Duplicate input devices when using Equalizer APO

[Spacebar]

Hello, took me a while to figure out what was causing an issue in Davinci Resolve where I was seeing 8 copies of my microphone (and none of them were working). Uninstalling Equalizer APO solved the issue, but I need to use it, so I need to figure out a way to fix it.

There is always eight devices, I've tried editing the registry, removing duplicate devices from within Windows Device Manager by enabling view hidden items, but I've had no luck. I've also tried uninstalling Voicemeeter and reinstalling my audio drivers. I don't see the duplicate devices anywhere besides Resolve and Device Manager when I enable view hidden items.

I'm using a Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen audio interface with a Rode Podmic microphone.

Here is the issue within Davinci Resolve.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

[Peter Verbeek]

As the Scarlett Solo is a USB interface Windows will create a new device for any USB port you connect this USB device to. These devices stay hidden until the Scarlett is connected (or rather activate). Perhaps that explains some of the duplications? But this doesn't explain why none of the 8 mic USB devices work. Besides, I guess you always put the Scarlett in the same USB port.

Also when browsing through my Windows registry I see a lot more audio devices than I have in my Device manager. It includes some duplicates also. I'm not sure why Windows does this. Anyway, are the 8 mic devices also present in the Configurator of Equalizer APO?

[Etienne Dechamps]

Also when browsing through my Windows registry I see a lot more audio devices than I have in my Device manager. It includes some duplicates also. I'm not sure why Windows does this.

The registry retains the entire history of all devices you ever installed, even if they are not plugged in anymore. This is so that Windows can remember the device settings in the event one of the devices gets plugged in again.

As you said, Windows sometimes treats a device plugged into a different port as a new device. Furthermore, some Windows updates have the effect of reinstalling all audio drivers, which results in all devices being re-created with new identifiers. As you can imagine, all this churn can easily result in lots of old entries piling up in the registry. Which to be clear is benign (there's no need to clean them up), but yes it can be confusing.

By the way you can use this trick to force Device Manager to show these old entries. I'm not sure these entries would map exactly to the MMDevices registry key though.

[Spacebar]

As the Scarlett Solo is a USB interface Windows will create a new device for any USB port you connect this USB device to. These devices stay hidden until the Scarlett is connected (or rather activate). Perhaps that explains some of the duplications? But this doesn't explain why none of the 8 mic USB devices work. Besides, I guess you always put the Scarlett in the same USB port.

This makes sense, but it doesn't explain why devices remain as a duplicate once actually removing them from the hidden devices and removing their keys from the Equalizer APO registry.

I also can't understand why it's always exactly 8 devices. I should mention everything works normally before installing Equalizer APO. I only see the two devices; one device for the left channel and one for the right channel.

Anyway, are the 8 mic devices also present in the Configurator of Equalizer APO?

No other applications are showing the duplicate devices. This includes Audacity, Windows, OBS, Equalizer APO, etc. I have never once seen this issue surface over several months of using Equalizer APO and using Peace before that.

By the way you can use this trick to force Device Manager to show these old entries. I'm not sure these entries would map exactly to the MMDevices registry key though.

This is what I did originally to find the 7 other devices and remove them. I don't understand why they are staying there after deleting them though. Let me know if you have any ideas surrounding this.

I'm not sure whether this is an Equalizer APO problem or a Davinci Resolve problem. Do you have any workaround solutions? What I've currently decided to do is to use Voicemeeter to mirror my Microphone to a virtual cable, then using that virtual cable within Davinci Resolve. However, the entire reason I started using Equalizer APO instead of Voicemeeter is because I wanted to do everything through one program and Equalizer APO is a bit more lightweight. Plus it doesn't use a virtual cable.

[Peter Verbeek]

I don't understand why they are staying there after deleting them though.

It could be that a Windows registry monitoring app (firewall and/or antivirus) is restoring these entries (Did you check?). But I find this a bit unlikely. I rather expect Windows to do this but I haven't heard of such a restoring feature. Another possibility might that they appear after you have deleted them and starting the Configurator or Configuration Editor. In other words, that Equalizer APO is restoring them (or better said, think it must do). But I haven't seen such a feature in Equalizer APO as this restoring only happens at uninstallation.

I'm not sure whether this is an Equalizer APO problem or a Davinci Resolve problem.

It might be a Davinci Resolve issue but it's more likely that Equalizer APO has some "influence" on this issue.

Btw. How many mic devices is Peace showing in its devices list?