Cakewalk Seems To Have Stole My Audio Driver

[Bit Dreams]

Ever since installing Cakewalk, I haven't been able to play any sound, although installing VoiceMeeter allows me to play through my laptop speakers. But when I plug my earbuds in, the Dell MaxxWave Audio Pro popup doesn't show up to enable my audio jack and no applications besides Cakewalk (and PT First I believe) play sound. I also have ASIO4All installed, although I don't always need my Focusrite but I let my DAWs use it anyway.

Trying to play a test sound on the default speakers gives me a "Failed to play test tone".

I have tried:

1) Going into Device Manager and uninstalling the audio drivers for Realtek (my onboard laptop driver).

2) Checking the two options in Edit -> Preferences -> "Suspend Audio Engine..." and "Always Open All Devices".

3) Unchecking in Windows Sound Control Panel "Give exclusive control to application"

4) Restarting and NOT opening Cakewalk, just Youtube

5) Changing the sample rate of Windows to match what Cakewalk/ASIO4ALL was using...only to find it says "Format not supported" for anything other than 24-bit 48kHz

Any help is appreciated. From what I can tell, Cakewalk or maybe ASIO4ALL has somehow permanently overriden my regular soundcard (registry maybe?) or maybe a Cakewalk/ASIO daemon is still running, although I've checked Windows Services.

Edited August 12, 2021 by Bit Dreams
Another thing I tried.

[Glenn Stanton]

seems like you have 3 or 4 audio drivers involved. i doubt this has anything to do with Cakewalk. i suggest uninstalling or disabling every audio driver except the default Windows WASAPI drivers. then test. and if that works, then use WASAPI Shared with CW to allow it to cross-operate with other audio apps. skip the ASIO4ALL, VoiceMeeter, etc as they're often problematic if not properly configured.

[John Vere]

As Glen has pointed out. WASAPI is the best choice for an audio driver when using on board audio. It has made those other bandaid drivers obsolete. 
Of coarse you should use the Focusrite ASIO drivers when in use. 
 

But you cannot use your laptop audio jacks while using the ASIO audio interface (Focusrite). Just use a 1/8”-1/4” adapter into the Interface headphones jack. 
 

I would totally remove the not needed drivers including from the Registry or you will have conflicting drivers. WASAPI out performs those drivers as it is optimized for windows 10 if you do use you computers sound chip instead of you interface. 
 

Edited August 13, 2021 by John Vere
Clarify

[Byron Dickens]

ASIO4ALL is totally unnecessary. I am about 99.99% sure that Focusrite supplies their own dedicated driver which is what you should be using with the interface.

[Promidi]

4 hours ago, bdickens said:

ASIO4ALL is totally unnecessary. I am about 99.99% sure that Focusrite supplies their own dedicated driver which is what you should be using with the interface.

Focusrite does supply their own dedicated ASIO driver.  Definitely ditch ASIO4ALL and use Focusrite’s.

[Bit Dreams]

Thank you for the detailed replies!

So I ended up uninstalling ASIO4ALL, VoiceMeetr, a FL Studio driver that I thought might help, and Waves MaxxAudio Pro.

I was able to get speakers working, and then uninstalling a stray Waves MaxxAudio Pro driver under Device Manager -> Other Devices -> Waves Audio Device Component made my audio jack work again it seems.

I will say it feels like there's a difference in sound, maybe the Maxx Waves application/driver actually helps or maybe it just adjusts the EQ enough to make it seem like it's more distinct. I'm on an XPS 9750 currently and I do have DTS Unbound Soudn and Dolby Access as options. Or maybe the popping from uninstalling/reinstalling drivers loosened up my earbuds too much.

Anyway, Dell technically says on the website that the Waves Maxx isn't supported for my device which is odd because it came with it. So I'm hesitant to reinstall it. Might be worth a trip to their forums.

Thank you!!!

[Glenn Stanton]

also turn all "audio enhancement" features in the windows sound control because if you leave any of them enabled it will skew the results you listen to.