is my audio divice obsolite?

[Fractal123]

Hi long time user... but I am having many Issues with a soundcraft signature 12 usb mixer and cakewalk.  My computer allows cakewalk to function with the Realtek sound card threw the laptops speakers and the headphones. I can use the on board audio driver for the sound card in any drivers but asio on cakewalk, and it works.   I can only get cakewalk to see the usb mixer device on mme (32Bit) drivers.  When I select the drivers and try and play or record it freezes the screen and no sound output.  Play turns yellow, pause turns yellow, no sound, ticker stops counting.  It freezes the screen also.  When I record stuff  the screen freezes but it records with just the sound card or other devices I have.  With the soundcraft, it freezes and no sound, sometimes it records?!?  The buttons turn yellow, the play and or pause that's when it stops cakewalk from working. The soundcraft signature 12 works with playing any audio just as an output (IE websites, movies, standalone synths ect.) my computer recognizes the audio interface, and it works with other sound outputs.  I'm not sure whats going on?  I do have the latest drivers for the mixer.  It also doesn't show up in any of the other driver selections, but MME (32Bit).  I also downloaded asio4all to see if that would help and Asio4all doesn't even see the device.  Here is where I'm kinda stuck.   thanks

steve

 

I am using a dell G5 5587

processor i7 8750h @ 2.20ghz

24GB ram 

using windows 10 home version 1903

 

[John Vere]

I just re read your post and a concern came up. You will want to use the ASIO driver mode for best results. But you won't need or use the Real Tech audio with it. If all you have is computer speakers then plug them into either the headphone jack or main outputs of the Mixer. You will need an adaptor. You cannot use on board audio system and output jacks when you use ASIO mode. Your mixer will be all you need for listening to any audio playback from your computer now. 

 

[scook]

The Realtek ASIO driver is broken. Use the WASAPI modes in Cakewalk when using the Realtek chip.

ASIO4All is not a good choice, uninstall it.

For the mixer, did you try the latest driver from Soundcraft https://www.soundcraft.com/en/products/signature-12#downloads_and_docs?

[John Vere]

I have the Signature 10 which uses the same ASIO driver V 3.20   Last Updated: Mar 25, 2019 I use it without issues on a W 7 Laptop. 

Update: I just downloaded and installed the ASIO driver and tested it with latest version Cakewalk and W10. Works great. I set it at a buffer of 512, I was also pleased to find it supported 48 hz. So to answer your question, your device is not obsolete. It's actually a pretty decent 2x2 audio interface. 

I think I leave it hooked up and do some recording with it. Thanks for making me dust it off, been in the road case for 2 years. 

 

 

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by John Vere

[Fractal123]

Ok, so I got it working, but I have latency way up to get it to work.  its another problem

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, Fractal123 said:

Ok, so I got it working, but I have latency way up to get it to work.  its another problem

Are you using the latest ASIO driver from Soundcraft?

What John said about leaving the Realtek alone and using only the Soundcraft is very good advice. Recording through one device and playing back through another on the same system is just a recipe for needless trouble.

If you have everything pared down to just Soundcraft ASIO and you are still having latency issues, Latency Mon is a great utility for figuring out what processes or drivers are causing high latency on your system.

That said, latency is only really an issue when playing softsynths in real time and when tracking audio. Your Soundcraft should be able to let you monitor realtime through itself without having to go through the DAW.

[John Vere]

Actually I found it fussy to work with compared to using an properly designed interface. 
The minute I engaged input echo on a midi track it started a feedback loop happening ?? That was weird!  Then it stopped and never happened again. There were no Audio tracks set in record. 

I thought I’d see if I could record a guitar track and it was all fine but it’s tricky to get a cue mix balanced between the input and playback but I did eventually get that working. So makes you realize how important that blend control on a proper interface is. 

Sound quality is normal. The buffer seems stable at down to 256. Round trip latency was hi at 23 ms. My Motu at that setting is 10 ms. 
So this is not a good interface for users who need low RTL for Guitar Sims. 
The deal breaker was I opened an old project that was recorded at 44.1 and when I was going though the process of converting it to 48hz I couldn’t manually change the setting in the devices control panel. It is only automatically set. 
This is part of how the driver is written. So even though it does have an ASIO driver, it’s not of very good quality compared to brands like Motu, Focusrite and especially RME. 

So as interfaces go it’s missing too many features to work for me. It will work  fine as a very basic 2x2 audio interface. It’s strong point is if you have a studio full of hardware synths this  makes for  a nice way to keep them all plugged in. And the built in effects are a good option which can be used to print to tape or just for adding to a singer’s headphones when tracking 

 It’s back in the road case. Hopefully we will get back to live performances this Summer.  

Edited February 1, 2022 by John Vere