Smaart won't recognize my audio device (v8 / Di v2 / SPL v1)

Created by Casey Guli, Modified on Tue, 13 Jun 2023 at 12:58 PM by Casey Guli

Smaart won't recognize my audio device (v8 / Di v2 / SPL v1)

This article is for troubleshooting audio devices in Smaart v8. This also extends to Smaart Di v2 and Smaart SPL, however some visuals and features may vary.

If you are running Smaart on MacOS 10.14 (Mojave) or newer, please first refer to this support article here.

When having audio device issues with Smaart, is it incredibly important to start at the source and work into Smaart, as 99% of the time, it is not even an issue with Smaart to begin with!

The first step is always the most obvious, but you would be surprised how many people forget!
Is the device powered on and plugged in?

Next, check to see if your operating system recognizes the device. Navigate to the audio devices control panel and see if the device is showing up. If your OS does not recognize the device, Smaart certainly won't either!

Is the driver installed, and installed correctly? Smaart works with any audio I/O device that your operating system recognizes as a valid WAV/WDM, ASIO (Windows), or CoreAudio (macOS) device, but the OS won't recognize your device if the driver is not installed. Most audio devices come with a CD-ROM that contains drivers, device control software, and a user manual. Take that CD, walk to your nearest trash receptacle, and throw it away. By the time the product gets to you the drivers on the CD are almost always outdated. Don't risk installing buggy or outdated software, go directly to the manufacturer's website and download the latest drivers and control software for your device.

If the device is critical to your work, we recommend that you buy a dedicated USB drive and always have the latest drivers and software loaded onto it

As of Smaart v8.0.2, Smaart creates an audio device log every time it starts up. If Smaart is crashing, both in Windows and on OSX, any sort of audio device issue will be recorded in this log. If you are having issues, you can send this log via email attachment to the support team and we can help diagnose and resolve the issue for you.

The log file, called "devices.txt" can be found by navigating to your user account folder, then to /Documents/Smaart v8/Logs

After verifying the device truly is detected in your operating system, have a look in I-O Config tab in the Smaart Configurator. Is the device showing up? (N/C means there is a problem with the device, and go back through the steps above, reinstalling the driver and assuring it is properly recognized by your OS)

Finally, assure the "Use" checkbox is checked off in the I-O Config tab in the Configurator. This is different from Smaart v7, where it was an ignore checkbox. We actually want you to check it off this time!