ASIO vs WDM: What's the Latest Opinion?

Depends on the card you're using. Delta=WDM, E-MU=ASIO. Not sure about others but it depends on the manufacturer's drivers mostly.

I use a delta 1010 and 44 and I can use both with very stable results. I even sometime record while using vocals with WDM drivers at 1.5ms latency to get a quick response on plugins like revs/comp/synths. It does take more resoarces up but then i drop back to 8 or 10 ms for mixing/bouncing/freezing.

WDM drivers for my Lynx card were flaky. ASIO was rock solid...

It totally depends on the card.

I'm using an RME HDSP9652. They added support for WDM to their cards in the beta driver. I've been using it for a while. I get some pops and clicks on occasion with the WDM drivers. The RME ASIO drivers are rock solid. I like using the WDM drivers because I can quickly change my master out to the Sound Blaster and give my mix a listen on my Klipsch computer speakers for a minute. When ASIO is enabled the Sound Blaster options are greyed out.

It seems like the ASIO drivers are the first choice for most users. If I had to pick one I would go with the ASIO as well.

I don't think that opinion has any thing to do with it. It's usually obvious for me which one is best. I don't have to think about it. In SONAR and P5V2 it's WDM all the way.

I owned 3 different Audiocards/interfaces yet (Terratec EWS 24/96 PCI-card, Tascam US-122 USB, now Phonic Helix 12 FW), ASIO was always the choice for lowest latency. But it depends on the sound device. Did somebody mention this yet?

I have 2 Delta 66s and a Motu 24IO I strictly use ASIO with no issues.. I tried WMD a few times with each and ehhh the ASIO seems to work alot better. I've used the 24IO in a live situation all 24 tracks for about 4 hours straight with plugins going real time for a mix out to DVD as well... With 0 issues.. of course you have to do that at 44k 16bit other wise you hit the max wav file size limit with is like 2gb or soo.. But I've had no issues with ASIO...

Try both pick the one with the best latency also run checks looking for pop/clicks.

ORIGINAL: ReValveiT

M-audio 24/96 here using ASIO. 5.8ms at all times and sometimes 2.9 without a hitch... Ever.

Exactly my experience as well. ASIO on a 2496, 5.8ms always and sometimes 2.9 without a hitch... ever.

as yet not mentioned in this thread is that sometimes wdm and asio actually sound different. its to do with how the driver interacts with something called "kmixer" thats deep inside xp. and maby other reasons:)

on the emu cards at least, asio sounds far better than wdm.


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WDM with M-Audio FW410 here. No real difference to ASIO in quality or latency, but WDM is so much more flexible, with being able to change latency instantly without having to restart Sonar. Saves a lot of time when you go between record and mix, editing mode, when you obviously have different requirements for latency.

ORIGINAL: tarsier
When Sonar uses WDM mode, it bypasses the kmixer. WDM and ASIO both pass the audio data unchanged and therefore should sound the same. If they sound different then the driver is defective.

Seconded.

I'm WDM all the way. Aren't ASIO drivers limited to just one card per application? I was under the impression that ASIO can only use one souncard at a time.

Also. I like my latency slider. That is not available in ASIO mode.

I've always used the WDM driver for my Delta 1010 on my DAW. On my laptop (occasionally used for editing and on-the-road rehearsal support), I use the ASIO4ALL driver for the built-in soundcard.

ASIO has fewer calories, but WDM tastes better.

Sorry for the brief interruption, carry on...

P.S. Teratec EWS88D with WDM here. I've heard you can shave off a little with ASIO, but I'v never bothered with it. I like the convenience of being able to slide the latency slider around right from SONAR. (Maybe I'm lazy?)

Edit: That latency checker in the preceding post might be a great way to check, though...

Edit: ...except it's only ASIO! Bummer, if it worked over WDM, you could use it to compare the two. You can always do the test manually in SONAR with a short pulse (tick, stick hit, etc.) and a loopback recording.

I've seen some interesting observations, this one being particularly so:

I use wdm drivers, and since I have a MOTU 896, I also use ASIO4ALL. I get the benefits of Sonar and a PC using wdm drivers, and the motu sees the asio drivers.

hmmm...it's one or the other

Anyway - I've found that WDM has been my better option over the several cards that I've had. Most of the time, latency has be somewhat similar, and I DO prefer the latency slider to the extra outside "more clicks needed" dialog. Also, I've found that there are way more timing issues with ASIO, especially between audio and MIDI.