In Windows, in software that uses the WASAPI like Audacity (and other programs), I can select an output device as the input device and record from it, no Windows 7-style “Stereo Mix” nonsense required. I can’t do that with the Audio-8 or Audio-16 modules in VCV Rack.
Is that some feature that can be added? Or maybe it’s been specifically not implemented for a reason?
Thank you!
I’m not sure I understand, but I think the answer is “you can do that, and always could”. In general I think ASIO is a more mainstream choice rather than WASAPI, but whatever works for you. Try all the options. It would be surprising if one didn’t allow you to record and play. PS: I recently updated my audio interface from a 20 year old m-audio to a new steinberg. It works a lot better.
The original poster means the WASAPI feature where the current sound played through WASAPI (like the sound playing in a web browser) can be captured using a WASAPI input in another application. Rack doesn’t have support for that, but it has been implemented for example in Audacity and Reaper. Perhaps RTAudio which is the library Rack uses for the audio hardware I/O doesn’t have support for it. (It can also get a bit confusing and even dangerous to use because audio feedback can easily happen.)
Yes this could cause feedback, certainly. But I can do that currently today if I’m wiring things up foolishly.
And, I’m fairly sure that if you’re using the WASAPI, you already CAN use output devices as inputs… VCV Rack may only need to remove (perhaps via configuration option) whatever logic it has that prevents wiring input from an output device.
Sadly, it’s not an automatic thing you get by implementing the basic WASAPI functionality, it needs additional code. Or at least it used to be like that before, have they maybe updated WASAPI to do it in some other way? (I am still stuck on Windows 7 myself… 
in any case, the line for feature requests in VCV 1.0 is infinitely long, so maybe using a cable is the only pragmatic option for now? Or code it yourself?
I’d install it on the claim of his tagline alone!