Enumerate Recording Devices in NAudio

c# naudio
Adam Haile picture Adam Haile · Sep 19, 2009 · Viewed 19.2k times · Source

How can you get a list of all the recording devices on a computer using NAudio? When you want to record, you have to give it the index of the device you want to use, but there's no way of knowing what device that is. I'd like to be able to select from Mic, Stereo Mix, etc.

Answer

Mark Heath picture Mark Heath · Sep 20, 2009

For WaveIn, you can use the static WaveIn.GetCapabilities method. This will give you a device name, but with the annoying limitation that it is a maximum of 31 characters. I am still looking for the way to get the full name (see my question here).

int waveInDevices = WaveIn.DeviceCount;
for (int waveInDevice = 0; waveInDevice < waveInDevices; waveInDevice++)
{
    WaveInCapabilities deviceInfo = WaveIn.GetCapabilities(waveInDevice);
    Console.WriteLine("Device {0}: {1}, {2} channels", waveInDevice, deviceInfo.ProductName, deviceInfo.Channels);
}

For WASAPI (Vista and above), you can use the MMDeviceEnumerator:

MMDeviceEnumerator enumerator = new MMDeviceEnumerator();
foreach (MMDevice device in enumerator.EnumerateAudioEndPoints(DataFlow.Capture, DeviceState.All))
{
    Console.WriteLine("{0}, {1}", device.FriendlyName, device.State);
}

I tend to recommend WaveIn, as it is more widely supported, and allows more flexibility over recording sample rates.

Related questions

naudio record sound from microphone then save

I'm having some issues with naudio and saving sound recordings. The code I currently have works to the point where it saves the wav file, but when I open it up, Windows Media Player returns an error: "Windows Media Player …

Read More
change format from wav to mp3 in memory stream in NAudio

Hi there iam trying to convert text to speech (wav) in the memorystream convert it to mp3 and then play it on the users page.so need i help what to do next? here is my asmx code : [WebMethod] public …

Read More
How to play a MP3 file using NAudio

WaveStream waveStream = new Mp3FileReader(mp3FileToPlay); var waveOut = new WaveOut(); waveOut.Init(waveStream); waveOut.Play(); This throws an exception: WaveBadFormat calling waveOutOpen The encoding type is "MpegLayer3" as NAudio. How can I play a mp3 file with NAudio?

Read More