after installing ASIO

well, i'm back after finally installing ASIO, the one from the Lexicon Alpha website, on my computer.  this after getting a lot of popping and crackling noises when using the Alpha with the WDM driver.  now, i have no sound, which is what happened the last time i installed the ASIO and i though that i have done something wrong.  (this time i had assistance from a friend that knows about downloading and installing from the web).  all of the pieces that have MIDI, because i wrote the accompaniments directly into the STaff View of Music Creator 3, have no sound after i selected the ASIO drive into as the driver.
 
also other things are happening that i'm not sure should be happening when i open the AUDIO Option window.  now the window calls itself, AUDIO Options-ASIO.  the first tab is GENERAL: PLayback timing Master says none.  Record Timing Master is blank.  when i click on the ASIO panel rectangle at the bottom, nothing happens.   the second tab is ADVANCED: I/O Buffer is 64. Driver Mode is ASIO, because i selected it.  Dithering is Rectangular.  the third tab is Input Drivers which is  blank and Output Drivers is blank, too.
 
the computer under Sound and Audio devices have selected and embraced Lexicon Alpha in every single selection. 
 
i don't know what to do to get sound.  even the fast and safe slider in the Drivers page is somewhat erased, which means that i cannot move it.
 
please help.
 
thanks,
sirena del mar

As I mentioned previously, Lexicon is not the best brand of recording interface to use BUT... stick with it, and the experts will be along shortly.

My advice to you is this: Between audio and midi, Midi is the harder of the two to get working properly since there are so many things that must be right for it all to work.  SO..... for the time being, please grab an old audio project OR import a wave or MP3 into a new audio project. Use that project as you work through getting the driver and all the settings into a working status.

It can be done.... you just need to stick with it, and learn from the advice others will give. It took me over a week to get sound from my system.... but I stuck it out and now it's second nature to turn it on and record. Once you get it set up properly, the settings should save automatically, and unless you have a major problem with the computer, you should not have to mess with it again.



Since ASIO was available for it, it should work very well once it's set up.

Keep the faith.

As Beagle mentioned.... it won't hurt to restart the computer several times as you go through the process of setting the ASIO driver as the default for the card.

That ensures a clean boot each time and the communications should be automatically restored each time it boots.


Even now, from time to time, my DAW and the interface loose communications and a simple restart gets it back to working.

where are you reading that using these softsynths are not appropriate for the lexicon????  using edirol vsc or dreamstation is appropriate for ANY soundcard, so that doesn't make sense.

but if you don't have anything selected as PLAYBACK or RECORDING DEVICES we have to resolve that first or you won't get sound from anything.  do you have anything to select if you click on the pull down arrow?  if not, did you go to the windows control panel under software and look to verify that the lexicon drivers were installed?

i'm sorry.  the wondering is not intended to confuse you.  it actually reveals how little do i know. 
i checked the computer under sound and audio devices.  it checks for the Alpha in every slot, except for MIDI music playback: Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth.  it doesn't give me an option of choosing Alpha in that particular slot.  (i mis-reported this info earlier.  it has always been like this.) 

is that the info you need?

i'm going to turn off the computer for a little while, and re-connect the Alpha.  maybe i'll have different news when i return.
 
sirena del mar

no, that's not what we need to know.

please follow these instructions exactly
in OPTIONS>AUDIO
in the RECORDING and PLAYBACK DEVICES there's a little ARROW to the right, click on that and then see if the LEXICON is available for you to select in either of them.  if yes, select it.  if no, please report back here.

THEN if NO, go to the WINDOWS CONTROL PANEL and click on ADD REMOVE PROGRAMS and look and see if the LEXICON DRIVERS are listed.
please report back yes or no.

i thought that i have told you that already.  within the program MC3 i have no choices.  under Sound and Audio devices i cannot change the Microsoft GS, but Alpha is selected for voice and audio input and output.  under add or remove programs i have Lexicon Alpha driver. 

sirena del mar

you had said there was "NONE" listed, but I didn't see where you said you had looked to see if there were other options or not.

and I didn't see above where you had looked in the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and reported if the lexicon was there until now.

OK.  do this:

make sure MC3 is CLOSED
then use windows explorer to go to C:/PROGRAM FILES/CAKEWALK/MUSIC CREATOR 3
and look for the AUD.INI file (it might be listed simply as "AUD", or it might be HIDDEN - if you can't find it in that folder, I'll help you find it another way).
once you find it - DELETE IT.
then start MC3 again.
it will ask if you want to run the wave profiler when it starts up.  LET IT.
then go to OPTIONS>AUDIO>ADVANCED and change back to ASIO
then see if the LEXICON is listed in the RECORDING and PLAYBCK DEVICES now.

do you know what "windows explorer" is?  the window you use to look around the computer files and directories?

I just mean to use that to look at that folder and look for that file IN that folder.

no, that's the point!  once you delete it and then open MC3 then it WILL get recreated, but that's what I wanted to happen because when it recreates it MC creates it as the default as if it were freshly installed.

so, just make sure MC3 is not running.  delete AUD.ini
open MC3.
if it doesn't ask if you want to run the wave profiler, then force it to do so by going to OPTIONS>AUDIO and click on the WAVE PROFILER button at the bottom of that window.

then close MC and re-open and then change to ASIO driver mode and see what happens.

Beagle: when i open MC3 i have the tips of the day, a message that says that i have no MIDI output, to which i always click go on anyway and then the window that allows me to select a current project or a new project.  no matter which one i select, when i open the AUDIO window i still have the same: AUDIO/ASIO and three tabs: GENERAL, ADVANCE and DRIVERS.  When i click on ASIO panel nothing happens.  Deleting the AUD file hasn't changed anything.

then we're back to where we were before.  if the drivers are installed but MC3 won't/can't see the ASIO drivers, then you have no choice but to use the WDM driver mode.  change it back to WDM.  run the wave profiler.  move the latency slider toward the SAFE side until you don't have popping/clicking any more when playing projects.
 
 
NOTE:  theres' no need to uninstall anything.  the drivers you installed WILL work in WDM driver mode, so don't "uninstall ASIO" this time like you have in the past.  just change the driver mode to WDM in MC3 and rerun the wave profiler and we'll continue from this point.

ok - I think leaving the ENABLE READ CACHE and ENABLE WRITE CACHE unchecked is OK.

on the error message - I think we can resolve this - it will come up for a couple of reasons.  first, check your PLAYBACK and RECORDING DEVICES on the OPTIONS>AUDIO and make sure only the lexicon is selected.  the problem here could be that it's selected your onboard soundcard instead.  make sure you click on the pull down arrow and select the lexicon for BOTH.

did you get rid of the message that says it's "incompatible"?  if not I have other things to try...

no, inserting softsynths won't get rid of that problem.

what do you mean by "when the driver profile window changes itself to the conexant soundcard?"  it shouldn't be changing by itself.  after you change it back to the lexicon does the message come back up again?  during the same project or when you close MC and start back up again or when does the Driver Profile window change by itself?