Troubleshooting Audio

Troubleshooting Audio

Fixes for missing sound, crackles and dropouts, sync, editable tracks, app exclusion and voice commands.

No desktop audio or no microphone

• Check the switches. Game and desktop audio is on by default. The microphone is off by default: turn on Include my microphone and pick your microphone in Settings > Audio.
• Check the right device. Record audio from decides which speakers or headset are recorded. With Default output (follows Windows), Flashback records whatever Windows plays through. If you picked a specific device and it's unplugged, Settings says so and Flashback records the Windows default output until it's back.
• Check the microphone choice. A microphone that isn't plugged in stays selected and shows as not connected; clips won't include it until it's back.
• Check Windows privacy settings. Windows can block desktop apps from using the microphone. In Windows Settings, under Privacy & security > Microphone, make sure desktop apps are allowed.
• Check the mute state. A device muted in Windows or on the headset records silence.
• Playing the clip somewhere else? See the next section.

Only one audio track plays, or I can't adjust my voice

Clips have editable audio tracks by default: Flashback mix first, then Game and desktop, then Microphone when the microphone is on. Many players and websites play only the first track, the Flashback mix, so the clip sounds normal everywhere. Use an editor that shows every audio stream to work with them separately; some editors import only the first track unless you ask for all of them.

Editable tracks need game and desktop audio; the microphone is optional. Discord copies and Cloud uploads always carry the single Flashback mix, so they play everywhere. If you'd rather have one mixed track, turn off Add editable audio tracks.

My game got quieter or louder when I turned the mic on

It shouldn't any more. From 0.8.0 the Flashback mix adds game sound and your voice at full level and only limits the moments where the two together would clip, so the game's loudness doesn't change with the microphone.

An excluded app is still audible

• The app is playing on another device. Exclusion removes the app from the device Flashback records (Record audio from). An app that plays on several devices at once is left in, and Flashback warns you.
• The app's processes changed. If an excluded app restarts or opens new processes, Flashback discards the affected buffer and refreshes capture rather than quietly saving audio you asked to leave out.
• The sound reaches your microphone. Exclusion removes an app from the desktop audio. If your speakers play it and your microphone hears it, it's in the Microphone track. Use headphones.
• Virtual devices. If an app's audio is routed through a virtual cable or mixer, it reaches Windows as that device's audio, not the app's.

My microphone drops out or crackles

Clips from 0.7.22 to 0.7.41

Those versions could add static to voice: they placed each 10 ms block of captured audio by its timestamp, and USB interfaces and virtual cables report timestamps with a little jitter even when every sample arrives in order. That cut clean audio into tiny gaps, loudest while you talked, in the Microphone track and the mix. 0.8.0 writes captured audio back to back and joins segments sample for sample. Old clips can't be repaired; new recordings are clean, and no Windows or driver change is needed for this.

"Your microphone is dropping audio"

Flashback shows this card on the Replay tab, and once as a tray notification, when your microphone or Windows reports lost audio at least three times within a minute. It clears after a full minute without dropouts. Only dropouts the device or Windows report count, so the cause is almost always the device, its driver or its USB connection. Try these in order:

1. Plug the device straight into the PC, using a USB port on the back, not a hub, a monitor or keyboard port, or a front-panel port.
2. Update the device's driver from the manufacturer's website or its control software, then restart.
3. Turn off USB power saving for it. In Device Manager, under Universal Serial Bus controllers, open the USB hub the device sits on and on Power Management clear Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power. In Power Options, set USB selective suspend to Disabled.
4. Close programs that take the microphone exclusively, or turn off Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device in the microphone's Advanced sound properties.
5. Match the sample rate. In the same Advanced tab, pick 48000 Hz, matching the device's own software if it has one.
6. Reduce load if dropouts only happen in heavy games: background downloads, RGB or monitoring tools and outdated chipset drivers can starve audio.

The same steps ship with Flashback as AUDIO_TROUBLESHOOTING.md in its app folder.

Check one clip

Run Capture health on the clip (its ... menu in the Library). The Microphone continuity line shows how many dropouts the microphone reported while that clip was recording and how much audio was lost. If it shows no dropouts but you still hear crackle, the problem is in the sound itself: input gain set too high, a loose cable, or an effect or noise filter in your audio software.

Other checks

1. Listen live. If you hear it in your headset while playing, it's in the source, not the clip.
2. Compare tracks. Check whether it's only in the Microphone track or only in Game and desktop.
3. Turn off audio "enhancements" on the device for a test.
4. If you use a virtual cable or mixer, record one session with your physical device to compare.

If none of that helps, send a report saying when the crackle happens and which device it's on, with the clip's Capture health text and Diagnostics attached. Neither contains audio.

Audio out of sync

1. Run Capture health on the clip. If it reports good sync, the player is the likely cause; try another player.
2. Update to 0.8.0 or later. Saved clips start on a keyframe so Windows players keep picture and sound together, and every track is joined sample for sample.
3. Virtual devices. Flashback corrects device-clock gaps from virtual cables, but a physical device is the cleanest test.
4. Bluetooth headsets add their own delay to what you hear live; that delay isn't in the recording.

See Audio and video sync for how sync is kept.

Desktop sound in my microphone track

Flashback opens only the microphone input, but that input can still contain desktop audio when:

• the "microphone" is a virtual mic or a Stereo Mix-style input,
• your speakers play into a physical microphone.

Headphones and a physical microphone give the cleanest separation.

Voice commands

They don't trigger

• Voice commands are off by default. Turn them on in Settings and select your microphone.
• Say the phrase clearly: "Flashback clip", "Flashback save" or "Flashback screenshot", optionally starting with "Hey". A short pause between "Flash" and "back" is fine.
• "Flashback upload" works only when Voice upload is also on, under Automatic and voice uploads in the Cloud tab's Account section.
• A short cooldown prevents duplicate triggers, so a second command right after the first may be ignored.

They trigger by themselves

• Speaker sound reaching your microphone, or a virtual mic carrying desktop audio, can contain the phrase. Use headphones or a physical mic.

My command is audible in the clip

• If microphone recording is on for clips, your spoken command is recorded like anything else you say. Recognition itself stays in memory: Flashback never stores, uploads or logs voice samples.

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Related pages: Audio · Audio and video sync · Troubleshooting · Diagnostics and logs