WDM or ASIO Driver?

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sniper22b
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2010/02/09 07:11:33 (permalink)

WDM or ASIO Driver?

Hi There,

Which one of these drivers should I be using for playback/recording?

I have just notived I'm using WDM drivers at the moment but am sure before I switched from Sonar 6 to 8 it was ASIO. I've recorded loads of stuff since and only just noticed.

If I switch to ASIO driver the recording process seems to be smoother with less delays, but then it has more glitches and crackles when I load up the CPU with effects etc. when mixing.

Thanks in advamce.






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    sniper22b
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 07:12:48 (permalink)
    Sorry forgot to mention my Interface is a Tascam FW-1804
    #2
    strikinglyhandsome1
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 07:18:45 (permalink)
    Whichever works for you

    ASIO is for real men and WDM is for wimps
    But don't let that influence you.
    #3
    papa2005
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 09:21:49 (permalink)
    sniper,

    When mixing you can increase the latency to avoid the pops & crackles & glitches....

    Regards,
    Papa

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    #4
    Susan G
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 10:32:11 (permalink)
    Hi Sniper-

    I've used both (MOTU Ultralite), and I like the convenience of using the slider in SONAR to adjust the latency, so I usually use WDM.

    Keep in mind that the lowest latency you can get with WDM using that slider depends on the "Samples Per Buffer" setting, or whatever it's called in your soundcard's control panel. True for my Ultralite, at least.

    But yes, whatever works best for you -- it's trial & error. In some cases it depends on how well the drivers were written for your particular card. I don't hear any difference b/w my MOTU WDM and ASIO drivers, so it's just a matter of convenience for me.

    -Susan

    2.30 gigahertz Intel Core i7-3610QM; 16 GB RAM
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    #5
    bitflipper
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 12:57:53 (permalink)
    Which one of these drivers should I be using for playback/recording?

    There is no inherent sound-quality difference between them. For most users, it really doesn't matter which one you use.

    However, a vendor might have done a better job on one or the other, in terms of efficiency. In that case the ASIO driver might be more efficient than the WDM driver, or vice versa. The only way to know is to try them both on a project that taxes the CPU heavily and see if one of them yields fewer dropouts than the other.

    When comparing the two, make sure you're comparing apples and apples. With WDM you set buffer sizes in milliseconds but in ASIO you set them in samples. I suspect that some users who experience better performance with one or the other are actually seeing the effects of different buffer sizes. At a 44.1KHz sample rate, setting your ASIO buffer size to 256 samples is equivalent to setting your WDM buffer size to 5.8ms.



    All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. 

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    #6
    CJaysMusic
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 13:06:15 (permalink)
    Like they all said, What ever works best for YOU .THere is no correct one to use

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    Jim Roseberry
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    Re:WDM or ASIO Driver? 2010/02/09 13:50:26 (permalink)
    With many newer audio interfaces, you should be able to achieve similar results with either WDM-KS or ASIO.
    That said, some audio interfaces have drivers where one is clearly the better choice.
    ie:  Frontier Dakota's WDM/KS driver allows lower latency.
     
    If you're having success using the WDM-KS driver... and you don't feel limited in any way... there's no need to switch.  

    Best Regards,

    Jim Roseberry
    jim@studiocat.com
    www.studiocat.com
    #8
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