Which ASIO interface do you use ?

[ppet]

Hi everyone,
I use 2 kinds of interfaces : AES/EBU and MADI to connect to a SSL Matrix 24 ports converter.
The AES/EBU is handled by a RME AES32 card very powerfull coming with a digital router and mixer very helpfull !
The MADI is handled by a SSL card dedicated to the Matrix converter, it works great too but with more latency than the AES connections due to the 512samples of needed buffer. Latency can be up to 11ms which is the upper limit when you record music in studio (especially at a tempo of 220) even with direct monitoring !
I got no issues with any of these configurations and the SSL multi protocol and format converter is a charm !

Hope this helps somebody
Cheers
Philippe

[kjetilhd]

I use MOTU Traveller and have an RME Octamic hooked up on the optical input.
Not very happy with this setup allthough it is quite convenient to have 12 mic inputs and 2 additional Millennia Media HV3B on the line inputs. It's not a stable system and I constantly find several issues with both the interface and the native version of Pyramix. Regarding the interface issues I think the firewire controllercard is the problem because it seems that Traveler drops out of sync from time to time and gives me pops and crackles on every output. Soulution is to quit pmx, open the control device for Traveler, start pmx again and all is fine for a while.
In pmx lots of weird things is happening:
- Space bar often triggers the active window menu.
- Playback cursor jumps randomly several seconds or minutes before or after the point where I click.
- I get the Windows error sound when I punch numbers in the timecode entry.
Nothing of this is happening when I use the Mykerinos card. Now this is one of the old card, MB1 i think, so dsp max out really quick. Masscore is the next investment;-)

Kjetil

[charlienyc]

- I get the Windows error sound when I punch numbers in the timecode entry.

fwiw, this behaviour occurs on every Native system. i think it is some sort of feature. i find it one of many reasons to disable the soundcard on my desktop systems

cheers,
-c

[gabriel]

RME MADIface with ASIO Hammerfall DSP driver here. After starting of Windows there is always an error message coming up due to a conflict with the internal Realtek HD Audio of the bootcamped MBP, but the RME runs absolutely stable. Also the Realtek Audio can play back Windows stuff in parallel to the RME serving Pyramix, but cannot be used as a monitor for Pyramix at the same time. ASIO4ALL would be a solution for the latter, but is very limited on input channels with the MADIface.

cheers, Gabriel

[jkurtz11]

Hi all,
Very soon I will be diving in to the world of Pyramix native, finally switching over from soundBlade. As a complete newb both to Pyramix and PC's I have some very basic questions which may been covered somewhere in the forum already. Please email me off of the forum if this stuff is redundant or too basic to waste space here. First of all, what exactly is the difference between ASIO and WDM drivers? I assume that if ASIO it is not specified by the manufacturer then it is probably just a WDM driver, right? I am specifically interested in the Weiss AFI1 for use with Pyramix Native. I emailed Daniel and he said that it "should " work with Pyramix just like any "normal" sound card. However I understand that for higher track counts and processing loads Merging specifically requires an ASIO driver. The AFI1 seems like the perfect box for me considering the rest of my set-up. I need 8 AES i/o and 8 optical i/o with s/mux support. If anyone has any other ideas for interfaces, I love to hear them.

So the gist of my question, - will the Weiss AFI1 work for Pyramix Native even though the driver is not specified as ASIO? Does anyone here have first hand experience with it?

In a related question, is there any equivalent to aggregate audio devices in Windows?

Thanks,
Justin

Justin Kurtz, Assistant Professor
Chair, Music Production and Technology
The Hartt School, University of Hartford
860-768-4674 (phone) 860-768-4441 (fax)
http://www.harttrecordingstudio.org

[charlienyc]

hi Justin,
welcome to the forum!

although you may very well find others here who have that firsthand experience with the Weiss interface, my first recommendation would be to source a demo license of Pyramix to see if works with the Weiss on your system. contact your local dealer for this (search the Merging site or PM me if you need help finding this info).

as far as the drivers go, i'd be surprised if Weiss didn't offer an ASIO driver. if not, you can try the Swiss army knife of drivers, ASIO4ALL, mentioned in the post above yours - at http://www.asio4all.com/ it's quite basic, but does work most of the time. this also supports aggregate devices.

in any case, let us know how it goes. you'll find nearly everyone here helpful in getting you up and running with Pyramix
cheers,
-charlie

[J.Wajer]

New best friend : The Tascam US1800: 18 channels I/O through USB 2.0....Works flawless on my laptop equipped PMX!

[Richard Price]

Hi Justin,

We have been using the Weiss AFI1 with Pyramix Native for a year and a half with no problems (once we abandoned Vista and went back to XP!) We run it on an Asus M51A laptop and have had no issues recording 8 tracks at 96.

All best,

Richard Price
Candlewood Digital LLC
New Fairfield, CT
http://www.candlewooddigital.com

[jkurtz11]

Thanks for the info Richard. I should be receiving my AFI1 in the next week or so and will give it a shot.

Justin

[Southern Emperor]

I'm using The Digi 001 as an interface. It works like a charm.

[kjetilhd]

Udate on the Traveler set up:
When using my Macbook Pro and feeding power to the Traveler through the firewire(because I lost my power transformer) everything works fine! I'm running XP on the mac and on my last recording I used 16 mic's on a brass band with no hickups during the three days of tracking. Happy days

Kjetil

[phixl]

I am having real problems trying to get Pyramix Native working with my new RME FF800. It seems to be ok at 44.1k (I've only tried this briefly) but at 96k or higher I can't even create a mixer without it freezing - I can add new tracks but if I add 'New tracks and strips' it freezes. It worked ok with my Saffire Pro but I could only ever route a maximum of 8 inputs (4 at 96k) but that's a different issue!

I have tried the FF800 on my Macbook pro under bootcamp Windows 7 Pro 32bit (using the latest drivers and firmware) and on another laptop running XP SP3 (using 2.999999 and also the latest driver) - both have problems at 96k and higher.

HELP, THOUGHTS, ANYONE????

Ta
Phil Rowlands

[fl]

Are you running with the "Legacy Audio Drivers" under Windows 7? Apparently, there is a conflict between the new Windows 7 driver and the Fireface - details can be found in the RME Forum.
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9827
http://kc.flexradio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50433.aspx

Are you using the latest RME Driver version 3.067? With Firmware 2.77?

Have you optimized your machine to minimize DPC Latencies?

[phixl]

Are you running with the "Legacy Audio Drivers" under Windows 7? Apparently, there is a conflict between the new Windows 7 driver and the Fireface - details can be found in the RME Forum.
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9827
http://kc.flexradio.com/KnowledgebaseArticle50433.aspx

Are you using the latest RME Driver version 3.067? With Firmware 2.77?

Have you optimized your machine to minimize DPC Latencies?

Interesting - thanks. It is problematic on my win7 bootcamp and also my old warhorse XP machine. I've got the latest firmware and tried with The current drivers and the 2.99999997 version..... think I will have to speak to one of the tech guys at Merging.

The interface works fine on the protools and Sadie which are both on the Win 7 machine so I don't think it's a firewire driver issue

Thanks for the response though
Phil

[ProCopy]

I installed MOTU 828 Hyrbrid when I installed Pyramix Native v7 with Win7 64 bit,
Happy to say that the install went well and I've used the interface in a number of different workflows
from 4/8 channel recording work though to digitising 24 track reels in one pass.
Both the interface and Pyramix Native have operated as I would expect.
I've been running the interface under USB2 as it was installed before I had the correct Firewire cable
I'm unsure whethere there would be any significant benefit in using the Firewire at this stage,
any views on whether I should reinstal the MOTU with the firewire setup?
regards
Mark