Two Layla3G and ADA8000

[Adi]

Hi Michael,

Asio4all worked perfectly with Layla3G (motherboard is A7N8-E deluxe, nforce2 chipset).
I added a second Layla3G with two Behringer ADA-8000 for a total of 32 I/O: I can see both Laylas in the Asio4all control panel and the 32 I/Os are correctly listed, but Nuendo cannot see all of them: only 26 are listed.
Moreover, quitting from the application and returning to the asio4all control panel, some channels that were normally enabled before are marked as "beyond logic", and these channels are NOT those who were missing (just to make things a bit more complex... ;D )
Resetting the PC re-enable them as long as I do not start any ASIO client.

Thanks,
Adi

[Michael Tippach]

Hi Adi,

This really _is_ pushing it to the limits ;D

Anyway, I believe the theoretical meltdown point in ASIO4ALL is way beyond 128 channels or so (I have to double check)

Two things to try: Run the debug utility (from the www.asio4all.com FAQ/Troubleshooting page and post the output. One WDM device dump says more than a thousand words!

Second; What happens if you enable the devices one by one, i.e. start with 8 channels (works o.k.) then try 16 (still works?) and so on. It would be interesting to know where the limit is in therms of multiple of eight at least...

Also, are the ones that are listed in Nuendo labeled with consecutive numbers or are there gaps in the numbering, e.g. "Input 1" -> "Input 2" -> "Input 5" ?

[Michael Tippach]

Scratch the "multiple of eight" bit, now that I realize what the ADA8000 does! The rest still applies.

If you add inputs and outputs up to a total of 32 IO, this is not really something that hasn't been done before. I myself use two ancient DSP2000 C-Port-s that way, successfully.

[adi]

Michael,
first of all thanks for ansering
I sent the enum4ks output to [e-mail];
I hope that you will understand it more than I did ;D ;D

This is what happens, in details:

Using Echo drivers, everything works. Inputs are numbered this way:
inputs:
SLAVE CARD analog inputs 1... 8
SLAVE CARD ADAT inputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD analog inputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD ADAT inputs 1... 8

Outputs:
SLAVE CARD analog outputs 1... 8
SLAVE CARD ADAT outputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD analog outputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD ADAT outputs 1... 8

Using Asio4all:
inputs:
MASTER CARD analog inputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD ADAT inputs 1... 8
SLAVE CARD analog inputs 1... 8
SLAVE CARD ADAT inputs 1... 8
(as you can see, cards are reversed)

outputs:
MASTER CARD analog inputs 1... 8
MASTER CARD ADAT inputs 1 and 2 only
SLAVE CARD analog inputs 1... 8
SLAVE CARD ADAT inputs 1... 8
Master card ADAT outputs 3,4,5,6,7,8 are missing (only 26 outputs in total)

Furthemore, with asio4all selected Nuendo produces no audio and no vu-meter activity. They both return when I switch back to Echo drivers.
I also tried to select ASIO4ALL, reboot so Nuendo starts with them (no switch between drivers), but the results are similar.

adi

[Michael Tippach]

So I guess _something_ 's running out of resources. Got to figure out what, huh?

First thing to try: This configuration would spawn quite a number of (temporary) threads during audio startup with ASIO4ALL. I have put a version up here:

www.asio4all.com/a4a27t5.exe

that does not do this. Please try! If it still refuses to work, could you please try to find out if this "26 channels" thing is a hard limitation somewhere? You can do this by arbitrarily disabling some of the stereo input/output interfaces in the ASIO4ALL control panel and see whether there is a patteren behind the madness...

[adi]

Thanks Michael.
Tried, it doesn't work: it starts OK (cards enabled), but go to "beyond logic" as soon as I close the Asio4all console and re-open it. As soon as I get the "beyond logic" symbol, the "locked" led on the ada-8000 goes off (this is, the card no longer see it) and the Echo console takes minutes to show-up. I tried to disable both ADA-8000 (only two Layla working, 16 i/o total), same results. Tried to randomly disable I/o, same results.
Tried on another parition with SP2 installed (my main partition has SP1), same results.
Last, I tried to only enable a single stereo I/O couple for each audio card, but no luck.
If you want me to test any debug version of asio4all, I'm happy to help you and become a beta-tester :-)
Regards,
adi

[Michael Tippach]

This is really strange. The only other occasion where I've seen this happen is with WDM drivers that claim 44.1kHz support but crap out when called on it. Mind you, this is the case with e.g. "Realtek HD Audio" but it should not be an issue with your kind of gear.

Just for fun: What happens if you play with the "Always Resample" option in the ASIO4ALL advanced settings?

[adi]

as soon as I check "Always resample" the audiocard goes "beyond logic". Echo drivers have the possibility to lock the samplerate (this is, the card is locked to the choosen frequency):, even enabling this feature at 44100hz doesn't work. :-(

[adi]

tried 2.7 beta 1, doesn't work either

[Michael Tippach]

Is there a reason why you keep the sample rate locked? This could be a major source of problems, as the WDM driver would not report this fact to ASIO4ALL. Could you please tray and see what happens if you unlock the sample rates?

[adi]

Unlocked, no luck
One thing: when (in the asio4all console) I enable or disable a card, the led vu-meter on its frontal panel goes lit for a while. After a couple of time that I enable/disable an audiocard, it goes "beyond logic". When this happens, and judging from the frontal vu-meter, asio4all tried to access the OTHER card (the one I am NOT enabling/disabling).