If I use cubase 11 pro on my windows 10 PC (M-Audio sound card), the sound works fine in cubase but when I close it, the sound has gone from my pc e.g. I can’t hear media players, youtube etc.
To get the sound on my pc to start working again, I have to either troubleshoot through windows 10 or do a system restore to a point before I used cubase. I can then hear media players, youtube etc.
The next time I use cubase, the same thing will happen again.
I’m not sure if there’s a setting in cubase where it can take control of the sound on a pc and maybe become the default player?
I guess that there you are using the ASIO driver that is bundled with your M-Audio sound card. From which, the most obvious idea is to check (in the Studio > Studio setup… > Audio system pane) the Release Driver when Application is in Background parameter state.
If your ASIO driver isn’t multiclient, it should be ticked, as it will allow you to use different external players when Cubase hasn’t the focus. Here, I have it unticked because the RME ASIO driver allows multiclient access.
Another way could be to activate your onboard sound chip (guess that there is one…) and use it strictly for all the audio tasks external to Cubase. I wouldn’t do it, as the whole thing can become messy, but I have used this solution for a while, long ago (during the Windows XP days, using a non multiclient ASIO driver).
Also check the project sample rate vs the sound driver default sample rate. On my system (using Audient ASIO driver), Cubase will effectively mute everything else if I open a project with a sample rate that differs from the sound driver default sample rate.
After closing Cubase I need to change/restore the default driver sample rate and then (sometimes) restart the other app (Youtube, media player…)
