mixer but you can achieve the same result if you follow these steps. 1) open control Panel. 2) Click on hardware and sounds. 3) Click on sound. From this point you should have access to the rest of your audio controls. To change input volume that you hear click on speakers, then levels but to change the actual recording levels click on the Recording tab. It is not as convenient as the old XP mixer but it works. Let me know if this helps.

I am a vista user. vista volume mixer more compact than xp but less features people.vista volume mixer is mentioned for 'illittrate' peoples. XP volume mixer is more sutable for technical persons.i like XP volume mixer than vista's. Most of the vista features are feel stupidity.
Note : to open sound properties page just right click on taskbar volume icon and select 'playback devices'.

vista volume control can even control the volume of notepad!. in the next version microsoft planing to include volume control for your mixer grinder and washing mechine in it...Ha...Ha..

All I want is to increase my bass! I hate vindows vista!!! Why doesn't it let me increase the stupid bass. I didn't even have a choice in getting this stupid computer. My dad bought it for my birthday and I didn't even get to pick it out. And he wouldn't return it. THIS IS SO INFURIATING!!!

I can't belive I have a more powerful machine with much better integrated sound card than before and now I cannot mx de input sources the way I used to on XP. Even after right clicking on the sound icon or going to the Sound properties on the Control Pannel for some silly reason I can only control de integrated mic but nothing else.

Vista mixer ?

Where are the MIC IN LINE IN controls ?

If there are some programs that can control mic and line I would like to know.

I disagree with Marius Oiaga. I like to have complete control of basic soundcard functions in one place, not having to chase around all over the systray and control panel to find the various functions here and there. My new HP laptop appears to be mixing incoming sound with mike sound on a peer-to-peer teleconferencing app, and I can't find any way to turn that off. It causes feedback.

Also, where is the on-off for the 20dB mike level boost for the external input? Or is the external input now line level only?

Well, like everyone else who posted the Vista sound control sucks,
trying to record in adobe audition almost impossible, i managed it though..
i had to run it off main power, so there wouldn't be any static in the recording,
AND with vista's extremely bad power conservation - i had to switch to another lappy...
then running XP on a 6 year old lappy is also hard with a process demanding application.
I recommend (you know and love it) Linux!! :O ALSA is truly advanced, install Audacity (though i don't like it) or Audition though wine, and recording is smooth and simple - record the show, edit the recording, burn the CD, job done!

If I
1. Right click the speaker in the system tray;
2. Click "Recording Devices"
3. Click the "Recording" tab.
4. Right Click the window and;
5. Click " Show disabled devices"
The Wave Out Mix icon appears. "Hooray", I thought! However, it says, "currently unavailable".
This is extremely frustrating. Vista's sound features are a step backwards from XP's. Can the Wave Out Mix be turned on? The "Properties" says that "the device is working".

Someone please tell me how to turn off that annoying windows theme song. It is playing constantly. I cant hear anything on my computer. Im trying to hear the news & the song keeps playing in the background over & over. I tried the mixer but when I mute my application, speakers & headphones mute too. Help

As a sound designer, I have to admit that windows vista has me perplexed. I began running audacity under vista, but it keeps crashing. This has NEVER happened under XP. I was all set to purchase a new vista laptop, but if I can't run the software I need to get my job done, then it's nothing more than an expensive paperweight.

Also, where are the microphone controls? All I wanted to do was transfer some old tapes to a digital format, which used to be as simple as run a tapedeck through the soundcard, record with audacity and encode the results. When I start recording, the microphone input is muted by default! You can see that audacity is recording, but you can't hear the throughput!

Bad move microsoft. It would have been simple to just leave well enough alone.

i'm using windows vista ultimate.. and on this window i use tv tuner card. saa713, but its line in properties not showing line in option. how can i use my tv tuner card's line out volume in my board's line in(blue in) properties?
please any one can guide me or give me the best solution then please do give me.. i'm in great trouble. using tv tuner card volume indvidually. every time i put the speaker plug in tv tuner card for watching programs. and after that again unplugged the speakers and put the speaker plug into audio sound card of my main board.

could anyone help me so email me on my gmail account. gankky at gmail dot com

awaiting for someone's help

thanks

Thanks a lot spiro ( comment #23). That helped.

It makes me laugh there are all these articles online written clearly by the MS marketing dept..

The audio function in vista is terrible. They've taken away basic option just like how they ruined the search function.

Right now, you cannot change the volume of wav and midi like you could in XP, 98, etc. This is ridiculous.

Ken

It makes me laugh there are all these articles online written clearly by the MS marketing dept..

The audio function in vista is terrible. They've taken away basic option just like how they ruined the search function.

Right now, you cannot change the volume of wav and midi like you could in XP, 98, etc. This is ridiculous.

Ken

i have big problem for vista sound mixer, my laptop its presariof780 compac and my soundcard is smart audio 221, i can hear my music but this music dont go room like (patlak-camfrog) im sure all my drivers works good... if anyone help me i feel fine
thanx.

ok...so i thought just like you that is impossible to record under windows vista....so i thought to resolve this problem...
this is what u must do(it's not so simple like in xp)
right click on volume tray icon
recording devices
click right and select show disabled devices
you will see those that u are missing
click properties on "What u hear"
down where is says "device usage" click and select "Use this divice(enabled)"
now u cand record under vista:)

Hey guys ive just bought a brand new laptop and I have played around trying to fix this problem.
Go to control panel, choose system and click on device manager. locate the sound video and games controller. right click and unistall. (do not tick the box to remove the software)
Right click and choose scan for hardware changes and let it re-install. This should solve the problem.

Re: Comment #32 (Neil): I just tried the same thing and it worked right away! I disabled my mic and made Wave Out the preferred recording device, and can now record from system output. Model: HP Pavilion dv9207us w/Conexant High Definition Audio hardware. Thanks!

nonsense, the vista program is a downgrade from the old xp as i have software that can not work with it .. as there is no replacemebt software and the like this is useless...i also claim to have 4 webcams that do not work under vista .... waste of time trying to get the old software to work even windows update found vista drivers that...didnt work ... have had vista 4 days and am reformatting the drive putting a working os on- not one that i am told is great by the authors...

I have the problem where sometimes my sound does not work and, for example, AOL sound is not working. How can I add applications to the sound mixer controls or make sure that applications are not disabled.

Well, it seems the more that we hate Vista, the more they want to dump it on us! We HATE Vista, Bill Gates (or whoever's responsible for it)! Make Vista sumth'n usable...like XP! How 'bout sumth'n like the "New Vista XP"? (...or maybe not)

I can't work out how to mute the CD input to the mixer.... They have taken it away. My laptop (and others I have used) get a small amount of interference on the sound card, which can normally be significantly reduced by turning the volume of the CD input to 0. However, as they have hidden this in Vista, I now have no choice but to hear ticks, clicks & fuzz when copying files.

While Vista has hidden the control, the ultimate blame needs to go to Dell for not putting enough shielding in their laptops.

Thanks Michael.... Thanks Bill

i cannot hear sound. there is a moving green bar when i open the volume mixer and the output is on 100, but i cannot hear sound.
what can i do?

I just want to join the constantly growing choir of very,very, very annoyed Vista users. Especially when it comes to the mixer! I have never experienced such a crappy application before. XP was a ocean of joy in comparison! Give me one good reason for this disaster!!
Bo
Denmark

Well bill you've done it again another package thats really no different than the last if anything a down grade rather than an upgrade. I dont believe out of the 39 comments there's a good one. Seriously envy you guys at least you can open up volume control recording tab, when i do Bill Gates Vista Deflates and grinds to a halt resulting in the ever to often Microsoft finger on the power button for 5 secconds trick. After struggling for over two days now i've had enough, upgraded every driver possible realtek ac97 and microsoft's patch, but for some reason the MIC and my Dvico FusionHDTV Dual dig tuner are fighting like Ethiopians with one Big Mac.

P.S CAN ANYBODY TELL ME IF LINUX IS ANY GOOD FOR GAMES AND EVERYTHING ELSE.

The Vista sound mixer never worked on my PC. I think Vista was designed by a bunch of inexperienced kids which don't know too much about OS. An OS must be mean and lean. The performance and reliability should be the most important things they should focus. not the stupid 3D graphical User Interface.
I like XP's mixer which is so easy to use, but Microsoft does not support XP any more. It is understandable that Microsoft will be losing many many customers for making such a bad OS, Vista. My next OS is MAC OS-X. not the Windows 7.

the vista mixer and sound feater prevents loop through from a mic input
to the local speaker. Some of us use that for audio loop through. We use it for something other than microphone input. Yes I know a mic would squeal if it were unmuted, but for example I have a sound source on mic input that I want to record and listen to and the only way to do it on vista is play the device with something like vlc media player where the source is sound record. This unmute and crosbar swithc that allows audio to flow from the input to the speaker output isavailable in XP and 2003 but not vista. It was one of the first things I noticed, that I cant unmute mic audio or listen to it. The assumption that nobody would ever think to use that input for loop through demonstrates a serious limitation and major problem for me, I have to use XP or earlier for this sound feature. I use my pc's for sound logging with loop through audio. I determided the problem is in vista software, I'm just about ready to pull vista off this laptop so I can use it the way I need to.

Looks good. Need this for my mac.

Vist sound works the way that MS wants it to work. MS is aware of the limitations in the sound mixer etc. This will prevent you from playing any protected content and recording the sound via a program such as Audacity. This is copy protection at it's best, or worse, depending on how you use your computer.
I cannot use Vista as I have a ton of soundtraxs that I have purchased and will be putting on CD. I must be able to play these and record in realtime. MS has teamed up with the record companies to stop us from being able to copy to programs like Audacity. You can play sounds, but not record them. If you find the record function deep in the guts of Vista, chances are they are putting up limitations to prevent copy of your audio.

I think you will find the same thing with video.. I have not checked that out yet.

later..

one day i downloaded a tunebite(i dont remember the version) and it came with drive mixer and i have it installed but then i installed tubebite on windows 7 and it didn't work ....
try to install tunebite it doesn't matter if it's the free version maybe.............!!!

Need a way to force Vista to NEVER mute the sound. This is needed to support a blind user's ability to use the Vista system at all. I'm sure you realize that a blind person cannot use the mouse and the pictures on the screen and popup messages mean nothing. The system must speak to the blind user to support any use at all.

For some reason Vista sets all sound output to mute every time the computer is rebooted. This is not acceptable under any circumstances to support a blind user's ability to use the system.

Please call me at (714) 893-6684 or email me at miketodd@miketodd.com for a way to set Vista so it will NEVER mute the speakers.

Mike Todd
President, Internet Society Los Angeles Chapter

I have to agree with most of the comments on here. I have XP on my laptop and use Audacity for home recording. I can alter the recording input levels and choose mic/line/stereo mix etc from within Audacity, and can adjust the line in volume easily from the Volume Control taskbar icon to change the monitor volume too. It's simple, easy and works.

I tried to use the same software on my friends newer/better laptop under Vista last night..... f**king nightmare. You simply cannot find controls for the input devices on the taskbar sound mixer, you have to hunt through control panel to find everything. You can't select the recording level within Audacity, you have to do it from outside. If the line-in level is set high enough to be audible as a monitor, it is way way too loud for recording. If you set it right for recording, you can't actually hear it while you play! You can't even select what input source to use in Audacity, the box is greyed out. And it crashes all the time.

It's really awful for home recording.

like so many reviews here i am totally disgusted with vista when i first installed it , it looked good although i dont usually go for all singing and dancing user interfaces it was something different, however the sound quality not to mention all the other sound related features is far from bearable, i run a dedicated top of range soundcard and have connected to that a top of range amp and set of full range speakers, most playback of mp'3 or any soundfile through my system shows some flaw, in other words the mp3 must be a real good quality bit rate, Most of my mp3 files are good quality and XP sound was exellent for basic playback, but with vista even this basic playback sound quality has disappeared the sound is "Forced" and is too "digital" in XP it was bass rich and crystal clear i dont know how MS messed this up and would like it restored through some kind of update , fix, I am planning on puttin XP back in my system and ditchin vista altogether,, if its not broke dont fix it MS

Windows Vista is GARBAGE.
Go back to WinXP Professional (actually it is professional), and wait for Windows7.
Skip Vista virus altogether, that system should've never seen the lightr of day... at least for professional people who aren't interested in dancing and watchign retarded movies on computers, instead of WORKING.

It's amazing that people and reviewers get so excited about "Vista's state of the art sound control", when Linux has been at that level for many years. Same thing goes for Aero by the way...

However, in Vista I'm unable to increase the sound level beyond 100%. On this computer (not my own), the speakers are without volume control, and even with the volume setting to the max, it's difficult to hear anything. Couldn't they add an optional dB gain so I can increase the volume by e.g. 6 dB (quadruple the output effect)?

The audio volume control of Vista ia terrible.
Hopefully it gets better in Windows 7...

This article is a joke, vista volumen control doesn't even allow you to adjust the speaker balance between left and right channels!

I have a laptop with Vista Prmum installed in it. If I want to record wave output to any audio recorder installed in same laptop, how can I do it? In mixer I can only see the microphone as input Nothing else is there pls. anybody can help me.

I am relatively inept when it comes to computers, but even I could easily adjust the sound in XP in ways that I find impossible in Vista. The only thing I can adjust now is volume. I am adding my voice to the "HATE IT" chorus. Why make it harder to do very basic things?

Vista does not allow access to record monitoring, which means that musicians cannot use Vista. Pure and simple.

Well done.

I would like to know if I would to install it in the mixer for xp?
thank you very much!

It'd be nice to have mono channels.

I went to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Sound > Speakers > Levels > Properties > Equalizer. There you can play around with it. I set it on CLASSICAL MUSIC and the speakers work very nice on my ASUS M51Va laptop. Give it a try.

I hate it. I can't make media player or any other movie player make sound in vista. All show up in the mixer, but the media player sound doesn't ding, or sound at all when you move the mixer up or down. I'm going to linux!

I've never been so frustrated trying to adjust the volume so much before until Vista! I right click on my taskbar, go to properties, notification area and my system icon is gone more than half the time!

I'm just trying to adjust my volume for the love of God!

So what I have to do is go to start menu, go to help and support, type in volume, then finally I can click to control the volume. This used to be such a elementary task.

I'm sure there are tutorials out there how to "fix this" but I don't want to search for hours on end or risk downloading some potential virus program.

>ugh

Does anyone know why my computer still makes sounds after I've muted everything in the Volume Mixer and set the sound scheme to "No Sound"? It seems to only happen with the new computational software program we starting using in my company. It beeps every time I select something, as if I was doing something wrong, but I know I'm not. The are no error messages or anything. It's driving me ( and probably everyone around me) crazy!

Is it not possible to reinstall the XP soundmixer on Windows 7 or Vista ? That must be possible no ? Anyone an idea ?

Windows 7 is exactly the same as Vista ... the soundmixing is terrible .. I really hate it. If I cannot have this fixed I will downgrade again to XP.

How can we download this volume mixer ? Anyone can help me please.