Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011)

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TheSteven
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2011/09/11 21:46:36 (permalink)

Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011)

If you have a laptop with Realtek audio this might be of interest to you. While not the best for recording or mixing it's still nice to not have to plug in an audio interface and be able to various chores (editing, MIDI manipulation, etc.) on a project using just the laptop speakers or headphones. Using the Asio4All drivers (www.asio4all.com) I was able to do this in the 32 bit versions of Vista & Windows 7. In 64bit however I had constant problems - blue screens, etc.. When Realtek came out with their next update things went from bad to worse. This release (so far as my limited testing has shown) looks like a big improvement. So far no blue screens, no audio corruption (with the sound system not the files) creeping in. http://www.realtek.com/do...ition%20Audio%20Codecs

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    Kreative
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    Re:Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011) 2011/09/11 23:07:22 (permalink)
    TheSteven


    If you have a laptop with Realtek audio this might be of interest to you. While not the best for recording or mixing it's still nice to not have to plug in an audio interface and be able to various chores (editing, MIDI manipulation, etc.) on a project using just the laptop speakers or headphones. Using the Asio4All drivers (www.asio4all.com) I was able to do this in the 32 bit versions of Vista & Windows 7. In 64bit however I had constant problems - blue screens, etc.. When Realtek came out with their next update things went from bad to worse. This release (so far as my limited testing has shown) looks like a big improvement. So far no blue screens, no audio corruption (with the sound system not the files) creeping in. http://www.realtek.com/do...ition%20Audio%20Codecs

    Good news, Steven- just in case I want to shed my interface for a while and go totally audio mobile. Thanks for the post. Let us know if your experimentation continues to be pain free.
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    TheSteven
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    Re:Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011) 2011/09/12 01:25:03 (permalink)
    Kreative

    Good news, Steven- just in case I want to shed my interface for a while and go totally audio mobile. Thanks for the post. Let us know if your experimentation continues to be pain free.

    Will do.
    Sonar X1 does a much better job with switching drivers (between Asio4All/Realtek and something else) than 8.5.
    With 8.5 it was like flipping a coin - am I going to blue screen or not?; with X1c - if Sonar is unhappy it just locks up or dies.

    I really hope that this driver update makes 64 bit Asio4All/Realtek stable.

    ...Steven



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    TheSteven
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    Re:Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011) 2011/10/03 03:48:18 (permalink)
    Finally got some time to follow up on this.

    Did several hours of work today cleaning up vocals on a project using the 64bit Asio4All/Realtek driver combination. Overall I'd have to say that on my laptop the new Realtek drivers are about as stable as anything else (compared to my old Ultralite and Line6 TonePort DI) maybe more so (my UltraLite gave me nothing but grief today, finally just gave up trying to use it).

    Two things I observed today
    1) Save often, very often - don't know if its Sonar X1c, my laptop, or what but while clip editing Sonar was locking up every 5 - 10 minutes.  When I started saving after every significant change (after every clip edit) Sonar stopped locking up and I worked for a couple of hours with no problems.

    2) At some point the Realtek audio may start to degrade, i.e. start to break up and get progressively worse.  If this happens just stop playback then open Edit/Preferences and then click OK.  The driver will  refresh and you'll be back in business.  With the previous version of the 64 bit Realtek driver that I had installed the degradation would start to happen after just a few minutes and reloading wouldn't always fix it.

    Don't know what changes the Realtek update brings to the 32bit side but on the 64bit side with Sonar X1c - its a major improvement.

    Edit: 
    Tested using:
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
    HP Pavilion dv9500t
    Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/4MB L2Cache)
    4 GB Ram
    Sonar X1c x64



    post edited by TheSteven - 2011/10/03 03:58:09

    "Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils" Loius-Hector Berlioz

    www.AgitatedState.com MenuMagic - plug-in management powertools!
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    Kreative
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    Re:Realtek updates 32 & 64 bit drivers (Sept 2, 2011) 2011/10/03 13:36:32 (permalink)
    Thanks for your observations, Steven. Many of us have the Realtek driver. I would like to be able to think that I might be able to go somewhere w/my laptop and not have to haul my Focusrite with it, simply using my native 64 bit driver and ASIO4all, if needed.

    Windows 7 64 bit, Sony Vaio Laptop Q740, 8 GB, Sonar Producer X1d, Focusrite Scarlett 18i, Korg Pa500, M-audio 61 Radium Keystation. Using Omnisphere, Trilian, Komplete 8, Morphestra, Orchestral Essentials, Evolve, Orange Tree Guitars, Addictive Drums, BFD2, Melodyne Editor, Studio One 2, Ozone 5, FabFilter.
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