ASIO-2 compatible?

Does anyone know if HS is ASIO-2 compatible? I'm looking at buying an MAudio Firewire 410 as my sound card etc. Literature says "FireWire 410 uses extremely low-latency ASIO 2 and WDM drivers."

I know ASIO is superior to WDM. I'm new to this game, but this is first I've heard of ASIO-2.

Thanks for any help. This forum has been great as I feel my way along in this, thanks to the coolness and community.

SHS4 is compatible with ASIO 2, I don't know about previous versions.

I know ASIO is superior to WDM. I'm new to this game, but this is first I've heard of ASIO-2.

This is a common misconception. While some hosts will only work with ASIO drivers Sonar was originally designed to use WDM. ASIO support was added later. Which one you use depends on which one works best for your audio device and pc configuration. Some venders have good ASIO drivers but seem to have trouble adhering to the WDM specification when they write the WDM drivers. Some vendors excel at both. ASIO's shortcoming is that only one application can access the driver at the same time. This may change with a new ASIO specification.

Bill

Some vendors excel at both. ASIO's shortcoming is that only one application can access the driver at the same time.

Bill - what exactly do you mean by this? do you mean that if you are using ASIO drivers you can't run SHS and Yahoo Music (or iTunes, or whatever other player you want to insert here) at the same time? If that's what you're saying then I have to disagree with you because I've done it on more than one occassion. If that's not what you're saying, then I don't understand and would you please 'splain it to me?

My Toneport uses the ASIO 2 driver. It works great with HS4

ASIO (the original) only supported one application at a time. ASIO 2.0 fixed that: "Now it is possible to have multiple ASIO 2.0 applications running on the same machine without the first one to get started grabbing the ASIO hardware for itself. As the applications are switched, the ASIO control is handed over to the next ASIO application. As more and more ASIO applications appear, this feature becomes more important." (from a 1999 article on ASIO)

I'm confused as to what is meant by "Now it is possible to have multiple ASIO 2.0 applications running on the same machine without the first one to get started grabbing the ASIO hardware for itself." I'm using an E-MU 0404 with ASIO 2.0 drivers. I did brought up this same issue several months ago on this forum when I found out that SHS4 would loose the E-MU ASIO driver when another application set to use that driver was opened before or after SHS4 was opened.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=650693&mpage=1&key=򟚜

If ASIO 2.0 was relaesed several years ago and E-MU says this "Compatibility with most popular audio/sequencer applications - ultra-low latency 24-bit/192kHz ASIO 2.0 and Stereo WDM drivers," then why is it that I loose the ASIO drivers in SHS4 when another application is opened and set to use ASIO? Is Cakewalk's audio sequencers ASIO 2.0 compliant?

DeBro, do you have the option to allow other programs use your drivers checked?

OPTIONS>AUDIO>ADVANCED>SHARE DRIVERS WITH OTHER PROGRAMS

ORIGINAL: mcourter

My Toneport uses the ASIO 2 driver. It works great with HS4

I also use the toneport's ASIO drivers, and can run a few programs simutaneously. I just set my audio properties on my laptop to ASIO, and all my programs are already set to ASIO (Guitar pro5, Nero Media player, Sonar, Cubase, DVD player, etc..). Maybe if you switch drivers from say WDM to ASIO, while another program is already using ASIO, that could possibly cause a conflict, not sure....
I know this is a bunch of mumbo jumbo, just trying to get my 3rd star

ORIGINAL: Beagle

DeBro, do you have the option to allow other programs use your drivers checked?

OPTIONS>AUDIO>ADVANCED>SHARE DRIVERS WITH OTHER PROGRAMS

I do have that checked.

Ok, just a thought. I'm using an M-audio card and I don't have any problems with my ASIO drivers sharing with other programs. maybe your situation is different because of EMU's ASIO drivers?

As far as I know ASIO can't be used by two apps at the same time. The spec. quoted deals with some apps not letting go of the ASIO driver after the app was closed, which made it unavailable to other apps that needed it. WDM (Windows Driver Model) is part of windows also and not the sole function of the driver.
Still use whichever Driver mode that gives you the best performance with your system configuration.

And to answer beagle's question. I doubt Yahoo Music ot itunes ever accesses the ASIO driver. When you install your sound card drivers the install process installs all the currently use drivers, usually MME, ASIO and WDM. Usually only multi I/O apps need the WDM or ASIO driver to function properly. If you're just opening a single .wav file for editing you don't really need the ASIO driver.

Bill

DeBro,
I am also using an E-MU0404, and haven't experienced this yet. I have run different programs simultaneously with no issues.
I wonder if the other programs you are running may not want to share? Are you seeing it only with certain programs? I'm certainly no pro at this, so I ask so that we might learn something from your experience.

Ahhh, that clears it up, bill! I was starting to read your thread and thought....what am I here, chopped liver?!

OK, I can live with that if that's really the case. so you couldn't use cubebase and HS at the same time (with ASIO) but it shouldn't be a problem for HS and iTunes.

You might be able to use SHS 4 with WDM and Cubase with ASIO at the same time. I can't see how that would be usefull but you could try it.

Bill

I was just trying to clarify what you had said with a 'visual example'. I don't even have cubebase. sorry to confuse.

I've tested this ASIO thing again. SHS4, MiniHost and Cantabile (both VSTi hosts loaded with a softsynth), and the Nord Modular G2 standalone synth. All programs were individually set to use the E-MU ASIO drivers. These programs in pairs were opened simultaneously. The program that was open last in a pair was the one to loose the ASIO drivers - in other words, it emitted no sound.

However, a program using ASIO and another using WDM (DirectSound) can function simultaneously with both E-MU drivers activated.

DeBro,
Thanks. Your second scenario looks like what I have been doing. Programs like Windows Media Player and the G2(Pretty cool, by the way. Thanks for turning us on to that) are using Direct Sound. I input these to HS via Wave In on the EMU.