Audio playback device list

The Default audio playback device list will be active (not grayed out) only if the Windows Classic Wave Driver option is selected above. Individual pieces of hardware (sound cards) may have multiple possible software drivers, but this list is more typically used to select drivers from systems with multiple sound cards. 

Audio device type allows you to select the software drivers ACID uses to interact with Windows and, ultimately, your sound card. The Microsoft Sound Mapper option leaves all driver decisions to Windows, while the Windows Classic Wave Driver option may allow you to select from a number of drivers listed in the Default audio playback device option. 

ACID MIDI tracks need to use the Master bus (DirectX SoftSynth) to render projects. Other MIDI devices listed on the Bus Selector (see Figure 10.2) act as external devices and are used only for playback. All MIDI tracks in a project automatically use the same device changing the device on one MIDI track changes all MIDI tracks. As one example, if you are using a Yamaha SXG software synthesizer, your project will sound as if the MIDI track was being mixed into the project. In reality, the audio tracks in the project are mixing in ACID, but the MIDI track is being processed by an external device (software, in this case) that is mixed with the output from ACID outside of ACID on the sound card. Therefore, when you render the project, the MIDI track is silent. There is a way around this problem, however. 

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