I have just installed Cubase Elements AI 11. The weird thing is that when I launch Cubase, I don’t get any sound from speakers anymore, not in Cubase and not in Windows in general (for instance when I play a Youtube video)… As soon as I close Cubase, I’m able to play sound (files) again.
I have noticed that Cubase changes my Windows playback audio device to some undefined driver… This swaps back to the proper replay device (Realtek audio) whenever I close Cubase…
Is there somebody out there pls that could help me with this issue…? Thanks a whole lot in advance and kind regards!!!
First Cubase always wants to use an ASIO Driver which dedicated Audio Interfaces almost always use. But it sounds like you are using your computer’s built in interface, which typically do not have ASIO Drivers.
So folks end up using drivers that create an ASIO ‘front end’ for a regular audio device. Cubase comes with one called “Generic Low Latency ASIO Driver” but another one called ASIO4ALL is very popular.
Generally using real a ASIO driver will provide better performance than a generic driver. So you are likely to run into limitations sooner.
With many ASIO drivers only one app or program can use it at a time - which is what you are seeing (hearing?). There is a setting that lets Cubase release the driver when Cubase is in the background. You should check this (fyi mine is unchecked because RME ASIO drivers can talk to multiple programs at once).
When launching Cubase, it will take over the audio hardware using a different driver than your OS. That is why no other program can use your sound hardware as long as Cubase is running. That is usually a desired effect to eliminate sound and timing interference from other software.
For the settings see Rainos post above.
