Steam ignoring "default communications device"

[mwoody450]

I have an Astro A40 headset connected to an internal sound card (eClaro). The speakers for the sound card are marked in Windows as the "Default" device, while a separate USB channel (from the A40 mixamp) is marked as the "default communications device".

Steam, however, ignores this setting, despite past patch notes indicating it obeys these restrictions. Audio for games and Steam chat both come over the same channel. I can temporarily force the output over the right channel, but only by setting the communications device as the "default" (which would send game audio over that channel).

Has this broken in a recent patch?

[AtaliaA1]

I have been teching' for a long time, I haven't seen this issue. It sounds like your sound card is at issue to me. you have updated the drivers for it?

[mwoody450]

It's a brand new install following a complete reformat (installed an SSD at the same time as the card).

[Castor Troy]

Has anyone been able to use the mixamp with the astro a40 headset with steam chat? I have all the settings correct but steam doesn't seem to send the voice to the headset where it is supposed to go. Game sound should be sent to the mixamp independently of the voice.

[mwoody450]

I put in a Steam support request on this one and, after a five day wait, got some blow-off answer about how they couldn't troubleshoot all brands of mic. I mean, the fact that we're both having this problem with the A40 means it may indeed be something specific to that hardware, but I still don't understand how working in general + correct in the sound control panel = wrong channel in Steam isn't a Valve issue.

[Castor Troy]

Here's what I did. I set the Realtek Digital Output (Optical) as my default device in Playback.
Then I right clicked on Speakers "Astro Gaming USB MIXAMP" and I clicked "Set as default communication device.
Then in the recording tab I set my Microphone as the "ASTRO Gaming USB Mixamp' and I set that as the default device.

Now when my friend talks on steam chat his voice comes through the astro gaming usb mixamp and not the optical. For some reason I had the usb mixamp disabled on the playback tab. I tested in game and it all works! Voice gets loud when you slide to the right and game volume when I move the slider left.

[Genoc1br]

This worked for me!!! Thank you, it was so hard to find this answer anywhere!