Which works better for Sonar WDM or ASIO? and what's the differnce?

They're just different designs for getting the audio application communicating with the hardware. One is a Windows design, and ASIO is a Steinberg design.

How well the driver is written determines which format works best with Sonar. Some soundcards work better with one or the other.

Like Richard says, with the caveat that all other things being equal, personally I use WDM for a number of reasons:

1. I can adjust latency settingsetc from the Sonar Options->Audio db
2. It seems to work better for me with two or more programs open at once (eg Sonar and Adobe Audition). I'm very happy to concede however that my inability to do this so well with ASIO might well be due to my own stupidity ... but I still prefer the easier option!
3. It supports multiple sound cards ... again, maybe this is possible with ASIO, but for a renowned technophobe like me, well I haven't figured it out. Happily I don't need to because of WDM.

Best,
Geoff

I have a ESI Audiotrak MAYA 1010 - the problem I am having with the ASIO drivers I cannot get the output to rout properly

ORIGINAL: tommyp

Which works better for Sonar WDM or ASIO? and what's the differnce?

I think its a matter of your set up and hardware that your useing. Some set ups and hard ware work better with asio while others work better with WDM --- try both of them and experiment too see which one works best with your system. PC's are like that. You have to find what works best with your set up....... wdm may be great for one persons machine and not with anothers and visa versa with asio.....

I should chime in that with my set up with wdm drivers work like crap -- no matter what... I can't get ride of drop outs and crack and pops no matter the buffer size or latancy, -- asio runs very smooth and I have very very few problems --- unless I push my PC above its limits....some one else it may be the opposite --- any minute someone will chime in and say wdm is the way to go -- just watch

ORIGINAL: glazfolk

3. It supports multiple sound cards ... again, maybe this is possible with ASIO, ....

Best,
Geoff

No, it is not... ASIO, by design, only supports a single driver at a time.

Ciao,

Q.

(...and for any NOT in the know, please contact Geoff about how you can purchase his latest, most excellent creation!)

I have two cards one works better with one, one with the other, I using wdm now, since I changed computer, but it used to work better with asio on my old computer, Im using the Tascam FW1884 with wdm, the other is a luna II its not installed but I used asio for it, on the old computer the Tascam worked better with Asio

On my older machine I used WDM. However, on a new(er) (about 2 1/2 years old now) machine the ASIO works better. Good advice to try them both (if you access to them both) and see which one works best for you.

I can't use ASIO on my Delta 44 at 24 bit - I have posted a bunch in the past regarding this - ASIO is always my choice for tracking - WDM or ASIO is fine in post - IMHO

-D

I use ASIO. mainly because the tascam drivers have an infintely better ASIO implementation, the WDM implementation is no where near s fast.