Switching between different outputs

[chris nguyuen]

I have both the razer blackwidow keyboard and some computer monitors. My keyboard has a headphone output in it. I have my computer monitors connected to the green output in my pc but I want to plug my keyboard in as well. I don't want to have both the headphones and my monitors outputting sound, I just want to be able to switch between the two without having to unplug and plug back in. Is there a way I can do this?

[pwn_intended]

2 minutes ago, Ahridesus said:

I have both the razer blackwidow keyboard and some computer monitors. My keyboard has a headphone output in it. I have my computer monitors connected to the green output in my pc but I want to plug my keyboard in as well. I don't want to have both the headphones and my monitors outputting sound, I just want to be able to switch between the two without having to unplug and plug back in. Is there a way I can do this?

What cable are you using to connect your monitor to the computer?

 

I would recommend using DP or HDMI so that you don't have to run a 2nd cable for audio.

Windows should automatically switch between monitor and headphones when you unplug the phones. Ont thing I have noticed about the audio passthrough on my razer KB is that windows things there are headphones plugged into it even if they aren't, so for that reason I have stopped using the pass-thru.

[Mira Yurizaki]

If your computer has a front panel audio port, you have to connect it through there. Most sound devices have ways to detect something's plugged into there and will switch to it and turn off the rear one.

 

2 minutes ago, pwn_intended said:

What cable are you using to connect your monitor to the computer?

 

I would recommend using DP or HDMI so that you don't have to run a 2nd cable for audio.

Windows should automatically switch between monitor and headphones when you unplug the phones. Ont thing I have noticed about the audio passthrough on my razer KB is that windows things there are headphones plugged into it even if they aren't, so for that reason I have stopped using the pass-thru.

That would be seen in Windows as a separate audio device, which Windows will not automatically switch based on what's connected in the ports. It will "switch" when the device is physically removed somehow from the system or disabled in Sound properties.

[chris nguyuen]

 

What cable are you using to connect your monitor to the computer?

 

I would recommend using DP or HDMI so that you don't have to run a 2nd cable for audio.

Windows should automatically switch between monitor and headphones when you unplug the phones. Ont thing I have noticed about the audio passthrough on my razer KB is that windows things there are headphones plugged into it even if they aren't, so for that reason I have stopped using the pass-thru.

 

 

If your computer has a front panel audio port, you have to connect it through there. Most sound devices have ways to detect something's plugged into there and will switch to it and turn off the rear one.

 

That would be seen in Windows as a separate audio device, which Windows will not automatically switch based on what's connected in the ports. It will "switch" when the device is physically removed somehow from the system or disabled in Sound properties.

Yeah that works but I prefer to keep all my cables in the back just for general aesthetics.

[pwn_intended]

7 minutes ago, M.Yurizaki said:

If your computer has a front panel audio port, you have to connect it through there. Most sound devices have ways to detect something's plugged into there and will switch to it and turn off the rear one.

 

That would be seen in Windows as a separate audio device, which Windows will not automatically switch based on what's connected in the ports. It will "switch" when the device is physically removed somehow from the system or disabled in Sound properties.

Both the front and rear jacks should auto-switch.

The keyboard doesn't show up as a "separate device" it just shows as if regular headphones are plugged in. It is after all essentially just a 3.5mm audio cable extension, no brain box. What I was saying is that whether or not there are headphones plugged into my keyboard, windows still treats it as if something is plugged into the 3.5mm audio jack, and wont re-enable my monitor sound anymore.

 

@Ahridesus, you quoted me but didn't answer my question re: which cable you use. Using a single cable (if your monitor supports it) will also improve your aesthetics.  If your monitor doesn't support DP or HDMI, one recommendation I have would be to plug the audio in cable for your monitor into the keyboard's headphone jack, so that was its much easier to switch between headphones and monitor.

[KenjiUmino]

On 21.12.2016 at 8:40 PM, pwn_intended said:

Both the front and rear jacks should auto-switch.

The keyboard doesn't show up as a "separate device" it just shows as if regular headphones are plugged in. It is after all essentially just a 3.5mm audio cable extension, no brain box. What I was saying is that whether or not there are headphones plugged into my keyboard, windows still treats it as if something is plugged into the 3.5mm audio jack, and wont re-enable my monitor sound anymore.

the auto-switch feature simply detects if there is something physicaly plugged into the ACTUAL JACK on the board or front panel itself - it does NOT care whats plugged into the other end of extension cables or any pass-thru

with that said - i believe any realtek based on-board soundcards allow you to freely configure any jack to serve any function you want (you can have the green jack be front speakers and red/blue/grey/orange jack be rear speakers, headphones or even a second independent audio device)

 

switching between those two audio devices is something you have to do manually though. 

 

but thats easy to do ... just right click on the speaker icon in the system tray and change your default playback device