Change the driver to MME and see if the message is resolved.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
I have always had the following error message with 2019 on opening. "Windows audio session error, could not open bitstream. error -9997". (Is this the same error or do I need a new thread?) The error message disappeared after about seven seconds and did not affect the operation of the program. It was suggested by someone a few weeks ago and above in this thread, that it may be because the audio driver type was set to WAS. In my case this was the case and switching to MME solved the error message problem. However switching to MME introduced a lag in the editable notation window which was not there with WAS. I.e. clicking on the staves to insert a note did not result in the note sounding immediately. Not a large lag but enough to be an irritation. All other playback elements of the program with MME are perfectly in sync as they are with WAS. I can enter the notes quickly and this effect does actually slow things down. As things stand I can easily live with the error message and stick with WAS. I can see no obvious way to correct the lag with MME
You could try an ASIO driver instead of WAS. That might reduce the latency and resolve the error message.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
First, welcome to the forum, nice to have you here!
A few questions if I may. First, are you using an external audio interface or the sound card built-into the computer? I assume you're editing MIDI data when you are using the editable notation window so what MIDI sound engine are you using; that might be an external hardware solution, or software like Coyote WT, Sforzando, Windows GS Wavetable or some other third party application.
Screenshots of your Band-in-a-Box midi and audio settings would be very helpful in better understanding the latency issue. While latency can not be eliminated, it can be minimized and some other users may have some ideas to test.
However, one last thought. Your post will be seen by more users if you start a new message thread.
I have nothing complicated. I am using 2019 64 bit with the settings I have always used in previous versions together with Coyote WT or Cakewalk TTS-1. I have no external equipment, midi or otherwise. Output is through the PC's sound card.
Taking Videotrack's advice I have installed some ASIO drivers which as expected have significantly reduced the "driver latency" and also removed the irritating lag when entering melody notes. The error message on starting when using WAS has also been eliminated.
So I now have a perfectly satisfactory system.
Why MME and WAS gave problems I don't know. I guess it's now a case of out of sight out of mind.
If the error was related to WAS (Windows Audio Session) then there will be a copy of the full error in the flash message log. There might also be accompanying errors messages that will provide more detail.
Help > Utilities > Display Log Text file of Yellow/Green Messages...
Error -9996 is sort of vague. It just means "invalid device" which could mean the audio device is using an incompatible format, or it is used exclusively by another application (eg. another program using it with an ASIO driver would prevent Band-in-a-Box from connecting to it).
To see more information about the driver format etc, go to Options > Preferences > Audio, and with WAS selected for Audio Driver Type click on [Audio Drivers...].
Just thought I'd mention that I've gotten that exact same Error -9996 or sometimes -9997, stating Invalid Device, when I've tried to use Audacity to record some audio. And I got this error AFTER Windows did an update! At this point Audacity (v. 2.3) doesn't see an ASIO driver, and it doesn't work with MME or WASAPI either (get the same error)... although it will playback fine, just won't record!
This is happening on two separate computers... one a laptop and another a desktop... that were working fine beforehand. They use different audio interfaces. Other programs seem to still work fine, although I can't test BIAB on the laptop. I even tried to use Waveasaur instead of Audacity, and it does the same thing.
The point of my butting in here was to mention that this error only showed up (for me anyway) after Windows updated. I've checked all the device settings, and record and playback settings in Windows and Audacity, per the instructions on Google for this error. They're all fine.
One last point is that a third computer, running Win7, is still recording to Audacity without any errors.
Not sure what MicroSoft did, but it sure seems as if some audio programs don't like it.
Again, just mentioning this in case you've gotten a Win 10 update recently.
Hope that this may help in your troubleshooting. Maybe?
Jim
BIAB 2020 with Reaper 6, on an AMD 8 core CPU, 16GB RAM, 240 GB SSD and 1 TB HD. Retired and trying to make some serious music, before Arthur Ritis spoils the fun.
You will probably need to look at Win 10's Security settings. Microsoft have clamped down on Privacy which means that it can disable soundcard inputs from being used. Look at Settings/Privacy/Microphone and enable the mic for use with whichever software that it doesn't work for at present.
You will probably need to look at Win 10's Security settings. Microsoft have clamped down on Privacy which means that it can disable soundcard inputs from being used. Look at Settings/Privacy/Microphone and enable the mic for use with whichever software that it doesn't work for at present.
Thanks! This is a great tip. I can reproduce the error Windows Audio Session error: Could not open stream. The error number is -9996 by doing the following:
1. open Settings in Windows 10 2. search for microphone privacy 3. set Allow apps to access your microphone to Off 4. launch Band-in-a-Box
Playback still works, of course, but recording will not.
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