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Switch between Audio Devices the Easy Way!

Henkenator68NL
Level 13
Switch between Sound Devices the Easy Way

I mostly use 2 sound devices:
- 5.1 surround speaker system
- G35 Headset 7.1 surround

When I am playing a game on the speaker system and I want to switch to my headset as fast as possible …. to talk to my team members on Teamspeak or if I get a Skype Call or urgently need to make other people happy (strangely for some reason people seem not to appreciate loud noise blasting through my house, when I am playing Battlefield 3 or some other game ???? Ahhhh hmmmm My Family, even my kids ! ….. The Neighbours … LOL 😉 )

So this is what Mr. Gates has me doing to switch to my headset and back:

  • Alt+tab out of the game
  • Right Click the sound button in taskbar
  • Select Audio Devices
  • Select the Headset
  • Right click and select set as standard
  • Click Apply
  • Alt+tab back to the game
Really very handy and easy ….

Well it bothered the *#*#* out of me.

I searched around lots of times, BUT I FOUND THIS SIMPLE SOLUTION (sorry I’m still very happy).
It’s Called SSD (Set Sound Device) strange to use that abbreviation but who cares.

Link:
http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/quickly-set-sound-device-in-windows-7-from-desktop-or-comm...

Choose 32 or 64bit, download the latest version (current v1.1).
Unzip and place in map (of your own choosing) on your OS drive.
Double click to start the program: It opens up sound devices and you pick the device you mostly use (for example Logitech 5.1 surround system). Hit OK.
Now you’ll find a short cut on your desktop to that device.
Double click the program again and select the second device you use.
Hit OK and a second shortcut is created on your desktop.

The only thing you have to do, to switch to your headset is double click the appropriate shortcut, very fast en so simple! Double click surround set and you’re back at speaker system. I just love it!

I changed the standard icons to more nice looking icons and glued them to my taskbar. See picture.
I works like a charm!
I thought maybe some else might find this useful so I share it here!
Greetings

7485
89,006 Views
8 REPLIES 8

HiVizMan
Level 40
That is so clever thanks mate I swap out sound devices all the time and that has made my life so much easier.

Positive rep your way

Cheers
To help us help you - please provide as much information about your system and the problem as possible.

Henkenator68NL
Level 13
Thanks HiVizMan!

xeromist
Moderator
If you wanted to streamline it even further you could probably use a macro program to bind them to hotkeys. 🙂
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

xeromist wrote:
If you wanted to streamline it even further you could probably use a macro program to bind them to hotkeys. 🙂
that is a good idea ... Tried it and it works partly ... wenn playing fullscreen game... it closes / minimizes the game to taskbar so still have to click the game to go to full screen.. any ideas ??

Henkenator68NL wrote:
that is a good idea ... Tried it and it works partly ... wenn playing fullscreen game... it closes / minimizes the game to taskbar so still have to click the game to go to full screen.. any ideas ??


That sounds due to your macro program possibly? Or maybe the switcher program doesn't allow you to have a full screen app when it launches. Depending how you have it setup you could try playing with the shortcut properties to see if you can fix it. Otherwise, not sure. :confused:
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station…

Have you tried Default Sound Gadget?
http://defaultsound.tofran.com/
Almoast no ram use and pretty effective and simple

DaemonCantor
Level 13
Thank you Henk, I was looking for an easy way to Switch Audio at restart because no matter what I do it Switches the Defaults to the Video Card and there's no Sound output there!

aswitcher
Level 7

Hi Henk, if you like keyboard shortcuts you may find audioswitch app even easier (there is no need for macros but in that case - NirSoft have a solution). I personally made my own audioswitch headphone stand as I was super annoyed with clicking anything 🙂