When the option is selected, audio interfaces with WDM and ASIO drivers will appear as two separate sources, and two separate destinations (assuming the interface supports both input and output). The WDM driver will usually be used by ‘consumer-level’ audio-enabled software (such as Skype), and the ASIO driver will usually be used by professional audio software (such as Nuendo).ĭante Via can detect both drivers – the 'Show ASIO compatible audio devices' option in the general preferences determines which driver types are displayed in the user interface.

Some Windows drivers for audio interfaces will install a WDM and an ASIO driver. Audio Interfaces with Both Types of Driver Note: The increased channel support for audio interfaces can increase the likelihood of resource limit problems (see Insufficient Resources). This means that some ASIO-compatible devices will now present more channels to Dante Via, and you can also enjoy the lower latencies provided by ASIO drivers, where they are available. Some audio interfaces, for example, might support 8 or 16 hardware channels of audio, but the WDM driver was only written for 2 channels – so the device would appear in Dante Via as a 2-channel device, and you could only route 2 channels of audio through it using WDM.įrom version 1.1, Dante Via also supports ASIO drivers. This meant that audio interfaces appeared in Dante Via in their WDM guises. Prior to version 1.1, Dante Via supported only WDM drivers for Windows. You could think of WDM as walking in through the main entrance and taking the elevator to your floor, and ASIO as abseiling straight in through the window, from a helicopter. ASIO is a more ‘direct’ audio driver protocol that bypasses some of the Windows software layers, enabling lower latencies. WDM is the standard model for most varieties of Windows drivers, and provides a controlled, traditional route into and out of the computer hardware.

Typically, audio interfaces come with drivers for Mac macOS and Windows.įor macOS, drivers are written for ‘Core Audio’, which is the native audio infrastructure in macOS.įor Windows, drivers are typically written for WDM (Windows Driver Model) and/or ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output). Drivers are small software programs that typically have to be specifically installed on the computer before the device can be used (some devices however use ‘default’ operating system drivers). Hardware audio interfaces (such as Focusrite Scarlett, M-Audio M-Track and PreSonus AudioBox) require drivers to enable communication between the device and the computer to which they are connected. ASIO Devices About Audio Interface Drivers

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