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Old 06-25-2018, 03:08 PM   #1
fwrunner2018
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Default I thought ASIO was the best driver, but...

Hey Guys;
I am playing around in Reaper with virtual instruments. I had thought that setting audio pref to ASIO then adjusting the buffer size for the best sound was the way to go... but not.

I am running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 SP1 on a pretty fast machine (for this purpose - not so for gaming though...)
I have the latest version (5.92 x64) of Reaper.
My AI is a Behringer UMC202HD. I am using the Behringer driver for Windows 7;
ver 4.38.0.0 (2018-02-20).

When I set Reaper to use the Behringer UMC ASIO driver, I get severe distortion on all but the highest octave of sine-wave notes (from the 4Front Piano Module) using Reaper's virtual MIDI keyboard.
The only suitable driver is WASAPI shared mode. This driver produces clean sounding notes without any noticeable delay.
The only other drivers that produce any sound are Direct Sound and Wave Out, but both produce significant delay with distortion.

So I guess I'll just stick with the WASAPI driver, unless you think that ASIO 4 ALL driver would be superior to the Behringer ASIO driver?
Since I am not a professional musician, I don't need the absolute best that can be had, but I cannot tolerate even the slightest amount of audible distortion on the sound I listen to, whether it is from Reaper or a DVD I am watching...

Your thoughts?

Thanks for your help

FW
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Old 06-25-2018, 08:37 PM   #2
adcingeo
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Hi fwrunner2018,

Could you describe specifically what you mean by distortion?
Do you mean an overdiven or clipping type distortion?
Or perhaps a kind of digital stutter or flamming type of thing?

Does the overall loudness (as you hear it from your speakers or headphones) increase when you use the ASIO driver versus the WASAPI driver?

I'm wondering if this is a clocking or synchronisation thing that you're hearing or something else, perhaps in the analogue stage of the audio interface caused be different default output settings depending on the driver used.

Any more info you can offer so we can help?

cheers,
Al.
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Old 06-25-2018, 09:35 PM   #3
fwrunner2018
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This is very strange. After installins ASIO4ALL driver, the distortion disappeared. But now WASAPI doesn't work in Reaper.
I went back and forth trying the UMC vs the ASIO4ALL driver, but now there does not appear to be any difference (using the same buffer setting of 128 @ 44.1Khz).

then I uninstalled ASIO4ALL, and UMC ASIO is working fine, but not WASAPI.

Interestingly, MusicBee is using Direct sound and can play at the same time as Reaper - playing through ASIO driver. I think this is how I need to have it set up, so I can listen to more than one audio source at the same time.

Just to make sure I didn't do anything really bad, I ran sfc/scannow. It did not report any problems, but I don't think sfc will find problems with audio drivers.

In any case, everything appears to be working now.

So far as the type of distortion... I should have recorded it when it was happening, but from my experience, it sounded like a sampling problem, not clipping.
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Old 06-26-2018, 05:14 AM   #4
fwrunner2018
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Since I have a dual (triple with Ubuntu) boot system with Win 7 & Win 10, I installed Reaper on Win 10.
The UMC ASIO driver was set to "Safe" mode and "Auto" buffer size. I left these alone.
Note that there is no "Auto" setting for buffer size in the Win 7 driver.

The sounds were fine. No distortion.
Then I did a bit of experimentation to find where the distortion shows up.
I found that if I changed the UMC ASIO driver buffer size setting to 128, there was some slight distortion on some of the lower notes. This distortion disappeared when I set buffer size to 256, or back to Auto.

From what I have read/heard about Windows 10, it has superior drivers to Windows 7, so perhaps I should do all my Reaper work on 10.
Eventually, everything will need to be migrated to 10 anyway, as MS will end support for 7 in about 18 months.
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Old 06-26-2018, 12:15 PM   #5
tonybeepbeep
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I just received my Behringer umc404HD which I'll use in school in a small Reaper group with kids. I also own a Focusrite 2i2, which runs on ASIO.

Set the 404 up and couldn't find the ASIO option, despite having the 4.38 w10 driver installed. I was about to go on an anti-Behringer rant (despite being part German myself) when my direct guitar sounded like U2 playing in the Grand Canyon.

In frustration, I pulled the USB and reinserted it. Lo and behold I was up at 192k with ca. 12ms latency. Tested it with a pretty big project and no hiccups yet. Fingers crossed it is well put together, because for the price it beats the local second hand prices for bigger Focusrite models.
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Old 06-26-2018, 02:52 PM   #6
fwrunner2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tonybeepbeep View Post
I just received my Behringer umc404HD which I'll use in school in a small Reaper group with kids. I also own a Focusrite 2i2, which runs on ASIO.

Set the 404 up and couldn't find the ASIO option, despite having the 4.38 w10 driver installed. I was about to go on an anti-Behringer rant (despite being part German myself) when my direct guitar sounded like U2 playing in the Grand Canyon.

In frustration, I pulled the USB and reinserted it. Lo and behold I was up at 192k with ca. 12ms latency. Tested it with a pretty big project and no hiccups yet. Fingers crossed it is well put together, because for the price it beats the local second hand prices for bigger Focusrite models.
Sounds like you were listening to that guitar via two routes - direct and through Reaper. I had an experience recently listening to my Yaesu HF ham radio rig, which was connected through the direct input to the Behringer.
I had the "listen to this device" box ticked in the Windows audio settings, so I was hearing it direct with 0 delay, and through the PC with a slight delay. Thought for a second I was experiencing weird band conditions.
In this case, 'band' refers to the band of frequencies we call the 40 meter ham band... Hey; That might be a good name for a band, if I were to start one...

I don't think any patronage to a specific manufacturer is worthwhile - they're all making their product in China anyway...
The Behringer is a real good deal, but you and I are finding out that their drivers leave something to be desired. I read about driver issues before purchasing the UMC202HD, but I couldn't resist the price!
I have trouble with the Behringer disconnecting itself from the USB port when another device (not audio related) is plugged into another port on the same USB root hub. I was able to get an updated driver for the other device, so it doesn't knock out the Behringer anymore. If I remember correctly, moving one of the devices to another root hub did not fix the problem.

Do Macs have driver issues like Windows does?
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