Hi everyone.
I have been using Wasapi with Sonar on my X32 whilst using the playlst for some time with great success. It solved a glitching issue whilst loading  songs that was being caused by the asio driver. With the latest update I seem to be having an issue with the sound quality degrading. I have replicated this on 2 different systems with 2 different X32 mixers. It occurs in both wasapi exclusive and wasapi shared mode, irrespective of buffer settings.  The most consistent way to replicate this is to start a playlst and leave it playing uninterrupted.  After 4 or 5 songs the sound quality suddenly deteriorates (crackling, distored, slows down, usually at the start of a song - not subtle!). Stopping and restarting the playlist restores the sound, but it will hapoen again a few songs later. 
 
These projects are around 20 - 30 tracks each, audio + fx and midi only (no vst instruments). I am using multiple outputs from the PC to the X32 (14 stereo), in case that is significant.
 
I rolled back to 2016-10 and wasapi mode with the playlist again functions perfectly (ran continously for 100+songs without issue) so whatever the problem it seems to have appeared with the wasapi changes this month.
 
I posted an early release problem report in the appropriate forum,  but just wondered if anyone else was able to replicate this or had any suggestions as to a solution. I seem to have run out of things to try!
 
Thanks!

Hey Bruce,
 
In addition to my RME Multiface, I also have aBehringer XR18 and I think I'm going to give it a try with WASAPI mode  to see what it will do...I'm just curious.  It'd be really convenient if it did work well because it's just an awesome box.  Zero latency monitoring, built in effects out the wazoo, 16 XLR...it's an awesome box.  I'll let you know how it goes.
 
Donny

Just did a loopback test using the new SPLAT and WASAPI.     ASIO still wins the timing test. My Tascam drops out all the time using WASAPI. 
 

doncolga
Hey Bruce,
 
In addition to my RME Multiface, I also have aBehringer XR18 and I think I'm going to give it a try with WASAPI mode  to see what it will do...I'm just curious.  It'd be really convenient if it did work well because it's just an awesome box.  Zero latency monitoring, built in effects out the wazoo, 16 XLR...it's an awesome box.  I'll let you know how it goes.
 
Donny

Hey Donny. That's great! I have been so happy with the wasapi driver+X32 for live use. There was no problem with the asio driver for general use with Sonar, but the wasapi driver was much better for use with the play list, at least up until the latest update where ironically the wasapi improvements broke it for my particular setup.
 
Good luck and I look forward to earing  how it goes Donny.
 
 

Cactus Music
Just did a loopback test using the new SPLAT and WASAPI.     ASIO still wins the timing test. My Tascam drops out all the time using WASAPI. 
 

Hey Johnny. 
 
Results vary wildly from manufacturer to manufacturer. It is also a case of what you are actually using the system for. As I mentioned, my x32's are used exclusively for live playback/performance using the playlist. On my system wasapi is world's ahead of the asio driver for this particular purpose, and the recording timing is a moot  point. Under asio,  as each song begins to play and the upcoming song loads, playback glitches. Running wasapi, it is absolutely seamless and playback continues smoothy no matter what you do, including changing the next song loading. Pretty impressive. At least it was until it broke this month. 
 
 

Am I reading your pic incorrectly Johnny, or are you comparing onboard audio to your Tascam? Kind of a false equivolence isn't it? You really need to test an interface that works with both wasapi and asio.

I'm just showing people that they need to be aware of this issue with any driver other than ASIO. I would have used my on board for the ASIO test if it supported it. And the point of the test was to show results using a common on board set up. It's not terrible but anyone doing overdubbing needs to make sure they do this test first and adjust the manual offset, or just have sloppy timing. 
 
Yes tenfoot I realize what your doing and the loopback does have nothing to do with live recording. I use WDM mode to record my band live as it gives me 2 more channels from the Yamaha mixers USB interface. 
 
For some reason my Tascam drops out in WASAPI mode so I could not test it. 

As an experiment today I did a fresh install of windows, updated it fully, and then installed Sonar 2016 - 09 and my X32 drivers, after which wasapI worked perfectly with the playlist (as it always has). I then deleted aud.ini and installed 2016 - 11, and the wasapi driver/playlist problem returned. Using wasapi exclusive mode, the sound would degrade upon playback starting after about 5 consecutive songs (without interupting playback). Using Wasapi shared it would not work at all.
 
I think I can safely assert that as far as the X32 is concerned the issue is most definitely with the new wasapi driver in 2016-11. Here's hoping there is still some work to be done on it!
 
In the meantime I will stay with 2016-09.
 
"If it ain't broke.....:)"

Just tested 2016-12 and the problem persists. The wasapi 'improvements' weren't so fabulous on this end. As far as I can tell what was a perfectly functional wasapi mode was broken in the 2016-11 update that introduced exclusive mode.  2016-09 (when restored from a disc image) continues to work perfectly. Perhaps reinventing the wheel isn't such a great idea:)
 
It seems the monthly updates have become increasingly problematic of late.
 
<sighs>

Perhaps there could be a "legacy wasapi" option. I haven't had much luck with the new mode and my laptop built-in sound either, but it wasn't worse than the old one.