My PC's motherboard has both an analog (speaker) and digital (SPDIF) output. It uses a Realtek audio chip. The audio apps I use (Audacity, Analog Lab Pro) allow me to choose between these two devices for the output device: Speakers (Realtek(R) Audio) or
Realtek Digital Audio (Realtek (R) Audio)
However, Kontakt 8 only has one item listed: Realtek ( R ) Audio. It doesn't specify whether it is the Speaker or the Digital Audio. As it turns out it is the Digital Audio, because no sound is generated through the speaker output and an optical signal is generated from the Digital Audio port.
I was wondering why the analog Speaker is not listed as an option in Kontakt but is an option in other audio apps. I also noticed that the "Device driver configuration" entry (located just below "Device") is blank. It seems that would be the entry where we could specify 'speakers' or 'digital'.
I have workarounds, like using a DAC to get the optical output to my amp, but it would be much nicer to be able to choose either speakers or the digital output. Thanks.
PS: I noticed a post from January 2022 by Ant G. who pointed out the same problem but his solution was to select the ASIO driver. If I try to select the ASIO driver, it just goes back to selecting WASAPI (shared mode). But then, my other apps use WASAPI (shared mode) too and they show the two Realtek devices, so ASIO doesn't seem to be necessary.