What settings do my Laptop/PC and Maschine mk3 need to sample directly from Youtube?

MisterJ

Windows 11. Headphone Maschine MK3 WDM Audio. I only have the USB cable connecting my Laptop to my Maschine MK3.

I have device monitoring on yet see no incoming audio when playing on Youtube.

My settings are below.

Interface: Driver: Asio, Device: MK3

Input Routings: In 1L: 1: In Left, In 1R: 2: In Right

Output Routings (1-4): Out 1L: 1: Main L, Out 1R: 2: Main R, Out 3L: 3: HP Left, Out 3R: 4: HP R

Input: Source: Ext. Ster., Input: In 1 L+R

Any advice would be helpful. I had it working on my PC when routing through my Focusrite 4i4. Do I need different drivers or some sort of external audio interface or can I sample directly using the USB cable with proper settings/drivers?

JesterMgee

Youtube (and all PC audio) will be going to a physical output (whatever one you have setup as your windows audio output) whereas software is listening to inputs so youtube will not appear as a source to record because it is going to the output, not input...

So what you would need to do is either re-rout that audio to an input:

Software Solution: there are many but you need either a way to rout/patch the audio output stream back to an input stream. Look at something called VoiceMeeter, tho this is not for the faint hearted as it can be complex to figure things out but it is free (donationware) and very flexible

https://voicemeeter.com/

There are many other options to rout audio back into a input channel, another option is something called "Source Nexus" which creates a virtual audio device on your system which you can send any audio out of, but this feeds back to a VST instrument plugin you can add to any track in a DAW so allowing you to easily input audio from any source into a DAW track

https://store.source-elements.com/software-products/source-nexus

Costs a pretty penny so more of a pro solution but works well.

Hardware Solution: This is literally to take the audio output from headphone or direct and feed it back as an input by connecting to your physical input channels. Ideally have a mixer in the middle to adjust the signal and of course you need to be mindful of feedback loops so helps to have several audio outputs available to separate your output to speakers from output from what you want to record. This is actually how I record software and ASIO based audio into videos as it is easy to then also mix with a mic or other sources and is always setup ready to go at the press of a button, no fumbling with software and routings etc.

Download Solution: If it is just YT you want to record, there are many downloader sites that let you simply extract the audio from a video and download it direct. For YT if I ever need it I typically use this as it is just quicker than recording and editing. Won't recommend anything specific, Google can help find something that should work.