[SOLVED] Failed to initialize WASAPI device: Permission denied

Help, Support & Bugs
1

Hello everyone. I’m struggling since a couple of days on an audio issue with Renoise latest version :

  1. I have reinstalled my laptop recently from scratch (Windows 10 Pro, latest version), reinstalled all my music software (renoise, mpc2, xmplay, vlc, standalone and vst plugins etc).

  2. All work okay with all that software, except Renoise that can’t open the audio device. When I start Renoise, or when I go to the Audio settings in renoise and try to select either DirectSound or Wasapi output, I get error messages such as this :

Renoise
Failed to initialize WASAPI device: Permission denied
WASAPI dailed to open. Trying to open DirectSound instead…
Failed to initalize audio buffers for device: ‘Primary Sound Device’. Audio is disabled. Please try to choose a different device or samplerate.

  1. When I use ASIO drivers (for example the MPC Asio, Zoom H5 Asio), I don’t have the issue and the audio works.

  2. All other audio software I have are able to open either the DirectSound or Wasapi outputs without complaining. Xmplay is able to precisely select the device and it works, for example.

  3. I followed the advice I found on the other posts in the forum that could be related, nothing changes. I uninstalled completely the

  4. The drivers and devices are based on a standard Realtek chip on the motherboard :

Device Manager / Audio inputs and outputs

  • Speakers (Realtek High Definition audio(SST))
  • Microphone Array(Realtek High Definition audio(SST))
  • Headphones (Realtek High Definition audio(SST))
  • Headset Microphone (Realtek High Definition audio(SST))
    Driver provider: Microsoft
    Driver date: 06.12.2019
    Driver version: 10.0.19041.1

Device Manager / Sound, video and game controllers

  • Realtek High Definition Audio(SST)
    Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp
    Driver date: 29.05.2020
    Driver version: 6.0.8958.4

I tried to Update those drivers, then Disable+Enable the devices, then Uninstall Device and Reboot (Windows reinstalled them at startup automatically), and finally Uninstall Driver too and rebooting (Windows reinstalled them at startup too).

  1. The samplerate is 48000Hz. I also tried to change the samplerate settings on Renoise without success.

  2. Finally, I completely uninstalled, rebooted and reinstalled Renoise x64 3.4.4.

But the issue is still there (Permission Denied on. And I do not have those issues with any other software except Renoise.

Many thanky to everyone who could have a clue on why this is happening, and only with Renoise…

Best Regards from Switzerland,

Bruno

2

Update: although I didn’t solve the issue, I just found that the problem seems related only to the input device. When I select WASAPI and the Default Output Device, with “None” as input device, I can output sound. Also tried to select WASAPI direct link to the Headphones and Speakers and that works. The issue happens only if the field in the input device isn’t set to “None”.

That would explain why I don’t have the issues with xmplay and others, as they only care of the output device.
I’ll continue my investigations, but it may not be related to Renoise

3

Make sure that Renoise, apps in general are allowed to use the microphone (this actually is any input device).

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/enable-or-disable-apps-access-to-microphone-in-windows-11.17117/

4

Ohh thank you so much ! That was the issue, you saved my day. I didn’t even think of this, stupid me.

Best regards,

Bruno

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