Hardware Compatibility List for DC8

[Drew]

Hello folks;

Is there a current HCL available for DC8? I'm looking at a new PC and along with it a new audio interface... namely the Focusrite Scarlett 18i8. Has anyone on this forum used this IF? Have Craig &/or Rick tested this IF with DC8?

Or, any other recommendations?

Thanks...

-Drew

[Craig Maier]

Hi,

We have not tested with a Focusrite. However, if the system supports Direct X WDM Drivers, you should be ok.

Craig

[Drew]

Hi Craig;

Well, I'm not finding too many sound cards that support WDM drivers, save the ESI Maya line. Mostly, the ones I have looked at all use ASIO drivers. the ESI cards appear to be hit or miss on availability.

Any suggestions on a card? Or better yet, is DC planning on adding ASIO driver compatibility to DCxx any time soon?

Thanks...

-Drew

[Craig Maier]

I am confused by this. WDM are the standard Windows drivers (besides MME). So, sound cards that do not support them are going to be in trouble. What are we missing? We have had no complaints that our program(s) have issues with sound cards and those drivers.

Craig

[Drew]

Hi Craig;

My apologies for the confusion. It seems I've been getting conflicting information from different parties (not you, BTW) regarding drivers and audio interfaces/sound cards. Maybe I can explain it a different way.

My research into this has taken me in several different directions and to different interface manufacturers, with varying results and opinions.

I've been told that interface "A" won't even work with WDM drivers, only their ASIO driver ("WDM drivers are consumer grade and no audio interface worth its fidelity gold would use them"). I also was told by another party that their interface "might work", but he could not guarantee the performance of the interface. I have yet to get DC8 to work with my own Presonus rig, most likely due to the ASIO drivers they use.

It appears that most of the devices I have looked at so far utilize their own proprietary ASIO driver and bypass the WDM driver altogether.

Hopefully you can see my dilemma.

HTH...

-Drew

[Craig Maier]

I will be quite blunt about this issue. It is bull-s&(%". The CIA, FBI, NSTB, US State Dept,and on and on use our software with Microsoft drivers;, nobody is more discriminating than law enforcement about these things. So, this ASIO thing is just a bunch of marketing crap, imho. Please set me straight why ASIO produces better 192 KHz sample rate files at 24 bits than Microsoft knows how to do it?? Give me technical specifics. 192 KHz, 24 bits is 192 KHz, 24 bits. It's basic.

Thanks,

Craig

[Craig Maier]

BTW - as stated by an IBM slogan "standard is better that better".

Craig

[Marc Hildebrant]

With regard to the ASIO software drivers...From the research I have done it appears that the Microsoft drivers are more than adequate for the audio needs that we have with the Diamond Cut software. As stated before, using a standard Microsoft driver seems to make the most sense.

Marc

[Craig Maier]

It's sort of basic. If a sound-card (chipset) company did not support Microsoft drivers, they would be out of business in a New York Minute.

Craig

[Craig Maier]

We did a little research on this topic. The documentation for the Focusrite Scarlet 1818 says the following:

"The Scarlett 18i8 is compatible with any windows based DAW that supports ASIO or WDM."

Craig

[Drew]

Gents;

Thanks for the replies and for the research and confirmation. I did indeed go with the 18i8 for my interface, as it's the only interface that will serve my purposes out of the 2-3 I looked into (Antelope, Universal Audio and Focusrite).

With regard to the aforementioned quotes, my *guess* is the chaps I quoted were referring to either 1) channel I/O, or 2) latency, or both. And when I thought about it from the perspective of the multi-track recording world, which is where the devices I looked at are marketed to and operated in some fashion, it makes sense to me why they took the tack they did.

I completely agree 100% that the use of the Windows drivers is adequate for this purpose; or maybe a podcaster or the next great singer/songwriter using xxxxxxxx in their bedroom. They probably won't notice any difference.

But for Abbey Road, Blackbird, Ocean Way or any other studio running Protools, that driver won't suffice due to its obvious limited channel count and abhorrent latency in that environment. I understand that Microsoft has done some work in Windows 10 to fix the latency part, but have yet to test it on my new PC.

I did find some specs on WDM/ASIO latency awhile back, but I can't locate them anymore to post here.

Again, thanks for the input.

-Drew