"Failed to open the audio device ..."

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SteveRawcliffe
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Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:02 am

"Failed to open the audio device ..."

Post by SteveRawcliffe » Wed Jan 20, 2021 10:13 am

Am using the physical audio input and output sockets on my PC (mic and line in for input, speakers or line out for output).

Most of the time this works fine.

But every now and then, for no apparent reason, Ableton stops recognising any of my inputs and outputs. They still appear on the selection list in Preferences>Audio, but whichever of them I select, I get the message "Failed to open the audio device", followed by the name of the device.

At the bottom of the main screen, I have the message "The audio engine is off. Please click here to choose an audio device from Live's Audio Preferences."
I've got MME/DirectX selected as driver type.

Closing and re-opening Ableton always resolves the problem, so it's not a disaster, but it is a PITA.

Anyone any ideas as to what's causing this, and how to stop it happening?

Do I need to install a different sound driver?

Am using Live 10 Standard under Windows 10.

Tarekith
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Re: "Failed to open the audio device ..."

Post by Tarekith » Wed Jan 20, 2021 1:07 pm

It's a cheap soundcard with poorly written drivers most likely. Check that you're using the latest drivers for the soundcard first, if that doesn't work then maybe the asio4all driver would be something to try. Ultimately you're going to want to save for a dedicated soundcard with proper ASIO drivers though, but there some out there in all price ranges luckily.
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chintimin
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Re: "Failed to open the audio device ..."

Post by chintimin » Wed Aug 17, 2022 8:21 am

Tarekith wrote:
Wed Jan 20, 2021 1:07 pm
It's a cheap soundcard with poorly written drivers most likely. Check that you're using the latest drivers for the soundcard first, if that doesn't work then maybe the asio4all driver would be something to try. Ultimately you're going to want to save for a dedicated soundcard with proper ASIO drivers though, but there some out there in all price ranges luckily.

I meannnnnnnn every single game ever would pick up the sound stack just fine and play directx audio with like, no latency at all on top of whatever else on a cheap Realtek integrated sound card, but that would be a lot to expect of my 600$ digital audio workstation software
...

The number of times I've had ableton crash when a DAC unplugs... I get it, it's confusing for it, but could we at least admit it's a "could use improvement" instead of .... nevermind. Sigh.

I wish Ableton's sound driver support were a lot more robust; It's very frustrating feeling like I have to buy specific hardware to play software-only instruments with low latency.

...But yes, usually restarting it will work fine.

Tarekith
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Re: "Failed to open the audio device ..."

Post by Tarekith » Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:40 pm

I would bet the majority of musicians on this forum have upgraded to a better soundcard in order to achieve the stability and latency they want. So you’re not alone, it’s just part of wanting to create music with computers.
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