Hardware drivers are supposed to be supplied by the hardware manufacturer. If an ASIO driver is not available from M-Audio, ASIO4ALL is probably your best hope. Basically, Microsoft creates protocols for communicating with the operating system and applications. (And, they supply some drivers and part of the 'driver stack' too.) But, only the hardware manufacturer knows how to communicate with their own unique hardware, so they write a driver as sort-of an interpreter in-between the standardized Microsoft side of things, and their custom hardware/firmware.

With this arrangement, any Windows application can work with any hardware that has a Windows driver. Quote: Should I be running at 16bit or 24bit audio with the fast track? For recording, most people like to use 24-bits for more headroom and a lower digital noise floor. The only downside is larger files, which usually isn't a problem. 24-bit/96kHz is probably the most common 'studio standard'. 16-bits is actually adequate for most situations, since the dynamic range is limited by the acoustic noise floor in the room/studio.

No matter what bit-depth you choose, REAPER always uses 64-bit floating-point internally. Floating-point us useful for mixing & processing, even though there are no floating-point or 32/64-bit ADCs or DACs. For those of you running the m-audio fast track; the latest driver is asio 64 bit. I installed it last night and it's working beautifully.

No more asio4all (not that it didn't work). I'm still having problems, not sure why, but Reaper is stuttering on playback. I even ran a repair on the latest driver? This is frustrating since I have a new computer with much more speed and storage space, and I am having trouble. My 10 year old, outdated XP system was running with no problems at all.any suggestions? Set your system power settings in control panel to 'ALLWAYS ON' If you are using an Intel processor goto your BIOS and Disable the Intel speedstep IC crap out of there The Intel throttling is causing massive problems for people with Daw work.

You have to disable it in the BIOS. Once youdo that just run the Windows services batch ( search for my name on the forum Windows 7 and Windows 8 batches) But the intel stuff in the BIOS is critical you have to disable it and also disable Intel Rapid Storage Driver (useless).

ASIO4All fixed my windows 7 64bit Asio driver problem in sonar 8.5 Finally after a month of headache trying to figure out why when I pick ASIO in sonar I cant get audio working. It plays but cant hear anything tired everything I could possibly do. So today I decided to give asio 4 all a try and man was this the best thing that happened or what. Now I can Set it to ASIO set the to 5ms and no more delay's with Bull $**** wasapi driver crap. I Couldn't get omnisphere working properly with less then 15ms buffer. Anyhow thought I put it here incase someone else is pulling their hair. That 'broke' my Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 interface when I installed it trying to get an HT Omega Striker 7.1 sound card to be recognized by Sonar.

Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver V1.9.0 for Win 8.1/8/7 (64-bit) (Previous version). Important Notice. Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver is required to connect one of above USB audio devices to your computer. Be sure to use the latest versions of the software available on this Yamaha Pro Audio site. Please download 32-bit driver.

It allowed the Striker 7.1 PC sound card to be recognized but the Saffire Pro 40 was no longer recognized. I had to use the System Restore function to get rid of the ASIO4All install as it wouldn't uninstall any other way. And, even though the system was 'restored' I had to reinstall the Saffire Pro 40 drivers. FWIW, ASIO4ALL is really a 'last ditch effort' type solution for audio interfaces with crap (or no) ASIO drivers. If the audio interface has a proper ASIO driver, it's a step backward.

Jim Roseberry FWIW, ASIO4ALL is really a 'last ditch effort' type solution for audio interfaces with crap (or no) ASIO drivers. If the audio interface has a proper ASIO driver, it's a step backward. See I disagree with that, FWIW I can get 2-3msec lower latency and ASIO4ALL is far more stable for my Alesis Multimix 12 FW than the ASIO drivers provided by Alesis, oh hang on just read the crap drivers bit. But seriously like most things computer related there is no one size fits all solution.

ASIO4ALL (ASIO4SOME?? ) is a great solution, for others it doesn't work as well if at all. My personal experience of it has been very positive though. Who cares how or why it works, or even if it shouldn't work in theory, as long as it does work in practice? Start with an audio interface that has a good ASIO driver: -Measure the round-trip latency using the stock ASIO driver.

-Measure the round-trip latency using the ASIO4ALL 'wrapped WDM' driver. The ASIO4ALL ASIO driver has higher round-trip latency (meaning greater buffer size). What appears to be better performance (at the same settings) can be the result of the larger buffer (higher actual latency). IOW, the performance at equal latency is not better at all. If you start with an audio interface that has a crap ASIO driver, then the wrapped WDM driver (exposed as an ASIO driver by ASIO4ALL) could definitely be an improvement. If you start with a good ASIO driver, ASIO4ALL is never an actual improvement over the stock driver.

I'd avoid audio interfaces that don't provide rock-solid drivers. That's the most direct solution. I'd avoid audio interfaces that don't provide rock-solid drivers. That's the most direct solution. True that, but sometimes some folk get stuck with crap drivers (or even good drivers that just don't play nice on a specific system) AFTER an expensive card purchase. I concur with your latency test results too Jim but as in the OP's case 'some' functionality is better than none, and hey for getting ASIO working from your on-board chip when you go mobile it is useful there too. It's free as well so there's nothing to lose by trying it and although it won't improve latency it certainly can and does improve stability in some circumstances as the OP is testifying to here first-hand.

Talk about installation and removal problems I've never seen before as it doesn't affect any other driver installation, and it goes on and comes off perfectly cleanly. Certainly not a 'preferred' solution sure but very handy to have on your utility belt. I'd avoid audio interfaces that don't provide rock-solid drivers. That's the most direct solution. Ah yes, hindsight.

If only I'd have read about the state of the Alesis multimix drivers before I'd bought it and found out it they are as stable as a raft on a rough sea, but unfortunately I didn't until the problems started. I no longer use ASIO4ALL because the Alesis Windows 7 x64 drivers are very stable but OMG the XP drivers. In fact that was what I liked about ASIO4ALL, it wasn't the latency, after all with that sort of interface latency is almost irrelevant anyway but ASIO4ALL did make my system very stable. The Alesis things would BSOD my system with seemingly no provocation to the point of being almost unusable, WDM or ASIO. Even though ASIO4ALL was obviously using the Alesis WDM drivers the problem(s) just 'went away'. Fireberd My use of ASIO4All was because HT Omega did not have ASIO drivers for the Striker 7.1 audio card and their tech support told me to install it.

It worked for the Striker 7.1 card but disabled the Saffire Pro 40. After I got the Striker 7.1 working in Sonar I found out I really didin't like or need it. System Restore was the only way to completely get rid of ASI4All and not have some fragments still around in the registry. I don't doubt what you are saying at all it's just that I've personally never run into problems with installation or a clean removal with it. But I know weird stuff happens with anything in certain circumstance. FWIW, it only installs to 2 areas of the registry in the Software sections of both Local Machine and Current User if anything gets remaindered that's where it will be. Just delete the ASIO4ALL entries and its gone, to save anyone else having to do a complete restore.

I have Producer X1, a RME UFX, and an AXE-FxII I want to use at the same time. The Axe-FxII is a guitar processor with a built in audio interface. I want to be able to run both devices at the same time in X1 so I can record vocals along with the guitars in a live setting.

I am, I hate to admit, a Sonar beginner. Let me preface my questions with the reason I posted in this thread. I was able to use Asio4All in Reaper and all inputs and outputs from both devices were available to me.

In X1, if I set the driver mode to ASIO I have the UFX devices available. All others are greyed out.

There is no way for me to choose Asio4all as the driver mode so it never recognizes that both devices are active. If I choose WDM for driver mode it makes all in and outs for both devices available. However, loading a single MIDI track with session drummer 3 and hitting a drum produces the most god awful hissy noise. I can switch it back over to ASIO and hit the drum and all is well. Arrrghhh!

So, here are my sad but true newbie questions: 1. I would rather not use Asio4all. I have one of the best audio interfaces on the market. THE best guitar processing kit. And the most complete version of Sonar.

I would think I should be able to use them all simultaneously with their own stellar drivers. Any suggestions appreciated on how to do this would be great. I can't even get it to do what I can in Reaper. If there aren't any possible ways to do this other than using Asio4all then how can I get the option to choose it in the driver mode dropdown? Are there issues with WDM? Why would it corrupt the sounds from SD3 like that? I guess what I am asking is am I missing some simple setting that will fix this and allow me to run the two devices under WDM?

I know these are pretty basic questions but I am a tad frustrated at this point so I thought I would toss it out there and see if anyone has some answers. I am running: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 Win7 Ultimate 64 Intel i7 930 2.80 GHz 6-GB Ram Sonar X1 Producer 64 Thanks, Craig. ASIO only allows one driver at a time by design unless the drivers for particular hardware allows more than one device of the same make and model to be used together (i.e. MOTU, Delta series for m-audio) are you using the AXE-FxII as an INPUT (are you plugging your guitar into it) or just as an FX processor? If you are not using the AXE-FXII as a recording device then you don't need it to show up at all in the drivers anyway, you would only need the RME.

If you need both the RME and AXE as simultaneous inputs, then WDM or ASIO4ALL will be your best bet. All ASIO4ALL does is use the WDM drivers for each unit and puts them into the ASIO4ALL wrapper, it does not have 'drivers' of its own - it uses the WDM drivers of the manufacturer of the soundcards.

As far as why it is greyed out in ASIO mode and only the RME is listed - that has to do with the RME's drivers. RME apparently wrote the drivers to be 'aggressive' and not allow any other ASIO driver to be selected. This would explain why it doesn't work in Reaper either - it's not the host causing the problem it's the drivers. When you say a '.awful hissy noise' when using WDM - exactly what do you mean by that? Is it actually 'hiss' (like you hear from a monitor with an amp turned up but nothing being played in it) or is it a popping/crackling noise? If it's hiss - I'm not sure at this point what that would be because the drivers shouldn't cause hiss for switching between WDM or ASIO, but popping/crackling is caused by low resources and high buffer settings. High buffer settings and low resources will also cause problems with any softsynths or software FX.

You can try using WDM and moving the latency slider toward the SAFE side in OPTIONS>AUDIO but I fear the way you're using the AXE that will cause you to have unrealistic latency to deal with while your'e trying to record real time using the FX in the AXE unit. First let me say, thank you for the prompt response!!! I understand that ASIO only allows one driver and that Asio4all is a WDM wrapper. I read that before and thats why I was trying it to solve my delima. I dowloaded reaper today to see if I could get it to work with both devices using Asio4all. I did get it to work as it allwed me to choose Asio4all in their driver dropdown menu and subsequently access to all the ins and outs on both devices. All was good there.

But hey, I bought Producer X1 and I fiigure I should be able to get it to work under WDM or at the very least just like I did with the Reaper experiment. With that said, I am using the Axe II as an input to the UFX through AES digitally. It also has a USB connection to the PC that transfers 6 audio channels (4 out (2 wet, 2 dry) and 2 in)) and 2 MIDI channels (1 in, 1 out).

Now again, in Reaper with Asio4all I was able to access all (AES, 2 wet, 2 dry, 2in, 2 MIDI) channels. In Sonar X1 I see them all but can only access one device while the other is greyed out and I do not get Asio4all as an option in the driver dropdown. So it seems X1 is not recognizing Asio4all.

Now if I choose the WDM driver mode I have access to all the Ins and Outs. But as I said, just trying SD3 proved awful. The hiss I referred to was not like a amp or pickup hum. I hit a drum or anything one little tap and I get like 10 seconds of SCREECHING noise.

So I figure I must have something wrong there with some settings cause if I simply change back to ASIO it sounds fine. I'll play with the buffers etc as you suggested. My PC is pretty powerful and I only had the one MIDI track with SD3 in the project so I don't think its a matter of low resources. Maybe its a SD3 issue. Ill have to try some other synths.

If I could get WDM working is that the better of the two options? Thanks again for your input.

I have just been scratching my head wondering if its Sonar, Asio4all, or the Axe that wont allow all 3 to play in X1 when they all do in Reaper. *sigh* Craig. Hey Beagle, thank again for helping.

It's very much appreciated. So I went and played around. It wasn't session drummer at all. I am going to have to play a lot more. Very frustrating though since I was able to do the Asio4 thing in Reaper in about 15 mins total.

For the life of me I cannot get Asio4all to work in sonar after several days. It just will not allow both devices like it does in Reaper. So, I messed around some more with WDM. I armed a audio track coming from the Axe AES no problem and sounded great.

Tried it again with the USB audio input from the Axe and as soon as I arm the track to record the input meter pegs so I know I am getting noise from somewhere. I thought it may be an issue having USB and AES hooked up simultaneously but when i disable AES I still got the hot input. So now I am thinking there is maybe an issue with Sonar and some USB conflict. Now I opened another session drummer and you were right. I had the buller very small and it was awful sounding. I had to increase it to the max to get rid of all the crackles. That doesnt seem right to me. My latency will be horrible.

I am beginning to think WDM just isnt good with my combination and I am screwed cause Asio4all doesnt wonk in Sonar for me either. I may be relagated to use Reaper I guess. That is kind of sad seeing as I paid all this money for X1 and I really like the interface etc.

Next I am going to get X1 working with both units seperately and see if i get the same issues. I know its going to turn out to be some darn setting I missed.

Thanks again. This is like a 'Asio4All Users Anonymous' meeting - only we're not so anonymous. Well, here's my little Asio4All testimonial: --My interface is an Alesis io 2.

Unfortunately, there is no 64 bit driver for it. When communicating with Alesis about the problem, they said Asio4All was the only solution. --So when I use the 64 bit version of Sonar (I still primarily use the 32 bit version so I can have all my Stuff) - then Asio4All is what I need to use.

BUT - When I first installed A4All, it would automatically kick in whenever I clicked to open Sonar 64. When the program was loaded, I was ready to go. That stopped happening - No automatic kick in, so Sonar opens with the 'silent bus' message, and I have to manually open the Audio dialogue every time, go to the last tab and select the A4All drivers which are listed, but unchecked. After a few saves, then A4All appears on the front tab as it should, and I can go to work. Isn't that odd--? Craig, You won't see ASIO4ALL as an option. You select it by selecting ASIO mode in the 'Driver Settings.'

If you have another ASIO driver that is taking precidence then you may need to make some adjustments to the configuration file to have X1 select ASIO4ALL first. I use a set up very much like what you are trying to do. It does work for me with WDM/KS or ASIO (ASIO4ALL). I can see the pins on each of multiple devices and select from one or more of them. ASIO4ALL tends to see the devices better than X1 in WDM mode, but I think there are fixes on the way for this.

Gcolbert Craig, You won't see ASIO4ALL as an option. You select it by selecting ASIO mode in the 'Driver Settings.' If you have another ASIO driver that is taking precidence then you may need to make some adjustments to the configuration file to have X1 select ASIO4ALL first.

I use a set up very much like what you are trying to do. It does work for me with WDM/KS or ASIO (ASIO4ALL). I can see the pins on each of multiple devices and select from one or more of them. ASIO4ALL tends to see the devices better than X1 in WDM mode, but I think there are fixes on the way for this. I kind of figured it wasn't going to give me the option in the dropdown menu.

I noticed when I chose ASIO and then restarted X1 all the ins and outs are there. The UFX, AxeII, and Asio4all are all there but the AxeII and UFX are greyed out.

SO as you say, it's like the UFX is taking control first and not letting ASIO4 access. Seems like everytime I make a change I need to rboot as well so this is a pain in the rear configuring. I have to admit I like the Reaper approach better. It put Asio4all in the dropdown and then you simple choose 1st and last device.

I know its just a matter of some setting i missed or corrupted with all the playing. Is there a quick way to restore all the defaults in X1 without reinstalling. I can look that up.:) I would actually like to get it running under WDM as well so I can compare what works best. I know I have something set wrong to be getting so much noise just by arming the track. WHat is odd thoug to me is that I dont get that contention or noise with ASIO. I will keep plugging away and let you guys know what I find out.

Thanks so much for the reply. It is hugely appreciated. Beagle I would suggest you try a different approach and see if this works for you.

Go back to ASIO driver mode and select the RME. Now instead of using AES from the AXE to the RME, use audio cables from the AES Wet or Dry outputs and connect those directly to the RME inputs and select RME inputs for your audio tracks in your project. That was going to be one of my later options!:) I know with EAS it works fine alone. The wet and dry tracks im having trouble with are the ones than come through the AxeFX USB. It sends and recieves both audio and midi.

WHen I arm them the noise pegs the meter. I gotta believe somehow Im getting a USB conflict. Just odd that I wouldnt with Reaper, Maybe Asio4all eliminated that conflict? I'll do a full test and let you guys know what I come up with. Connect only UFX with WDM and ASIO and veryify it works with both drivers. Connect ony AxeFX with WDM and ASIO and veryify it works with both drivers. Connect both and and try to confige X1 to let Asio4all take control (when I figure how:) ) 4.

Go analog into the UFX like you suggested above. One of the reasons I wanted to do both EAS thru the UFX and USB straight to PC was to A/B the difference. Again guys, I am very thankful for your input.

Being that I just installed X1 and have been messing with it so much i'll restore defaults before starting. I'll let you know what I find. Well I think I have reached the end of my rope. 3 days is too much wasted time. I got things to work sometimes and not others.

Never with all 3 units at once. I repeat the same steps after doing complete uninstalls and reloads and get eratic behaviour. I have had X1 freeze on me at least 5 times. Seems like any change to drivers in preferences requires restarting X1 or even Windows reboots.

I did find where the noise was coming from with WDM chosen. It just created another unknown. I only had the AxeFX hooked up to PC and ran X1. Under Asio I was able to get the two stereo inputs from the axe and the one output. All was good. I changed to WDM again and got the noise. I searched in the configuration file and found that if I set 'ShowMultiChannelInputs' and ShowMultiChannelOutputs' to False it would go away.

Unfortunately it took away one of the inputs (the 2nd dry stereo channel) as well. Put it back on True and it pegs the meter with noise. If I change back to ASIO all is well and I get all ins and out and changing those two attributes effects nothing. I am beginning to think the Axe just doesn't bode well with the WDM driver. I am still baffled why Asio4all will work in Reaper after literally 5 mins but not X1 but oh well. I guess I will just play with Reaper for now until I can figure some way around this. Burns me though cause I was really hyped on X1 and really disappointed in its inability to take changes on the fly.

Its too darn difficult to figure out whats going on with all the reboots, freezes, and inconsistency when taking identical paths. I appreciate all your efforts and assistance. I need a beer.

The beer helped! After many tries with Asio4all in Sonar I just couldn't believe that I couldn't access the greyed out Asio4all ins and outs. After reading a few threads someone had posted that all the non Asio4all in and outs need to be unchecked before the Asio4all ins and outs become available. Bhatkanti Marathi Serial Title Song.

I know I unchecked everything several times. Then I took a good look and realized the last pair of ADAT in out weren't on the driver list. I started over. Reinstalled everything from scratch and low and behold there it is. I unchecked them all and now I can use Asio4all driver in outs. Now being the newbie I am I need to read up on the buffers an latency. I cannot arm a audio track without the buffers at the max 2048 in Asio4all.

Set it lower and when I arm I get nothing! Well at least I have sound and can go all routes. I did find that the AES recording sounded identical to the direct USB audio. The UFX is kinda cool in that I can record straight to a sub stic in standalone mode. SO now I have lkots of options if I can get everything running smoothly.

I have found that its hit and miss with X1 when restarting after an issue. Its best to just reboot and start the start up sequence again. Any hints, recommendations, or avoid these pitfalls on how to go about creating the most stable environment? Off to the books. Again guys, thanks for the suggestions.