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Posted By: WendyM MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 08:41 AM
When I look at my Prefs-midi drivers it says MME but it looks like i can change to ASIO if i want? Is there any benefit in changing and do i have to download ASIO from you or elsweher?
Wendy
Posted By: Noel96 Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 10:15 AM
Wendy,

If you have an instrument (e.g. keyboard, or wind controller, etc.) hooked up to BIAB so that you can play along with it, then using ASIO will reduce latency. (Latency is the time difference between when BIAB plays and the sound form an external source such as a midi keyboard sound is heard.)

If you don't have any external instrument interfacing with BIAB, then use MME. For what it's worth, I've used MME for most of the last 12 years that I've been driving BIAB.

Regards,
Noel


Posted By: Matt Finley Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 10:49 AM
Also if you run another audio program at the same time, such as a DAW, use BIAB with MME because ASIO can (with exceptions) only run on one program at a time and you probably want ASIO on that other program (DAW, audio editor, etc.).
Posted By: DrDan Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 10:56 AM
While we are on the subject. Best for you to know a bit more.

If you have an ASIO driver, it likely came from one of two places, 1) it was installed when you setup you sound device or 2) you downloaded and installed ASIO4ALL the free version.

As Noel pointed out if you play a keyboard with (Thru) BIAB while it is playing, then you absolutely need ASIO. The latency (delay) will kill you otherwise.

So why don't we just always use ASIO. Well, main reason is that to just "play" BIAB you don't need it. Furthermore, only 1 program can use ASIO at a time. Many of us use ASIO with our DAWs (because we record instruments), therefore BIAB would not run at the same time if it only had ASIO. So we put BIAB on MME and our DAW on ASIO and now both programs can run at the same time.

There is another reason to be wary of BIAB and ASIO and that is issues with compatibility. Not all ASIO are the same and BIAB has been known to have troubles with some. My MOTU Audio Express ASIO driver runs great with BIAB by the way.
Posted By: DrDan Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 10:57 AM
Thanks Matt, hehe, great minds do think alike.... grin
Posted By: Noel96 Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 11:42 AM
Originally Posted By: MusicStudent
Thanks Matt, hehe, great minds do think alike.... grin

Yes! That impressed me too, Dan smile
Posted By: WendyM Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/25/17 06:15 PM
Erm,I think i'll leave thingsas they are.lol. I only use BB to make backings for my singing and guitar playing.I dont have a keyboard.When ive got the arrangemnt as how I like it I send all the tracks as wavs to my DAW, not RB-yet.
Posted By: Guitarhacker Re: MME or ASIO? - 11/27/17 12:46 PM
ASIO is the preferred driver for many of the better sound cards and interfaces. It will come with those devices on a disk or as a download from the manufacturer's website.

Do not confuse ASIO4ALL with ASIO because they are not the same thing. A4A is a wrapper that tries to fool the hardware into thinking MME is ASIO. It can be effective sometimes but I have found that it doesn't seem to work on any of my computers. If it doesn't work, remove it from the computer so you don't have conflicts when you do get the right hardware and Native ASIO.

If you have an off the shelf, factory setup, computer, normally with a cheap soundcard, there's a very good chance that changing to ASIO will not make it work better. In fact the opposite can often be the case. So the hardware really has to be designed to support the ASIO driver or you don't gain anything generally speaking, from using ASIO over MME.

Yes, it's true that ASIO is available to the programs that have it set as the default driver for the sound card but only the first one started will get it loaded. All you need to remember is to start the most important program that needs ASIO (in my case that is Sonar) and then start the others that will run OK on MME. If I'm composing and not planning to record, BB is first up and it gets ASIO.

ASIO is most useful when you are running synths and VST's in a program with audio tracks as well. The processing and internal stuff is better accomplished with ASIO vs MME. MME simply can't handle the synths in real time like ASIO. Most often, you get clicks, pops, drops, and severe latency that makes it difficult to work effectively.

I can run BB with MME and not have any issues but as soon as I load RB or Sonar, I need to have them running on ASIO because they simply don't work well with MME.

Hope this helps you a bit in understanding the ins and outs of ASIO vs MME.
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