Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers

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Paul P
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2012/12/25 13:44:15 (permalink)

Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers

I'm having trouble getting my new Mackie Blackjack audio interface to use its ASIO drivers.
 
I've installed the latest 64bit driver from Mackie that is supposed to solve all the problems people were having with this interface.  I have found no complaints anywhere concerning the latest driver.
 
Sonar X2a sees the Mackie interface, but will only let me use its WASAPI input and output drivers.  If I switch to ASIO, the Blackjack ASIO drivers are listed in X2's properties form, both for input and output, but they're greyed out and I can't select them.  If I set things to WASAPI, then switch to ASIO, X2 tells me I have to use another output device.
I've currently set things up for 24 bit 44.1 khz audio which all soundcards can handle.
Things are normal in the Windows audio management, all devices are present and useable.
 
My system:
Intel Xeon E5-1620
ASUS P9X79WS motherboard with onboard Realtek audio (no ASIO drivers)
16 GB ram
Windows 7, SP1, 64bit Ultimate
Creative X-Fi Titanium HD soundcard (with ASIO drivers)
Mackie Onyx Blackjack USB audio interface (WASAPI and supposedly ASIO drivers)
 
The Creative soundcard's ASIO drivers work normally, as do the Realtek WASAPI drivers.
 
All three soundcards appear to be fine except for the Mackie ASIO drivers being greyed out when ASIO is selected.

In the X2a AUD.INI file, the is no mention of ASIO under Mackie, only under Creative.
Before I contact Mackie's support, I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what ASIO drivers being present but greyed out might mean.
 
Thanks !
 
#1

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    Paul P
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    Re:Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers 2012/12/25 16:55:56 (permalink)
    Well, it appears you can't have more than one ASIO driver running at a time.  I must admit being somewhat flabergasted by this limitation...
     
    However, there is an ASIO aggregator called asio4all which may be a solution if I can learn about and figure out how to get the timing right.
     
    All I want to do is use the Blackjack as an analog to digital converter on input only, and the Creative soundcard for output to my sound system.
     
    I will post back here once I get something working reasonably well.
    #2
    scook
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    Re:Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers 2012/12/25 17:04:32 (permalink)
    That is a limitation of the ASIO specification. ASIO4ALL is a wrapper for nonASIO drivers intended for use in applications that require ASIO. Generally, you are better off using the ASIO driver provided by the vendor rather than wrapping another driver with ASIO4ALL or just use the WDM/WASAPI drivers (if you have to see all your devices at the same time in SONAR).
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    Fog
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    Re:Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers 2012/12/25 19:15:22 (permalink)
    using asio4all .. not a great solution.. use ONE audio card if you are serious about using asio

    untick the other card inputs / outputs... and as if by magic... it will work in asio mode.. SONAR devs perhaps could automate that function as it seems to trip up a LOT of users.. (no suggestion box, just common sense)

    maybe your using the SB as sampler? just use that as is midi wise and input it into the other card, via an audio cable input ( I used to do that with an sw1000) 

    tbh.. mackie make great speakers, but I've heard less than glowing reports about certain things (e.g. the onyx) so I avoid em.


    If you must use 2-3 cards, I'd saw WDM . but hey

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    Paul P
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    Re:Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers 2012/12/25 22:42:48 (permalink)
    I installed asio4all just to see what would happen.  So far it appears to work but I have only tried playback of a simple project.  I select asio4all in X2's properties page, then I can mix and match inputs and outputs from either the Creative sound card or the Mackie interface, both using asio.  I don't seem to be able to select both as outputs at the same time, not that I need to.  If I select both, audio only come out of one.
     
    I haven't gotten around to evaluating latency, recording and monitoring yet which is what really needs to work.  For the moment I'm happy that I can switch outputs.  I use the on-board Realtek audio with cheap desktop computer speakers for everyday systems sounds and web browsing.  When I want good quality sound I select the Creative card which outputs to my sound system.  And now I can listen on headphones through the Mackie (which sounds decent) instead of running an extension to my sound system.  All my recording input to X2 will be going through the Mackie.
     
    A while back I put together an analog mobile mini-studio that recorded to an Edirol R-1 flash recorder.  I then transferred recordings from it to a computer through USB but Roland has not seen fit to provide a windows 7 usb driver for the Edirol so I can no longer read it through usb (thanks Roland).  Now that I have X2 I needed an interface between my mobile rig and my computer, which is why I got the Mackie.  It's a really solid little interface, all metal, and it sits just right on my desk.  I hope its performance will be as good as its construction but my needs aren't very high.
     
    I'll add to this thread once I've gotten around to doing some real recording, in case it might be of help to others.
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    Paul P
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    Re:Sonar X2a and Mackie Blackjack USB interface ASIO drivers 2012/12/29 10:33:22 (permalink)
    I was watching Karl's excellent SWA complete sonar x2 video, which Cakewalk was so generous to give me for a Christmas present, and learned within the first few minutes how to handle part of my problem.
     
    I think Cakewalk should rethink the handling of the audio devices dialog box which in my view few people will figure out on their own.  If you have more than one ASIO driven device and you bring up the audio devices dialog, only one of the ASIO devices listed (maybe multiple ports of the same device) will be black and the others will be greyed out.  This makes sense as you can only operate one ASIO device at a time.
     
    The problem is when you want to change to another ASIO device, no amount of clicking will select a greyed out device.  However, thanks to Karl' video, if you _deselect_ both the input ASIO device AND the output ASIO device, in two separate steps, low and behold the other devices become selectable.
     
    I wouldn't have discovered this in a hundred years.
     
    Now I no longer need ASIO4ALL to switch from one ASIO device to another.  Unfortunately, with or without it I don't think I'll be able to use one ASIO device for input and another for output which is what I'd really like to do.  I'll try one with WDM and the other with ASIO and see how useable that is latency-wise.
     
    #6
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