Greetings:

Until the other day, I've always used WDM drivers with my Delta 1010. For whatever reason, after installing Sonar 6 I decided to try the ASIO drivers, but haven't noticed a major change.

So, is there a primer somewhere about the advantages and disadvantages of ASIO vs. WDM. One advantage for the latter, I noticed, is that the drivers apparently can be independently named, while ASIO drivers are automatically stereo pairs.

Thanks,

Steve McNamara ~~ SignatureTunes Studios~~SoundClick

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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.

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I use an 1820M and ASIO is the only choice. WDM results in dropouts and unsatisfactory latency.

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.

hmm....True R&B is like deep fried chicken, greens, and buttered corn bread...

I use a Delta 1010lt with ASIO drivers and haven't had any problems whatsoever. Of course, I haven't yet taxed the software or my machine. I've got one file with 16 tracks of plain audio. So far, everything else I've done uses less resources.

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

It totally depends on the card.

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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.

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As others said, depends on sound device as to what works best. I use WDM with my Dakota/Montana, ASIO with my MOTU 828, and just switched from WDM to ASIO with my Audiophile2496 due to Quicktime 7 and Sonar not working together with WDM.

I generally prefer WDM for Sonar, since you get the latency slider in the Audio Options. That way, I keep my soundcard buffer size at 64 and just use the slider to adjust latency.

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.

Dave Modisette

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Use Whatever works.

I was having some strange audio pauses that would sort of just lock up. Tried the ASIO on my 1010 and things have been working good.

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?

My Echo Mia card does better with Asio than WDM

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...

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I tried WMD a few times with each

Watch out. The FBI are on their way now.

Seriously, no contest here. WDM preferred because I feel I'm getting better performance, ie the perfpormance I want. Easy to adjust latency separately for mixing and recording, and of course multiple sound cards is no drama.

Best,
Geoff

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

Bruce Ennis
Studio

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

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.

-- Jim

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This reply is to the user that started this thread:

One of the major advantages of an ASIO driver used to be that one can do multitrack recording (having each instrument and vocal recorded to a separate track simultaneously), has this changed with Pro sound cards? And another major advantage was that one was able to get lower latency with an ASIO driver (but now some people report good latency with a WDM driver).

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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.


m

ORIGINAL: mildew
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:)

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.

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.

/Donald

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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. This seems to work very well for me.

Cheers,
Lance "koolbass" Martin

www.BoogieHouseMusic.com

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.

It's true that it depends on the interface and drivers. I use WDM with my Delta & have zero issues. Others prefer the ASIO with these cards, so my guess is they're both solid drivers.

My Mackie Onyx 400F: ASIO only with this interface. WDM/KS and Sonar don't play well together with this card's current drivers.

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.

Stringrazor on Soundclick

For true latency figure I would go download the latency check tool for asio drivers from www.centrance.com since many ASIO drivers report lower latencies than they the system actually has.

Stuart
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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.

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Another Delta 66 with ASIO here. I get pops and clicks with the WDM drivers.

Jon

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.

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