No record using ASIO with Creative labs AE-5 plus card

[Phillip Bagley]

I have tried what seems like everything, both in Windows and Cakewalk settings to get ASIO to record. The available recording sources/devices show up but the boxes are not checked and cannot be checked. So far, all I can use is MME. After finaggling with microphone privacy settings I can get ASIO to playback audio, but then I lose my LINE IN capability and so could not record MIDI music or anything else that would use that input.  Also, WASAPI does not work at all and using WDM produces terrible distortion. MME is the only way I can do everything, including listening to MIDI songs as well as record and playback audio, of course with high latency. Has anyone out there gotten the AE-5 to work with ASIO without all that extra configuring, or any other drivers besides MME?

[Phillip Bagley]

The issue has been solved! I needed to uncheck all instances of "listen to this device" in Windows and Creative Command app. That got ASIO playback going. Then, according to Cakewalk support, I needed to uncheck the working output drivers and that enabled me to check the inputs that previously would not check. I tried a recording and it worked except I got no sound because I didn't check the track input selection. It was set for microphone instead of line in. I tested again and got sound recorded for the first time since getting the AE-5 card and Cakewalk.  Finally, I found the "echo" button for the audio track andI could now hear my sound while it was recording. So, all is well and if anyone reading this has the same issue as my first post, now they can solve it quickly.

[Jan Deeben]

Hi Phillip,

I was juist looking to buy an AE-5 card myself for use with Cakewalk. What are your experiences with latency e.g. in your (mic) recordings or when recording MIDI from a keyboard? 

 

[User 905133]

13 minutes ago, Jan Deeben said:

I was juist looking to buy an AE-5 card myself for use with Cakewalk. What are your experiences with latency e.g. in your (mic) recordings or when recording MIDI from a keyboard? 

Please note:  (1) You responded to a post from just under 3 years ago. (2) September 23, 2020  is the date of the OP's last post (2nd of two posts).  

[57Gregy]

37 minutes ago, Jan Deeben said:

Hi Phillip,

I was juist looking to buy an AE-5 card myself for use with Cakewalk. What are your experiences with latency e.g. in your (mic) recordings or when recording MIDI from a keyboard? 

 

I wouldn't buy a gaming sound card for audio production. I probably wouldn't buy a Sound Blaster, although my SB Extigy worked well... in 2004.

[Byron Dickens]

48 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

Please note:  (1) You responded to a post from just under 3 years ago. (2) September 23, 2020  is the date of the OP's last post (2nd of two posts).  

(3) Sound Blaster cards are garbage for audio production.

[John Vere]

To bad CJ is not around anymore, He say " Find the tallest building in town and toss it off it" Back when the Creative Labs stuff caused the same issues we now have with Realtek ASIO. I'd be real surprised if they ever fixed it. I suffered 2 years of grief with a top of the line Audigy Sound Blaster card. It even had 1/4" jacks on a front panel. But the ASIO driver was useless and I found out later that it was actually a close relative of Asio4all, so it was a wrapper, not a proper ASIO driver at all. 

[msmcleod]

7 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

(3) Sound Blaster cards are garbage for audio production.

I abandoned my first journey into PC DAW land (with a "borrowed" copy of Cakewalk Pro Audio 5) due to the quality of sound-blaster audio, and promptly went back to using my MT8X and Amiga with Music-X.  I tried both an official sound-blaster card, and the Guillemot Home Studio 64 card - both were awful.

I couldn't believe how bad the audio quality was - if 8 tracks of audio squeezed on to a cassette can sound better, it must be bad.

A couple of years later, when I got my Yamaha DS2416 card and bought CWPA 7, I heard how good digital audio should sound.

 

[Byron Dickens]

I'm convinced that  trying to record with a Sound Blaster and ASIO4ALL f***** up my timing so bad it took years of practice to overcome.

[Lord Tim]

Ha, this is a walk down memory lane for me. My first card was an AWE32 and the noise floor was so bad that I actually needed to go through and manually de-noise the tracks before I could use them. Godawful latency too. Then I got a Guillemot ISIS MaxiStudio 8-channel card which was light years ahead of that but tied to Win9x VXD drivers, and again not great for latency.

I finally joined the 21st century with a Echo Mia and it was like night and day. Solid drivers, great sound, MIDI timing that didn't drift...

When you can get a Focusrite Scarlett Solo or 2i2 for less than the price of a mediocre night out in the city, I don't know why anyone would want to muck about with gaming cards for recording, after having gone through that hell myself.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Lord Tim

[azslow3]

I have understood there is a different in "gaming" and "audio" sound cards when by occasion have exchanged SB (ISA) with Gravis Ultrasound in my first PC...

Decades later, after connecting M-Audio (Firewire) in addition to SB (PCI), I have realized that Creative gaming cards are still not good for music 🤪