Question

I am capturing the desktop using VLC and DirectShow an I need to find the main speakers audio device in order to capture all the sound from the desktop, can this be done programmaticly ?
I am using C# in windows XP and 7

Answer 1

You actually cannot capture data from speakers. The real options are:

• audio capture from real audio input device, such as microphone
• audio capture from loop back device (provided that it is enabled)

Note that loopback capture is different in Vista+ and older systems, also previously discussed here:

• Is it possible to record sound played on the sound card?
• Get sample of sound from stereo mix in Windows
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6993186/windows-7-any-audio-libraries-supporting-loopback-audio-capturing-in-c