# What is the right way to ignore loopback record drivers?

**URL:** <https://qa.fmod.com/t/what-is-the-right-way-to-ignore-loopback-record-drivers/19035>\
**Category:** FMOD Engine\
**Created:** [July 20, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/what-is-the-right-way-to-ignore-loopback-record-drivers/19035 "2022-07-20T22:16:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reification](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Reification](https://qa.fmod.com/u/Reification)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/what-is-the-right-way-to-ignore-loopback-record-drivers/19035/1 "2022-07-20T22:16:08Z")

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SETUP:  
Alienware m17 laptop  
Windows 10  
Unity 2019.4.36f1  
FMOD (UnityAudio disabled)

PROBLEM: Each audio output is also listed as an input, once with “[loopback]” appended to the name. The device is described as connected, and has a separate GUID.

OBSERVATION: When I look at the audio inputs in device manager, or in the microphone selection, no loopback devices are listed. Likewise, when using Unity’s built-in microphone manager no loopback devices are listed.

EXAMPLE:

- ‘Microphone (Realtek(R) Audio)’ (guid = 4e920e0c-cca6-4738-a276-692cfdaf89fc) [index = 4, CONNECTED]: rate = 48000, mode = STEREO, channels = 2
- ‘Speakers/Headphones (Realtek(R) Audio) [loopback]’ (41bb3665-0be5-4cb8-99d2-85839bc522ec) [2, CONNECTED]: rate = 48000, mode = \_7POINT1, channels = 8

WORKAROUND: Skip everything with “[loopback]” at the end of the name. Or, remove every output whose name includes an input name.  
PROBLEM: Both of these workarounds make assumptions about how the loopback name will be formatted.

QUESTION: Is there a more reliable way to identify loopback devices?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jeff\_fmod](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/qa.fmod.com/jeff_fmod/32/1766_2.png) [@jeff\_fmod](https://qa.fmod.com/u/jeff_fmod)\
**Post date:** [July 24, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://qa.fmod.com/t/what-is-the-right-way-to-ignore-loopback-record-drivers/19035/2 "2022-07-24T23:30:04Z")

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“[loopback]” is a suffix we add to loopback device names, so that workaround will be good for the time being. There currently isn’t a direct way to determine whether a device is a loopback device, perhaps we could return this information with [`System::getDriverInfo`](https://fmod.com/docs/2.02/api/core-api-system.html#system_getdriverinfo) or something like that?