Playback Devices - Multiple Outputs

better to ask this question here
Windows 8 Forums

The people frequenting there have more direct experience with windows 8 than the average user here.

In and of itself this is more of a software issue than an os issue. So long as windows can detect all said devices it can be done. (which it can though it has been known to have issues with multiple instances of a identical device.)
I am not currently aware of any specific package that allows for it though.

Windows 7 does support multiple output devices out of the box - the issue is normally with the actual software - Eg. WMP does not support this but PowerDVD and VirtualDJ both do. There is a method to get windows to send all sound output to two streams (devices) by setting the what-you-Hear device to listen to one stream and send it's output to another

I own the pro version of Virtual DJ and I know how to use it, but producing music & mixing music is not the only thing I need this function for. My issues are not with the programs. I am very aware of what these programs can and can't do. My issue is that XP played any and all sound to all plugged in sound devices, and now W7 is restricting you to only one output device for sound. Speaking as a person that uses my computer as a home theatre system (htpc) this is something that can't be worked around properly with programs. One example, I have HDMI cables running out of my video card (default) that piggyback sound and some that are using Realtek through my motherboard outputs, which I can't hear unless I switch to them, but i don't need to switch, I need them both to play at the same time.

@ Barman58 - I tried the "what you hear" option a while ago. It gave me really bad feedback distortion instead of sound. Who knows what happened there, it was too involved or complicated for just setting another output device. Playback device manager is great, it just needs more functionality. Windows 7 is AWESOME. I love it, it just needs to update this one feature and a lot of people will love it even more.

@ Maguscreed - Thank you for your input. You can see all the devices installed, but only the default device can play sounds at this point. You can set 1 "default output device" and 1 "communication device", however, my issue is that I would prefer to set individual sound outputs to ON or OFF as apposed to setting just one default. That way, I could just turn ON 2 or 3 audio devices indefinitely for use of any program I wish to use at any given time to make use of these activated hardware devices. That's why I buy all this high tech equipment.

1. If the device is not the default device, it will not output sounds.
2. I could give you 100's of examples in which 2-3 separate devices need to be used at the same time for specific sound output in which no "program" would help.
3. I should not have to use a specific program to utilize a feature that was commonplace in a very old, previous version of Windows.. and rightly so, it's a basic feature.
4. Nor should I have to go switching around the default device constantly back and forth to use different programs, it's ridiculous.

Microsoft needs to update this:
*Multiple playback device option*