MediaMonkey Sound is generated as follows:
- MediaMonkey locates the file.
- Audio file is decoded by input plug-in.
- Equalizer settings are applied.
- Other DSPs are applied.
- Volume Leveling is applied.
- Sound is output via the Output plug-in.
This article discusses issues that may occur at step 6; such output-related problems will typically just result in silence or audio corruption–the tracks are usually not greyed out and the problem will occur with all audio files/formats. If playback issues only occur with certain files, see Why is Music Greyed Out / Fails to Play?
If attempts to play all content result in silence or corruption (but files aren’t greyed out), the problem can be at any of steps 3-6; to diagnose the problem, first disable the equalizer & DSP plugins (via Tools > Options > Player > DSP Plugins), and Volume Leveling (via Play > Level Playback Volume). The problem could be caused by:
- Misconfiguration in MediaMonkey:
- The player’s volume is set to zero. Verify that the MediaMonkey volume slider is set correctly (if you don’t see the Player, click View > Player). If the Player doesn’t feature a volume slider right click on the MediaMonkey tray icon in the Windows Taskbar tray (next to clock) and select Volume > 100%.
- The Player has been set to output to a different device (e.g. a UPnP player) that is set to low volume or is unavailable. To fix change the output device. On MediaMonkey 5 use Tools > Options > Streaming from the Main Menu to change Play To Internal Player. On MediaMonkey 4 and older use Tools > Options > Player from the Main Menu to set it to the MediaMonkey Player.
- MediaMonkey is set to use the incorrect Audio Device on your PC. Go to Tools > Options > Output Plug-ins from the Main Menu and select the enabled Output Plug-in and click Configure. Select the correct Audio Device on your PC (generally Primary Sound Driver will work).
- Hardware/Driver issue. Try playing audio via Windows Media Player, Groove, or any other application. If no sound plays and/or the sound is corrupted for all apps, it can be that:
- The system volume is set to 0. To fix that Right click on Speaker Icon (next to clock in Windows Task Bar) -> Open Volume Mixer -> Adjust volume of MediaMonkey.
- A physical volume control is set to 0.
- The headphone or speakers are disconnected.
- Windows is set to use the wrong Audio Device. Use Start > Settings > System > Sound to configure what output device Windows will use.
- There’s a problem with your sound driver (e.g. realtek), and it needs to be updated/re-installed. Check with your hardware provider.
- A problem with the output plug-in. This can be related to underlying audio drivers and how the interact with your system. To fix this:
- If you recently performed an upgrade to your audio drivers, you may need to re-register them in MediaMonkey. Go to Tools > Options > Output Plug-ins from the Main Menu in MediaMonkey and select the enabled Output Plug-in and click Configure. Select the correct Audio Device on your PC (generally Primary Sound Driver will work).
- Try switching output plug-ins. Go to Tools > Options > Output Plug-ins from the Main Menu in MediaMonkey and change from WASAPI to DirectSound/WaveOut output or the other way around from DirectSound/WaveOut to WASAPI.
- If the DirectSound plugin yields static, you can try reconfiguring it. Go to Tools > Options > Output Plug-ins from the Main Menu, select the DirectSound plugin and click Configure. On the device tab, try either:
- Disabling hardware acceleration
- Switching from ‘Primary Sound Driver’ to the specific Audio Device on your PC.
- If the WASAPI plugin yields static and clicks, or no sound, try alternative configurations.
- If the above doesn’t work, you can try a number of alternative output plugins:
- ASIO: Compatibility with ASIO-Capable Sound Cards
- Kernel Streaming (MediaMonkey 4 only): http://www.happymonkeying.com/plugin.php?q=300111
- SQRSoft (MediaMonkey 4 only): http://www.happymonkeying.com/plugin.php?q=300084
- If you experience playback distortion for files purchased from Amazon you’ll need to Analyze their Volume again as the Volume values may be incorrect. Re-analyze the volume, using Tools > Analyze Volume from the Main Menu, of the affected files. Make sure you disable the option ‘Only analyze files with unknown Leveling Adjustment’ under Tools > Options > Volume Leveling from the Main Menu.
- If there is no sound in videos make sure the correct Audio Device has been selected in the MediaMonkey Video Player Input Plugin under Tools > Options > Input Plug-ins from the Main Menu.