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The search function on this BB doesn’t like "ASIO" for some reason (too common word? Huh?).
I searched on ‘WDM’ and happened to catch an old 2008 post noting that an ASIO version of BAE wasn’t being considered. Perhaps, now that audio interfaces (AIs) are becoming a part of the equation, it might be advantageous to reconsider that.
I use Digital Audio Workstation software (Cakewalk SONAR) for music production, and it likes very low latency. Also, while recording and mixing, I don’t want BAE processing the audio that I send to my (default) AI – I don’t have on-board sound enabled, nor do I use a sound card. The intuitive solution to that is to simply set BAE to Bypass, but unfortunately if BAE is running at ALL, it apparently still has control of the WDM drivers (so, technically, it’s really just BAE’s DSP that’s being bypassed, I guess) – on start-up, SONAR complains that the AI’s outputs are "in use". To avoid this I have to remember to shut BAE down completely.
To eliminate the conflict, I can set the DAW to use the AI’s ASIO drivers, but they have limited bandwidth on this unit (PreSonus FireStudio Mobile): 48kHz***. Using WDM I typically record and process audio at 96kHz until it’s time to render. Since 48kHz seems to be the sample rate BAE wants to use anyway, my preference would be to set BAE up for ASIO and continue to use my DAW as I have, via WDM, that way I wouldn’t have to remember to completely shut down BAE whenever I want to run the DAW (which can happen whenever I get an idea). It would also give me the option of quickly task-switching between the DAW and other audio applications, which I do quite frequently, with the option of using BAE on those, as desired.
This would be a nice-to-have that would be very useful for (a) resolving driver conflicts when they occur and (b) providing greater flexibility in a multi-tasking OS.
*** UPDATE: As it turns out, it was not an internal limitation, but something BAE was doing that limited the FireStudio to a sampling rate of 48kHz. As soon as I uninstalled it and rebooted, I was able to set the AI for 96kHz operation from within SONAR. So it looks like it’s not a WDM-vs-ASIO driver issue here, per se. Will have to investigate further and then think about whether this is a showstopper on a purchase.
If you (using a professional DAW) really need ASIO you have to go for the professional version:
Breakaway Live (this supports ASIO).
This version has the advantage that it has an unlimited trial period !
The only limitation is that randomly approx. every hour for a few seconds the audio is bypassed with an audio commercial (Leif speaks to convince you to buy the software).But maybe there is a solution for your "problem" without extra costs:
Do you know (have you tried to use) the free ASIO4all driver ?
http://tippach.business.t-online.de/asio4all/intro.html
While Breakaway Enhancer uses the WDM driver, you can use the ASIO4all driver in Sonar (I hope it works with 96 kHz for you).
There is no 100 percent guaranty, but it is worth to try it.With my cheap Realtek HD Audio onboard it works (this parallel usage).
It is also possible (for me) to use the Breakaway Pipeline inside the ASIO4all driver (it is nice to have the Breakaway processing as an option for some VSTi using MiniHost – this way to hear how it could sound without the need to setup a whole processing chain inside a DAW).Thanks very much for the suggestion.
But as mentioned in the Update, it turns out that this isn’t an ASIO-vs-WDM issue. I can set up SONAR to use ASIO and pipe audio from both BAE and the DAW through the FireStudio AI simultaneously. So the two don’t conflict any longer in terms of drivers. However, there is a conflict when it comes to the sampling rate setting. BAE apparently sets the rate to 48kHz even though the FireStudio will do 96kHz just fine. I’m guessing the reason for this is that few people are going to detect the difference on playback – especially with all the DSP that BAE is doing – but that’s just a guess.
This creates two problems for me. First, SONAR can’t ‘force’ the rate to 96kHz while BAE is active. I’m guessing this is partly SONAR’s fault – it probably just queries the AI for its current sampling rate and just assumes that’s the maximum. Or maybe WDM has priority over ASIO, I don’t know. Second, even after I completely shut down BAE, it leaves the AI set for a 48kHz sampling rate. So even if I’ve previously had SONAR set up for 96kHz operation, it gets throttled down to 48 when it starts up and connects to the AI. I have to remember to re-set SONAR to use 96kHz before I do anything, or the project and rendered audio defaults to 48kHz. So, not only do I have to remember to shut down BAE whenever I get an idea I want to quickly record, but I also have to remember to modify SONAR’s audio settings before I can start a new project.
These aren’t show-stoppers, necessarily, and as I listen through the trial period I’m just weighing these issues against a purchase decision.
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