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I have two headsets. One has a USB tip and the other has a standard mic out/stereo in. I have tried my darndest to get them both inputing audio simultaneously to little success. I have done all that business with enabling stereo mix and having this or that device "listen" for each other and whatnot. Hasn't really worked out. Is this even possible without extra hardware? I don't have a dedicated sound card but I have a pretty high-end gaming motherboard (Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 AM3+).

My end goal is to be able to have two game commentators be able to use their mics and headphones simultaneously while also recording the in-game sound. What is the bare minimum requirements I need for this?

I read another thread that suggested a simple audio input splitter here. Is this the best option for recording two inputs to one track? What about if I wanted a dedicated track for each commentator?

Community
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Brimby
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  • I'm not going to qualify this as an answer; but Windows is terrible for audio routing; cannot be done natively, needs external, 3rd party assistance, like perhaps Plogue's Bidule – Tetsujin Mar 22 '15 at 22:36
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    Yeah I guess that is all there is to say about it. I ended up just getting two simple headphone splitters from Target (one for mic, one for headphones) and it worked just fine for my purposes. – Brimby Mar 23 '15 at 19:26
  • Have you tried JACK: http://jackaudio.org/ ?? – Mark Durham Jul 12 '15 at 19:13

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The reason you can not record from both is because the headset with USB has a built in "sound card", and most programs only record from one sound device at a time.

All usb microphones and headset send digital information (USB is a digital only protocol). That means that they have already run the audio through a Digital analog converter. This is essentially a sound card.

Your other headset is sending analog information to the internal sound card, and that device is running it through its DAC.

So in the end, it is two different sound cards, and there is no good way to record from two sound cards at once.

You have some options.

See if you can find a recording program that can record from two devices at once (might be difficult). This will most likely result in to separate audio files that will need to be mixed.

Try this guide: http://www.howtogeek.com/61037/how-to-record-from-multiple-audio-devices-simultaneously/

Or you can get two analog headset (non USB) and use a splitter or a mixer to join them together.

The best solution is a cheap audio interface (sound card) like this. This takes two analog ins and gives a digital out to your PC You would just need some cheap adapters to get your headphone 3.5mm jack into an xlr.

http://www.amazon.com/PreSonus-AudioBox-USB-Audio-Interface/dp/B00154KSA2?ie=UTF8&keywords=audio%20interface&psc=1&qid=1460061984&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1-spons

Scorb
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To record more audio channels, you need sound card with more inputs. Then you can use some DAW to record them and mix them afterwards.

owl
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I use my audio setup in a similar way when broadcasting game tournaments. Best thing to do is get an Audio interface. Use two XLR Mics and then send that feed into your system. This also allows me to use the monitor features of the Audio Interface to send voice monitoring to all heads sets. Lets the broadcasters know when they need to speak up or watch if they are breathing into the Mics

BDubbers
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If you'd like to stick with the headsets that you've got, instead of buying new mics, DAWs or audio interfaces etc, then you will need to get Virtual Audio Cable if you're on PC or create an aggregate audio device with your USB headset and Mic Input if on a Mac (assuming you have a mic-in on your Mac).

Essentially, VAC (PC) and creating aggregate devices (Mac) allows you to 'combine' Audio Devices to make them appear as one Device. That way, you'd set your Input Device to your game streaming/recording software as this VAC / aggregate Device, which hence would route both your USB Mic and your standard 3.5mm-jack Mic to the software.

As you mention an Asus mobo I take it you'll be interested in the PC option, VAC:-

In VAC you would route the input from the USB Mic, and the input from your motherboard Mic-In to a 'Virtual Cable'. This 'Virtual Cable' would then be the Audio Device you select in your streaming/recording software. There are downloads and instructions on the linked website, and plenty of video tutorials on YouTube should you get stuck. I believe there may be a small fee in purchasing VAC, but you can at least use it in Trial Mode first to see if you like it.

Edit: Additional note - I'm aware your question is regarding PC, but have mentioned the Mac alternative in case it's useful at all.

Skarik
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