ASIO Volume Help

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
jfadams
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ASIO Volume Help

Post by jfadams » Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:00 pm

Hello all,

I'm new to Ableton (and digital music production in general), and have been having an issue with ASIO sound. My setup is a Monologue running into a Soundcraft Notepad-8FX mixer, connected to my Windows 10 laptop through usb. When I use Soundcraft ASIO driver in Ableton, I'm able to record, but can't hear anything on playback, or very very quiet playback despite having no gain adjustments on the track. I know the sound is recording normally, as if I switch to the MME driver, the sound recorded using ASIO plays back at a normal volume. I've made sure that no other programs are using sound, and disabled exclusive mode in windows sound setting as well.

This may be a dumb question, but should I be plugging my headphones into the computer port or the headphone port on my mixer? I hear the very very low playback on the mixer, and nothing on the computer. Any ideas? I appreciate the help.

H20nly
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by H20nly » Thu Jan 10, 2019 5:42 pm

you would definitely want to take advantage of the headphone jack on your audio interface. you would use the one on the computer only if the interface is disconnected.

scroll down to 14.1 here for more details on monitoring.
https://www.ableton.com/en/manual/routing-and-i-o/

it's hard to answer your question because you say this
jfadams wrote: I'm able to record, but can't hear anything on playback, or very very quiet playback
on the one hand your asking about monitoring, but the symptoms you're describing sound like a thin waveform... like you need a pre-amp or something to boost the input. BUT... when you switch drivers you get different results :?

what are you recording (vocals, instruments)?

jfadams
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by jfadams » Thu Jan 10, 2019 7:03 pm

H20nly wrote:what are you recording (vocals, instruments)?
I'm just recording output from a Korg Monologue synth. Yeah, I agree it is strange. I almost wonder if the Soundcraft Notepad mixer doesn't work as an output device for Ableton, but only as an input device, and I just happen to be hearing some voltage leakage or something back through the usb? The levels in Ableton during recording look good, I just can't hear anything - this includes things like the built-in metronome in Ableton. It's possible there's some windows settings that need to be changed that I've missed, but the ASIO driver for soundcraft is pretty basic, and doesn't have much to configure beyond the buffer size.

H20nly
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by H20nly » Thu Jan 10, 2019 7:18 pm

try ASIO4all, at least as a troubleshooting step

http://www.asio4all.org/

if it works, double check the latency. if it's better than the ASIO driver you're using, it'll be a double win.

102455
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by 102455 » Thu Jan 10, 2019 7:51 pm

ASIO4ALL is not an ASIO driver! There's absolutely no need to use it in 2019.

We now have WASAPI which is Microsoft's answer for low latency use, and comes as standard in Windows. Besides, it's been many years since DAW software required an ASIO driver to function.

ASIO4ALL merely piggybacks onto the standard WDM driver in order to allow use of "ASIO driver only" software (rare to extinct in 2019) with a normal non-ASIO computer audio interface.

jfadams
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by jfadams » Fri Jan 11, 2019 4:03 pm

102455 wrote:We now have WASAPI which is Microsoft's answer for low latency use, and comes as standard in Windows.
Is WASAPI even available in Ableton? I tried a couple of things last night and was still unable to get ASIO to work; I still need to test ASIO4ALL. I might be stuck with the high-latency MME driver.

102455
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by 102455 » Fri Jan 11, 2019 8:08 pm

Good point! It has been requested by users, but if or when Ableton will ever fix Live (after all, it is a standard Windows driver now) remains to be seen.

H20nly
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by H20nly » Mon Jan 14, 2019 5:00 pm

102455 wrote:ASIO4ALL is not an ASIO driver! There's absolutely no need to use it in 2019.
disagree
H20nly wrote:try ASIO4all, at least as a troubleshooting step

102455
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by 102455 » Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:29 pm

But what's the point when all ASIO4ALL does is piggyback onto an existing driver (WDM)? He might as well just try with WDM directly.

H20nly
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by H20nly » Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:03 pm

the point is to troubleshoot.
so, use another driver... to troubleshoot.

presenting the option to use something the DAW doesn't support as an option is kind of pointless. that's like saying that you should try comping vocals in Live by wishing that Live has comping.

102455
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by 102455 » Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:02 pm

H20nly wrote:
so, use another driver
...but it isn't a driver! It relies on WDM (which is a driver).

jfadams
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by jfadams » Sat Jan 19, 2019 9:07 am

I figured it out, guys. It had nothing to do with Ableton; my mixer combines the usb input with a different line in that I had leveled down to 0. Thanks for the help, anyways. Hooray for beginner problems!

H20nly
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by H20nly » Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:57 pm

102455 wrote:
H20nly wrote:
so, use another driver
...but it isn't a driver! It relies on WDM (which is a driver).
:roll:

it's not a cake, it's eggs and milk and sugar!

ffs, how would you select the WDM driver? where in Live is that an option?

and while we're at it, Live is not a DAW, it's lines of code.

you're worried about fucking semantics when the entire point of suggesting ASIO4all was simply to confirm whether the issue remained - so that the actual driver that the OP was using could be either ruled out or scrutinized further. the fact that you have some personal issue with ASIO4all means fuck all when the point was to troubleshoot, not to convince the OP to switch permanently. it's a free and easy way to confirm which side of the line the issue is on as it pertains to the drop down menu in Live's Preferences under the header 'Driver Type'

growthrecltd
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by growthrecltd » Fri May 17, 2019 5:16 am

Listen....I have spent 3 months beating my head against the wall only to find that after I figured things out or thought I had, the god damn son of a bitch (sorry for the language mods but if you have had this issue you have used worse language in reference to this issue) IT is beyond frustrating that they don't provide an easy quick fix to an issue that has plagued musicians since the beginning of DAW's. The www.ASIO4ALL.org program is always a good first step ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE LIKE ME RUNNING ABLETON AND REASON WITH NO EXTERNAL AUDIO INTERFACE. The bulk of the hundreds and I mean HUNDREDS of hours in research time spent trying to fix this issue, was spent chasing my tail. There are about 10 things that can be done to assist the situation but mostly you are going to need patience...a lot of marijuana and some really good friends to hold you when you are having nervous breakdowns and tell you everything will be ok. I am working on a Sound Driver Fail Greatest hits list that will become apparently the only one on the internet. I was really saddened to see how many people are having the same issues and how few responses Ii saw from professionals especially on the DAW sites they should be much more helpful than they are. I will add the list soon but I would recommend to just learn as much as you can right now about ASIO drivers and specifically the ASIO4ALL because, primarily it is FREE, and it is not necessarily a fix. It could still require several steps before you find yourself fully operational. There is a huge list of people just like you that dont know what is happening and they spend money in many cases to figure out is is a series of simple things they did not have to buy, but just access. There is very little out there in the line for guided tours and quick fixes I can tell you I would rather masturbate furiously with a cheese grater than go through what I have dealt with in my CPU over the last few months. Keep in mind I have a new PC and Quad core i5 3.0 GHTz 16 BG RAM 512 and 256 GB Dual SSHD So it is built for my 4 monitor setup that I ordered specifically for these programs and to make music. I do however, regret that I was not thinking about the damn sound card when I ordered it. My smart lay would have been to order it with a on board built in sound card with audio and RCA out. I recommend anyone to order a external audio interface which also will have a sound card and will allow for huge increase in functionality when using a full rack with a lot f processing power needed the latency is a non issue... mostly. Right now with Reason, Ableton, Audacity, REbirth, Recycle, Serum, and a legacy set form Korg with 6 Bad Ass Analogue synths like the POLY 6 MX-20a, Monopoly, and a few other favorites with an endless load of VST plugin instruments and Refills. There is no way around taking the long road for me.

102455
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Re: ASIO Volume Help

Post by 102455 » Sat May 18, 2019 3:41 pm

H20nly wrote:
Tue Jan 22, 2019 9:57 pm
you have some personal issue with ASIO4all
There's no "personal issue".......what I'm trying to do is post some accurate information rather than MISinformation, to guide those who seem to be under the impression that ASIO4ALL is an ASIO driver (see my initial post).

Seriously, do some research. Read up on what ASIO4ALL is, why it exists, and how it works.

It had a place, once upon a time decades ago (when pro audio software could only use ASIO, so wouldn't work without an ASIO interface) - but that time is now long gone.

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