MilkDrop 3.25 - Failed to Start - Error - Could Not Start the Audio Capture - Issue Found & Solved

[VorlonShadow]

MilkDrop 3.25
Heard so much about MilkDrop3 - Looking forward to experiencing it

Unzipped and tried starting the program (MilkDrop 3.exe) and got an Error.

"Error - MilkDrop3 could not start the Audio Capture :(
Something is blocking MilkDrop3 to work properly.
Try to close any recording software..."

Rebooted PC (Windows 11 - Intel i9 - Nvidia 3080Ti)
System does have a Hauppauge Colossus 2 PCI Card (Video Capture Card)
Closed any program that uses video/audio
I checked the "Analyze Wait Chain" in Windows Processes/Services - Nothing is stopping MilkDrop3 from starting (it's not waiting for another process or service [program] to finish)

Got Error again, and again and again

Thanks and looking forward to your insight (and fix) :) !

[VorlonShadow]

I tried your 3.24 special exe for audio capture to fix this too - didn't work

[milkdrop2077]

Hey this mean MilkDrop3 could not start the audio capture loopback :/
Something is blocking MilkDrop3 to work properly, this is happening on maybe 0.1% of the users who have a complex audio setup.
MilkDrop3 use a WASAPI loopback capture code, very similar to this https://matthewvaneerde.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/sample-wasapi-loopback-capture-record-what-you-hear/ maybe you could try loopback-capture --list-devices and try to record some audio.
I probably won't be able to fix this soon.

[pcooke9]

I get the same error now. Previous versions of MilkDrop didn't give me this error message, but it just outright refused to open unless I set an exclusion in my AV (Kaspersky) to "Do not monitor application activity" for MilkDrop's executable. So, it could possibly be a conflict with your AV, or maybe a Windows Privacy Settings issue.

Now with the "MilkDrop3 could not start the Audio Capture" message, my suspicions seem to be more plausible... For my current system, I suspect this has something to do with Kaspersky's "Webcam and Mic Control Settings", which blocks access to recording devices. You can disable the webcam/mic blocker feature in Kaspersky, but doing so doesn't help with MilkDrop, even though disabling it does allow most other apps to access recording hardware. Weird. But again, telling Kaspersky to fully ignore MilkDrop works for me. And to be clear, I don't get any malware detections, so I don't think there's anything to worry about in that regard.

If your AV doesn't have a similar webcam/mic blocking feature or the ability to set exclusions, then check to make sure your OS isn't blocking it's access. I know some DAWs (especially Cakewalk) give me trouble if I don't have the privacy settings right within Windows. This has happened to me a few times since the early days of Windows 10, especially on audio production machines. Never really could figure out exactly what triggers it for some apps/hardware configs.

You can check here for Win 11:

"Settings> Privacy & Security> Camera"
-Then toggle ON the settings for "Camera access", "Let apps access your camera", & "Let desktop apps access your camera".

And here:

"Settings> Privacy & Security> Microphone"
-Then toggle ON the settings for "Microphone access", "Let apps access your microphone", & "Let desktop apps access your microphone".

You may not see MilkDrop in the list of allowable apps, and you may not even actually have a physical webcam/mic connected for this to happen, but sometimes just enabling the main category toggles for those Windows Privacy Settings is enough to resolve it.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

[VorlonShadow]

Thanks - milkdrop2077 and pcooke for next steps

My Win 11 settings on Camera and Microphone are good (no issues) - All "ON"
I didn't see MilkDrop3 on desktop apps (at the time getting MilkDrop 3.25 error message)

Don't use Kaspersky - just Windows Defender/Security

Did WASAP{ - got back a .wav file - zero seconds - 8 bytes
Turned it into a .txt file
File reads:
"RIFF WAVEfmt ( þÿ� €» p� � ?� � � € ª 8›qfact� data "
I don't know what that means

Looking for other suggestions :)

Tim

[pcooke9]

Ok, so I tested the loopback capture app. It gets killed immediately and outputs an 80 byte wav file too... Unless I either disable Kaspersky's Webcam/Mic blocker OR add the executable to exclusions. Both options work for that app, but only fully excluding MilkDrop works. Even more evidence of it just being a permissions issue somewhere...

When you ran the loopback capture app, were you playing audio? If no audio plays while it's running, it will just output the same empty wav file. If it closes immediately, then you definitely have something blocking/killing it. If it runs properly, then you should see a CMD window that says "Press ENTER to quit..." until you press ENTER. You may also see a message below that saying- "Probably spurious glitch reported on first packet". That's nothing to worry about.

To run it properly, you should start playing a song or YouTube video etc., and then run the loopback capture app while the audio plays. Let it play for a few seconds with the loopback capture app CMD window in focus, and then press ENTER to end the loopback recording. Then play the new wav file to see if it plays back any recorded audio.

So again, if the loopback capture app immediately closes when you run it, then I'd suggest trying to add it to exclusions in Windows Defender/Security or whatever. It almost certainly has to be some sort of security software feature that blocks it. I haven't used Windows Security in a long time, but there are a few functions in it that may potentially interfere with running apps like these (Exploit protection maybe?). If excluding it doesn't work, maybe just try to temporarily disable Windows Defender/Security completely to test. If it runs after that, then that's likely the issue.

You can learn how to add a file to exclusions in Windows Security here:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/add-an-exclusion-to-windows-security-811816c0-4dfd-af4a-47e4-c301afe13b26

Also you might be able to add an exclusion or find a solution in Exploit protection here:
"Windows Security> App & browser control> Exploit protection settings"

[VorlonShadow]

Found the issue and "fixed it"

Nahimic Audio Service – causing audio and graphical issues in Windows 10/11 Programs

NahimicServices.exe must be Disabled and Stopped at Startup
Go to Task Manager – Processes Tab – Find all processes that start with Nahimic (first do NahimicServices.exe) and Stop them.
Go to the Services Tab – Find NahimicServices.exe and right click on it – then click on Open Services. Services pop-up box opens – go to Nahimic Service and right click on it and select Properties, then in pop-up box under the General Tab – select “Disable” under “Startup type” – click on Apply then OK.

The NahimicService.exe is located at C:\Windows\system32\

Nahimic is part of Sonic Studio/A-Volute which is installed on Asus and MSI motherboards with the Z370 chipset (mine is a z390) and/or at least as part of the Realtek driver install
Nahimic is a technology produced to make Headphones better. Asus and MSI both use the drivers for enhancing headphones.

I had an issue with it - playing videos correctly in LaunchBox (frontend for game emulators) in the past - so many problems that NahimicService.exe causes.

[milkdrop2077]

ah great! I'll update the message to :
"Something is blocking MilkDrop3 to work properly.
Try to close any audio recording or enhancing software..."

[pcooke9]

I just wanted to mention I also have Nahimic installed and in use, but it doesn't interfere with MilkDrop here. My MB is an MSI x470 Gaming Plus Max (AMD platform). I wish I could pin down exactly what specific part of MilkDrop is being blocked since disabling the AV Webcam/Mic blocker feature doesn't resolve it, but fully excluding it does.

I'm fine with leaving it in my list of exclusions, but it's strange that it gives me the same audio capture error message now since it doesn't really seem to be an actual audio capture/enhancement issue (on my system), but rather some sort of permissions conflict...

Anyway, glad OP solved their issue.