I need ASIO4ALL

[Steven Lewis]

I had a really nice system set up and now I can't get it to work because asio4all is now all of a sudden incompatible? I'm not seeing any of the other asio's on my computer although like '4all' they are software driven not hardware. I have a Roland FA 07 hooked up and that's the only thing it sees. I can't even play back audio files from cakewalk anymore. I't sees it the meters move but no sound. Very frustrated with this new set up. Anyone got any solutions?

[Will.]

Unfortunately there a wide variety of hardware that rely on this emulation of ASIO. 

Asio4all History:

 https://magroove.com/blog/en-us/what-is-asio4all/#:~:text=Yes!-,What is Asio4all%3F,you to open Pro Tools).

 

MME,WDM and WASAPI: 

https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/roland-difference-between-asio-wdm-mme-drivers/

[msmcleod]

@Steven Lewis - if you really need to use ASIO4ALL, just hit No at the warning prompt and it'll use it and not bother you again.

ASIO4ALL was being used by new users despite having a native ASIO driver installed. As ASIO4ALL is simply a wrapper for the WDM drivers, this was leading to sub-optimal performance. In most cases WASAPI will perform far better, or better still, use the native ASIO driver if there is one.

If you've a very old audio interface, or you're using an advanced configuration for streaming, there might be a legitimate reason for using ASIO4ALL. In this case, just hit No at the warning prompt.

[John Vere]

1 hour ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Audio interfaces are so cheap now I don't know why anyone would bother not getting a decent asio one.

Agreed 100%-  But what we are now dealing with is a target market of users who have been given a $500DAW for free.

And if they are not musicians they probably don't care about needing Audio input or even a proper keyboard controller. Therefore the only investment is a set of computer speakers or headphones. You can create a lot of ( music?) with just that. 

Then toss in cheap connectivity junk from Amazon like USB mikes and Guitar or MIDI to USB cables and we now have driver issues. 

I have spent more time than many testing different audio set ups so I can produce accurate information when making tutorials. The video I made about "Why you need ASIO" only got a few views so I removed it realizing nobody really cares about their audio set up anymore. They just hook stuff up and it either works or it doesn't work and so they complain it's Cakewalks fault. The information is out there but there's way more BAD information than good on the internet about PC audio. Mostly because its very outdated. So Joe Blow looks for help and finds lots of info about ASIO4all. He won't find much about WASAPI. 

But my tests using  4 different computers and feedback from other forum members all came to the same conclusions. 

1- Best performance including syncing tracks is always ASIO do not attempt recording audio in any other mode unless your adjust your timing offset.

2-WASAPI mode blows away any other driver for on board audio on W10. Lowest latency and stable as a rock.  Cakewalk staff approved.  In WASAPI Shared you can do everything any other 3rd party driver can do if you know how to set things up. 

 

[John Vere]

It seem the Roland is also a ASIO interface. This is rare but if you read the promo sheet it says you can record both audio and midi via USB. And I would assume a company like Roland would supply a proper ASIO driver. 

But this is why threads like this are 3 pages long is the OP did not clearly describe the set up like they should have in the first post. I would have said what I'm saying below in my first reply. 

So we have not 1 but 3 ( 4 if you count the Focusrite) ASIO audio interfaces.

As we all know you can only use one at a time. 

1. The Zoom R8, It seems that it uses  what they call a R series driver. Doesn't say ASIO anywhere but I guess we can assume it is.  Not sure how good that is but If it performs properly yes that might be the best one to use.  It has better connectivity than the Roland.  It's nice  mixing board with a USB2x2  interface. If the ASIO driver is good this would be best. 

2. The UCA 222 is a total turd. I can speak personally for that as I also have one. Works just fine with a laptop for audio playback as it gives you RCA jacks but that about it. Possibly the lowest on the ladder of Audio interfaces ever made. I remember doing a loopback test and it failed measurably by a mile.  

3. The Roland FA-07- This might have the best ASIO driver but only way to find out is to test it. 

If it was me I would first uninstall all ASIO drivers including possible lurkers like asio4all, FL studio, Real tech, Steinberg generic. 

Open the Reg Edit  \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ASIO\    And delete everything. 

Install the Roland ASIO driver and see if Cakewalk is happy and play a busy project and see how low you can set the buffer before it crackles on play back. Take note of the Round trip latency etc. 

Now Install the Zoom R driver and do the same. 

use the one that performed the best as your interface. You can always swap back and forth but you can't use both at the same time. 

[Byron Dickens]

What audio interface do you have?

ASIO4ALL is totally unnecessary. It is nothing but a wrapper that fools your host into thinking that the WDM driver is an ASIO one. 

WASAPI has replaced WDM as a much superior native Windows driver and is a much better choice than that redundant ASIO4ALL garbage.

The real solution is to use a proper ASIO interface with proper ASIO drivers.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

7 hours ago, Steven Lewis said:

Very frustrated with this new set up. Anyone got any solutions?

Yes - you need a dedicated audio interface if you  don't have one. If you have one then you need the proper drivers for it instead of Asio4All.

( make sure it doesn't use Asio4All as it's driver like the Behringer UMC22 )

 

Edited September 27, 2021 by Mark MoreThan-Shaw

[Byron Dickens]

2 hours ago, pwalpwal said:

it's perfectly possible to make music using budget gear, even the onboard realtek chip, get a grip!

It's possible to mow 2+ acres with a push mower too....

[msmcleod]

4 hours ago, pwalpwal said:

it's perfectly possible to make music using budget gear, even the onboard realtek chip, get a grip!

+1 to this.

Look at Andrew Scheps - he does some mixes in a hotel room, with his headphones plugged into his macbook using it's onboard device. If you're just mixing, and not recording anything, there's absolutely no reason why you can't use an onboard Realtek device.

If you just use VSTi's to make music then there's no reason why you can't use an onboard Realtek device.

In theory, there's shouldn't be anything stopping you recording audio with a Realtek device either... it's just that most motherboard manufacturers have done absolutely nothing to shield the audio signal path from the input to the Realtek chip, meaning you get loads of interference.  This is not Realtek's fault - it's the fault of the motherboard manufacturer.

[Byron Dickens]

It's possible to make music on a Windows 98 laptop with Cakewalk pro Audio 9 too. Or a four-track cassette deck. That doesn't make it desirable.

Why not spend $100 or so, make it easy on yourself and instantly solve 99% of one's audio issues in the meantime?

Oh, and by the way $100 two in two out interface with a real asio driver is "budget gear."

Edited September 27, 2021 by bdickens

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

Look at Andrew Scheps - he does some mixes in a hotel room, with his headphones plugged into his macbook using it's onboard device.

Yeah much better when the OS uses Core Audio unlike Windows.  Back in the day I mixed on the go with an Echo Indigo PCMCIA card ..circa 2003 /  4 

Asio drivers were great as was the audio quailty 

[Byron Dickens]

3 hours ago, msmcleod said:

Look at Andrew Scheps

The man who bought us Death Magnetic.

3 hours ago, msmcleod said:

he does some mixes in a hotel room, with his headphones plugged into his macbook using it's onboard device.

I betcha he didn't record  the tracks that way.

Notwithstanding the fact that - as much as I dislike Apple - I gotta admit that Core Audio is superior to Windows' native drivers. Certainly much better than WDM inside a buggy wrapper.

Anyway, this has gotten way off track. The OP says "I need ASIO4ALL" but without telling us anything about his

17 hours ago, Steven Lewis said:

really nice system

one can only guess as to why he thinks this.

[slartabartfast]

18 hours ago, Steven Lewis said:

I have a Roland FA 07

Have you tried this?

https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/fa-07/updates_drivers/e830c4fa-dd77-40da-ba6f-7c886c664cd4/

 

[JoeGBradford]

12 hours ago, pwalpwal said:

so much anger!

+1 No need for it - everyone has different ways of working. I have never needed an audio interface - if I was going to be recording live instruments I would have bought one. Everyone has different requirements. I used ASIO4All for years with no problems - I've now switched to WASAPI. Most people here are friendly and supportive when responding to people's queries and concerns rather than being antagonistic - lets keep it that way please

[Byron Dickens]

I don't see how anything in my post connotes anger or antagonism. Its just the straight, unadulterated truth. If you choose to get upset because don't want to hear it, I can't help that.

I say what I say because I've been down that road. My advice is not geared towards " making things work" with kludges, workarounds and half measures. Nor is it geared towards massaging people's feelings and encouraging them to continue suboptimal solutions. It's geared towards making things easy. 

I don't like banging my head on the wall and tearing my hair out.

When I put together my current system a number of years ago, one of the things I did was buy a proper audio interface with a proper ASIO driver. And set it up FOLLOWING THE INSTRUCTIONS IN THE MANUFACTURER'S DOCUMENTATION.

How many posts from me (or others like me) have you seen about "no sound," crackles, latency, sync issues, etc?
EXACTLY!

Edited September 27, 2021 by bdickens

[JoeGBradford]

Fair enough - I  know your answers have been very helpful often but I don't think you have quite got the fact that we are all working within different constraints and at different investment justifications. eg I am a hobbyist - I like writing orchestral music and folk stuff using VI's and don't see any need to spend £100 on an external device - ASIO4 All has worked for me for many years - I don't really need someone saying it is 'garbage' - nothing wrong with pointing out its imitations (of which there are many if you are recording live) but it has done it's job and let me get almost latency free performance out of my on board audio for years. WASAPI seems to work ok now so maybe it is redundant but over the years  ASIO4 All  has worked for those of us doing stuff 'in the box' . People come here for help - I've had great advice from this forum many times. Lets go easy on them - even if they haven't RTFM. And maybe stop using the rather aggressive capitals (except in acronyms) ?

[Steven Lewis]

I set up my Roland FA 07 which came with it's own asio driver. It works as it should in sorar X3 but not in bandlab? I did get focusrite for my lab top but haven't set it up on the desktop yet

[Steven Lewis]

4 hours ago, slartabartfast said:

Have you tried this?

https://www.roland.com/us/support/by_product/fa-07/updates_drivers/e830c4fa-dd77-40da-ba6f-7c886c664cd4/

 

Just tried this not sure if it was me playing around in the settings or not but it is working now thanks. The mention to say no and go with asio4all anyway just crashes the program makes it very unstable...btw

[John Vere]

99% of the time that people say they have no sound is due to the master buss grabbing the wrong outputs from the device list. 

[Steven Lewis]

5 minutes ago, John Vere said:

99% of the time that people say they have no sound is due to the master buss grabbing the wrong outputs from the device list. 

Yea that was the problem with one of my files it selected 'none' (that one was easy) Setting up these things is always very confusing to me what works with one  may not work with something else and the fact that each file saves those settings individually just gets frustrating. One of the files wouldn't play because one track was armed for record...I'm hoping it's because I opened up this browser to get answers, it cuts out the audio when I opened it (makes sense)

[Byron Dickens]

1 hour ago, Steven Lewis said:

I set up my Roland FA 07 which came with it's own asio driver. It works as it should in sorar X3 but not in bandlab? I did get focusrite for my lab top but haven't set it up on the desktop yet

I think you are confused. Its a keyboard, not an audio interface. ASIO is an audio interface driver.

 

1 hour ago, Steven Lewis said:

Just tried this not sure if it was me playing around in the settings or not but it is working now thanks. The mention to say no and go with asio4all anyway just crashes the program makes it very unstable...btw

Second time: what audio interface do you have?