Audio - Devices

Figure 298. The (audio) Devices section

The Devices section lets you specify the driver mode and which audio device to use for playback and recording.

The Devices section contains the following settings:

Driver Mode. Select from WDM/KS, ASIO or MME (default is MME). Consult your hardware documentation to determine which driver your hardware uses. WDM/KS drivers are the latest available and typically have very low latency. MME is an older driver type and has higher latencies. ASIO drivers also offer lower latency. Your hardware may have all three driver options. If so, you should try WDM first.

Playback Device. Select the desired playback audio device.

Recording device. Select the desired recording audio device.

Note: Music Creator supports only a single audio interface at a time, and will normally use the same device for both playback and recording. However, if you use a recording device that only has an input, such as a USB microphone, you must specify the playback device independently of the recording device.

Launch Audio Profiler (MME and WDM drivers only). Audio Profiler attempts to detect the make and model of your sound card, which determine the card’s DMA (Direct Memory Access) settings. Once Audio Profiler identifies the card, it displays the results and asks whether you want to use the default settings for that card or to override them:

If Audio Profiler has identified your card correctly, you may accept the default settings. Otherwise, Audio Profiler will run a series of tests to attempt to determine the correct DMA settings. Usually this process is successful; however, if it is not, you will need to enter the correct settings in the Device Profiles tab of the Audio Options dialog box.

To determine the correct settings, consult your sound card documentation. Our web site, at www.cakewalk.com, contains the latest DMA settings for commonly used sound cards.

The Audio Profiler utility runs automatically the first time you run Music Creator. You need not run it again unless you install a new sound card or an updated driver for your current sound card.

Audio Profiler will not analyze the card at the 48 kHz sampling rate. It assumes that 48 kHz settings are the same as 44 kHz settings. If your sound card doesn’t sync to 48kHz, you may need to enter the settings manually.

ASIO Panel (ASIO drivers only). This button opens a dialog box where you can set the buffer size for your ASIO driver and change the driver configuration. See your sound card’s documentation for more information.

Mixing Latency. The Mixing Latency Slider enables you to set mixing latency manually, overriding the value set by the Wave Device Profiler. Lower numbers increase the risk of audio problems. WDM sound card drivers offer lower latency than the older MME type.

Learn more. Click this hyperlink to open the Music Creator Owner’s page in your default web browser.

 

For more information, see:

Improving audio performance

 

See also:

Preferences dialog

Audio - Advanced