Anyone have a dedicated USB out electric guitar device?

[Marc Harris]

These days, the convenience of  , say, a modeller or preamp with USB out for direct recording is such an amazing boon...no more trying to figure out the best way to  mic an amp  in a sub-standard bedroom ,etc.....So the problem , and as near as I can tell, it's not a Bandlab problem, it's literally a limitation of Windows, is if you are using a typical audio interface for track playback,etc, you CANNOT select your modeller/preamp with USB out as the Input recording device. Windows simply won't allow it.  You have to select one or the other , but can't have the USB out from the modeller/preamp as the Input device, and your standard audio interface you use connected to your studio monitors for tracking/track playback etc as the Output device....So if anyone uses the USB out (and my device ONLY has USB out, no audio ouputs), how do you work around this incredible limitation of Windows? My modeller has an onboard speaker, so I am forced to track thru it, then flip back (a TOTAL PITA!) to my audio interface as the Output device, so I can monitor what I recorded thru my far superior studio monitors. I am literally stunned this limitation is still a thing in 2022, when I know for a fact Apple products do this right out of the box (allow for individual I/O devices) and the God awful option of that ASIO4ALL driver is so horrific, what with distorted stuttering and cutouts...just a horrible horrible non-option. How does anyone who records USB out work around this issue?

Edited March 23, 2022 by Marc Harris

[msmcleod]

The single ASIO audio device limitation in Windows was imposed by Steinberg, not Windows itself. 

In the past, I used to switch to WDM to record on multiple audio devices. On Windows 10, WASAPI Exclusive mode will also allow you to select more than one device, and also has the advantage of being low latency.

You do however have the issue of sync'ing the word clock - I was lucky in this respect that one of my sound devices had a word clock out, and the others either a word clock input, or the ability to receive one through ADAT or SPDIF.   

Not being word-clock sync'd may not be a huge issue for recording (it's really not a lot different from different mic placements when recording a band), but be aware that using multiple interfaces can result in the tracks recorded from different devices being slightly misaligned.  The differences aren't usually enough to hear as such, but could potentially introduce phase issues.
 

[Craig Anderton]

Mark is right, the only way to aggregate devices is with Windows native drivers. They keep getting better, and rumor has it the Windows roadmap expects to catch up in a year or two with what Apple was doing almost 20 years ago (!). However, even today the aggregation process is easier on Windows, and the WASAPI drivers have (at least IMO) acceptably low latency. Although not everything supports WDM or WASAPI (Cakewalk has kind of spoiled its users by adopting new protocols quickly), the situation continues to improve. Although I usually use ASIO, sometimes I need to aggregate stuff, and the Windows native drivers do the job.

[John Vere]

As said above the solution is to find a driver that supports both devices and use that just while tracking the guitar. 

But that is the Catch. The device might not support the driver.

I have a Blackstar amp with USB output and it will work with WDM but not WASAPI. Then, as said,  the new guitar track will be late by around 500ms and I have to bump it back. Just not worth it,  so I just mike the amp which actually is a much better sound anyway. A speaker is an important part of guitar tone. 

I also have a Zoom multi effects pedal with USB and it sounds exactly the same if I just use the line out. Therefore just because the signal doesn't pass back through the D/A convertor it will not actually imporve the sound quality by any measurable amount. 

Edited March 24, 2022 by John Vere

[Marc Harris]

Thanks for the replies, as far as I can tell so far, my MOTU M4 will ONLY do ASIO drivers.

[John Vere]

I have the M4 as well. Motu is more of a Mac focused company so you are correct.  There is less uspport for native windows drivers. I do beleieve WASAPI shared works. 

[Jeremy Oakes]

I have amps and pedals that have their own USB ASIO drivers.

However, i would always recommend using a multi pedal line out into an instrument input of an audio device - Boss GT100 and Focusrite 18i20 in my case.

i also have a Line6 and a couple of Digitech multis. Forget the AsIo’s, line out into the audio device is the way to go.

Just my 2 Eurocents.

Jerry