Missing 'Stereo Mix' in Win 10 Sounds 1

[voisey]

I have previously used Audacity to record streaming audio. After some time I have attempted to try this again, however when I set it to record I get feedback. I have tried amending the settings but Stereo Mix is missing.
In older incarnations of Audacity I was able to fix this by using ‘Stereo Mix’. When I check the sounds setting for recording I found that ‘Stereo Mix’ is no longer there. I’m stumped.
Any ideas as to why it has disappeared – if no solution does anyone have an alternation they could suggest. I have heard of other software that can take an audio stream and pass it to the recording software – but no idea of what this is.
Sorry to be a bit vague but I am no expert. I used to record news items and sometimes new music to check out before purchasing albums.
Any help or ideas welcome

V

PS Not sure at all which forum to post this in so apologies if anyone thinks I it should be elsewhere

 

[Andrzejek]

From How to Enable “Stereo Mix” in Windows and Record Audio from Your PC:

In some cases, your audio chipset drivers aren’t helping your cause. Most likely, this is because they’re outdated. In other instances, however, it’s because the newest Windows drivers for your chipset don’t support this feature. This was the case on my Asus Eee PC (a 1000HE), but I got around the issue by downloading and installing the older Windows XP/Vista drivers for my audio chipset. As always, before changing your drivers, make sure create a system restore point in case things don’t go as planned.

---- Andy

"Hmm...they have the internet on computers now"--Homer Simpson

 

[2ffat]

Be aware that Audacity has been taken over by another company and some are reporting that it has become spyware.

James P. Cottingham
I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!

 

[strongm]

No, it has not become spyware. A couple of news sites that ought to know better overreacted (specifically FOSS Post and Slash Gear) to Muse suggesting in an admittedly poorly-worded press release concerning a privacy policy that they were adding telemetry to a future version (3.0.3). The issue has since been clarified. Ars Technica carry a good article about it. And remember, Audacity is open source, so you can if you wish examine the code yourself to see exactly what it is doing ..

 

[goombawaho]

Still, you have to be careful these days with all the "poisoning the well" attacks that install malware or ransomware. The days of just installing anything that you download should be replaced with careful analysis beforehand. It's to the point where you can hardly say anything is safe by default.

 

[spamjim]

I don't recall a point at any time where we could say anything is safe by default.

Recent, highly-publicized attacks have been on closed source software vendors, where it is easier to sneak stuff in.

Of course, Audacity can become a good target with all the third party (often closed source) VST plugins you can add from sketchy developers.

 

[voisey]

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my query.

I am not confident enough to download and install previous drivers for my audio chipset. I have sat back and pondered the issue from another perspective and found a workaround.

Instead of using ‘Stereo Mix’ I have set Audacity to record audio to ‘Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device) [whatever that is!] means I can hear the recording being made. To hear the recording back I then switch that setting to ‘Speakers (High Definition Audio Device).

Suffice to say that I am not technical at all, was just a jobbing project manager/analyst and my intuition made me try the different options open to me – and this works for me.

Thanks again

V