UR44C FX REC Without Monitoring

Hey, I just purchased a UR44C after my Scarlett exploded and I’m trying to set it up. I was excited by the prospect of using EQ and compression on the DSP for voice chat and livestreaming without external software.

So far, the only way I’ve found to get Discord (or any Windows microphone input) to get the wet signal from the Steinberg DSP is to enable FX rec, and set Loopback to either Live Cast or Voice Chat. The signal appears to be dry if I set loopback to ‘Off’, even if FX REC is enabled.

The issue with this is that the signal is also sent to my headphones/speakers, and if I mute the input it also gets muted for Discord. How can I use the FX for a Windows input without being forced to monitor it? Every related thread I found had advice for Cubase but I’m not using a DAW.

And in case someone asks: ‘why would you want to do this? it’s great to monitor yourself’:

  1. I can’t turn on my speakers without getting mic feedback unless I turn off monitoring first
  2. Because the DSP doesn’t do any noise reduction, I have to hear an unbearable amount of noise while monitoring my microphone. It’s like having a constant -30db noise floor.
  3. I use open back headphones, so my mic picks it up even if I’m not using my speakers.

I’d just like a touch of compression and EQ on my mic without having to deal with these issues.

It sounds like you’re using the FX send bus.
Don’t use the send, but use the FX insert instead (look right below the “fx rec” button on the mic channel).
Then make sure you enable “fx rec” but disable monitoring.