I have a massive sound issue with my ASUS Windows 11 laptop. Happened from one moment to the other.
Whatever sound driver or output I use - Asio to my audient 14, Windows Latency to a bluetooth headphone. normal speaker of the laptop: The sound that comes out is very low, muffled and very distorted. Basically the systemis unusable.

Only happens when using whatever Instrument in standalone mode. Does not happen when e.g. using Youtube or working inside a DAW.

Turned off the laptop a few times, reinstalled the Audient driver etc.

No plan, no solution.

Need your help:


Thanks

 

Last edited: Nov 2, 2025 at 7:02 PM

Almost sounds like there's some crap from Asus interfering with your audio. I would start from there.

 

It could be a hardware problem.. this is a sympton if you have a broken or failing capacitator. the sound can get muffled or you loose dynamic range.

Then again, if it only happens if you use a plugin in standalone mode, it should not be the issue.

 

Try disabling the ASUS sound driver in the device manager and go exclusively through the ID14. See what happens.

 

I'd feed my post into the AI so I was not just guessing at stuff. Instead I would have a step by step printed diagnostic path to follow precisely step by step. When I got the end of the checklist, I would either have already fixed it, or been able to say these are the precise steps I have already taken to rule all these things out. That way I could work methodcally instead of guessing at various things checked in no particular order.

I think the biggest clue to your problem is that "in standalone applications" you have the problem, but not when using your DAW. I would say it is probably 99% software related, and would lean heavily towards it being driver related issue. Your DAW is a standalone application. However, it is allowed to force the system to use a certain driver. A synth standalone version can choose what outputs it wants, but it does not override the system default driver; as a rule of thumb.

Spoiler

Yeah, that’s a nasty one — and the clues you gave actually narrow it down quite a bit. Let’s unpack it carefully.

Symptoms summary:

• Audio is low, muffled, distorted in standalone instrument apps.
  
  
• All outputs (ASIO, Bluetooth, built-in speakers) behave the same.
  
  
• Normal system audio (YouTube, DAW playback) is fine.
  
  
• Reboots and driver reinstalls didn’t help.
  
  
• So the issue appears only when something runs standalone audio engines, not when going through the shared Windows audio path or a DAW host.

That pattern almost always points to a sample rate mismatch or system-wide shared audio device conflict rather than a hardware or driver failure.

Here’s the checklist to isolate it:

1. Check sample rate lock conflicts
Open your Audient iD control panel (or Windows Sound Settings if using built-in output).

• Make sure both Windows and the Audient panel are set to the same sample rate (for example, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz).
  
  
• Many standalone instruments open at 96 kHz or 192 kHz by default, which can throw the driver into an unstable or resampling mess if Windows has the device open at another rate.

Also try:

• Closing every app that can play sound before launching the standalone instrument (browsers, media players, DAW, etc.).
  
  
• Then open one instrument (say, Serum standalone) and test again.

2. Disable “Exclusive Mode” for the device in Windows
Go to
Control Panel → Sound → Playback → (select your device) → Properties → Advanced
Uncheck both “Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device” boxes.

Some synths grab exclusive access to the device in a bad state and never restore it properly afterward.

3. Test with Windows “Audio Troubleshooter” disabled enhancements
In the same playback device Properties window:

• Under Enhancements, check “Disable all enhancements”.
  
  
• Under Advanced, select a stable format like 24 bit, 44100 Hz.

Sometimes “spatial sound,” “enhancement,” or “Windows Sonic” layers interfere with low-level driver calls used by standalone apps.

4. Try ASIO4ALL briefly
Install ASIO4ALL and see if the standalone instrument sounds normal when using that.
If it does, it confirms your Audient ASIO driver is getting confused when the instrument app requests exclusive access.

5. Check standalone synth’s audio settings
Inside the standalone app itself, look at its audio/MIDI preferences.

• Make sure it’s not set to some ridiculous buffer size (like 16 samples or 4096).
  
  
• Ensure output channel routing matches the device’s main outputs.
  
  
• Try different sample rates and see if one suddenly sounds normal.

6. Windows audio service reset (last resort)
Open Services.msc, restart:

• Windows Audio
  
  
• Windows Audio Endpoint Builder
  Then reboot once more.

If all else fails, it’s sometimes a stuck sample-rate negotiation bug in the Audient driver or Windows audio stack. A clean reinstall can fix that:

• Unplug the Audient.
  
  
• Uninstall its drivers.
  
  
• Delete C:\Program Files\Audient, and remove hidden entries in Device Manager (View → Show hidden devices → Sound, video and game controllers).
  
  
• Reboot and reinstall the latest driver.

 

Last edited: Nov 2, 2025 at 11:20 PM