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Multiple Instances

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:16 am
by madda811
Hey guys,
I have some odd behaviour of Voicemeeter Potato.
I often have the same program shown on multiple inputs.
So for example Discord shows on VAIO and on AUX. It's annoying, because you then can't really adjust the sliders correctly, as the list is full.
Is there any wrong setting on my side or another solution?
Thanks for help in advance.
Greetings Madda

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:23 pm
by xcasxcursex
I also see this behaviour. I only see it when I use the Windows control panel to set the audio device. If the application allows native selection of the audio device,then it only appears in the list for that device, but if I have to use 'App Volume Device Preferences' in widows settings, to redirect audio from the default device, to a custom device, it appears in both lists in voicemeeter.

For example, my media player allows me to select VIAO3 as the audio output device. Firefox does not allow the selection of an audio device, so I have to use windows control panel.

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 1:27 pm
by Vincent Burel
you may check if your our virtual audio devices are well installed, with the right pin name and icon and consider re-install them:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=688

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 1:22 am
by Atg
instances vb.jpg
instances vb.jpg (186.48 KiB) Viewed 16312 times
lot of firefox.jpg
lot of firefox.jpg (147.27 KiB) Viewed 16312 times
I have similar problem with Firefox - it have a few sub-processes . Even Windows itself have multiple instances in "App volume and device preferences" (ms-settings:apps-volume). Maybe it's more like an OS problem. But I know at least one program that shows only one instance of app - EarTtrumpet, maybe they found some solution.

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 4:43 am
by xcasxcursex
For what it's worth, firefox nightly doesn't do that 'multiple entries in the control panel' bug that you showed.... So perhaps it's been fixed.

However, I think you are now talking about two different bugs.

One, is that when you use this control panel to redirect audio from the 'default' device to a specific device (as you do with firefox and discord), then the application appears in BOTH devices in the voicemeeter GUI. This is the real issue here. Reinstalling the device did not fix this by the way, sorry Vincent :(

The other bug, is that sometimes a single application can have multiple entries in the control panel. I don't think that issue is really appropriate for this forum - probably best for either Windows or the application's support forums.

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:02 pm
by xcasxcursex
Further evidence that this is in fact a windows bug:

If you use the keyboard media control keys to change volume, it does not change the volume on the targeted device, it changes it on the default device.

To explain this as an example:

My default device is Voicemeeter Input
In the 'App volume and device preferences' settings app, I have firefox set to output to Voicemeeter VIAO3.

If I am using firefox and use the volume keys (a knob on my logitech keyboard) then it shows (in an on-screen overlay) that the volume is being controlled.
Play/pause/skip/etc all work as expected, for example I can pause and play a youtube video.
However, the volume does not change.

Viewing the sound control panel (control.exe, click 'Sound') and viewing the properties of each sound device, and changing to the 'Levels' tab, I can see that the volume shown on screen is the volume of the default device. The volume of the device which firefox is using (VAIO 3) remains at 100% as I left it.


Windows is just bad at audio. This is why we need voicemeeter. It helps us to work around the many limitations, but it cannot do magic. This recent addition of being able to assign applications to certain devices is actually a lie. It does not only output to that device. It outputs to the default device, and then redirects to the specified device. This is why we see it in voicemeeter on both devices.

Perhaps though, it would be a good idea for voicemeeter to allow us to scroll through the list of applications shown in the channel strip. This way, when windows shows too many outputs, we can still scroll to see the ones that are hidden.... Or maybe, just maybe, Vincent is very clever and can figure out how to hide the applications which are not really outputting audio to the default device but are actually being redirected to a different device - but still there is a chance to have too many applications to see them all, so scrolling would still be a nice feature :)

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2020 1:18 pm
by xcasxcursex
....and more simple evidence: Just use sndvol.exe. You will see that your application is still using the default audio device, even though you have told the settings app to use a different device.

Windows audio :evil: :twisted: :roll:

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2020 8:53 am
by Vincent Burel
the new WIN10 APP Volume and device preference is maybe not 100% reliable .
also we cannot say how much it can finally disturb the device assignation in Voicemeeter ...
maybe have to take care about possible conflict there...

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2020 4:49 pm
by Spegeli
I got the some issue: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=980
xcasxcursex wrote:Perhaps though, it would be a good idea for voicemeeter to allow us to scroll through the list of applications shown in the channel strip. This way, when windows shows too many outputs, we can still scroll to see the ones that are hidden.... Or maybe, just maybe, Vincent is very clever and can figure out how to hide the applications which are not really outputting audio to the default device but are actually being redirected to a different device - but still there is a chance to have too many applications to see them all, so scrolling would still be a nice feature :)
Scrollable is a good idea, but better would be to hide app on the "unused" device.
The app "chevolume" do this. There the app is only showen on the used device, only when i activate the advanced mode i see the app in all devices (like voicemeeter do it).

Re: Multiple Instances

Posted: Mon Mar 30, 2020 2:59 pm
by Vincent Burel
restart audio engine (in voicemeeter menu) should reset app list normally.