Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

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asktoby
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Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by asktoby »

I'm running Scope V7.0.1705 and I have all my analog I/O and my ASIO I/O working great but, as we all know, the WAVE driver doesn't work so I'm not able to use Scope for "basic windows tasks", e.g.:

The mic used by Cortana, Discord, Zoom, video conferencing etc
The audio output of windows apps that don't support ASIO (games, Discord, etc.)

I'm working around this at the moment by also having a basic Windows soundcard installed.
Non-ASIO software plays to it, and it's SPDIF output is connected to Scope.
When Non-ASIO software needs a mic signal I play a Mic signal from one of Scope's analogue outputs to the analogue Mic-In on the cheap soundcard.

This works pretty well, the SPDIF output is perfect of course because it is digital, but I would like to avoid the DA/AD step when I have to get a Mic signal to Windows.

Does anyone know of a way around this in software? Something that will take an ASIO output from Scope and pipe it to a WME input in the digital domain?
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asktoby
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by asktoby »

Here is a picture that might be clearer than my words:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yAHwgK ... sp=sharing
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valis
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by valis »

Dante Via can, but that seems the long way around. AD/DA Conversion isn’t going to have much of an impact on the Skype or zoom.
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by garyb »

yeah, no reason to use an atom bomb to kill an ant.
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by Bud Weiser »

asktoby wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:03 pm Here is a picture that might be clearer than my words:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yAHwgK ... sp=sharing
unfortunately, this link requires registration for me.
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Bud Weiser
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by Bud Weiser »

asktoby wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:50 pm I'm running Scope V7.0.1705 and I have all my analog I/O and my ASIO I/O working great but, as we all know, the WAVE driver doesn't work so I'm not able to use Scope for "basic windows tasks", e.g.:
Using WAVE driver for VLC media player, Youtube etc. and routed to analog out works for me.
Can be L/R is inverted,- but I don´t care much for that purpose.
Win7 Pro x64, SCOPE/XITE v7 64Bit.

Never tried computer´s "mic-in" though ...

:)

Bud
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valis
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by valis »

Bud Weiser wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:13 pm unfortunately, this link requires registration for me.
Same.
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valis
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by valis »

Bud Weiser wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:20 pm
asktoby wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 12:50 pm I'm running Scope V7.0.1705 and I have all my analog I/O and my ASIO I/O working great but, as we all know, the WAVE driver doesn't work so I'm not able to use Scope for "basic windows tasks", e.g.:
Using WAVE driver for VLC media player, Youtube etc. and routed to analog out works for me.
Can be L/R is inverted,- but I don´t care much for that purpose.
Win7 Pro x64, SCOPE/XITE v7 64Bit.

Never tried computer´s "mic-in" though ...

:)

Bud
Wave driver has worked well for some, not for others.

The motherboard I've housed my Scope cards in for close to two decades was owned by another person on PlanetZ for a long time. I am able to use the onboard NIC & Soundcard (for media playback), he always had PCI conflicts with them enabled. I know why this is, but it's related to ACPI errata that no longer apply, which isn't my primary point here.

What the example illustrates is that it is not always easy to suss out such technical things via forums. We can only account for the variables present in a given conversation, and there's often much more installed on and in a person's machine.

My machine 2001 era dual Xeon works as well as any in terms of the Masterverb test, as it has a 64bit PCI implementation with enough headroom (compared to that era's 32bit PCI P4 machines). But I also had problems with the WAVE driver in scope on that machine. Onboard components didn't seem to be a factor here, and I am fairly sure it's not related to codec packs or anything else that I had control over on the software side.

I have other machines, and it stopped being my primary daily driver around 2004 or 5. So I stopped even noticing the lack of the WAVE functionality in Scope. In fact I don't even have the onboard audio & NIC on that machine enabled any longer, as it's 100 Mbit and I rarely even use the ASIO driver for more than 2-4 channels in my present usage model. My usage model is clearly not everyone's either. Which loops us back to the point of this response... 8)
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asktoby
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by asktoby »

Here's the diagram that I drew:
Image

I've been playing around with VB-Audio "HIFI-Cable & ASIO Bridge" which has a weird GUI but looks like it might do what I want. Still evaluating...
https://shop.vb-audio.com/en/win-apps/1 ... currency=1
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asktoby
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by asktoby »

VB-Audio "HIFI-Cable & ASIO Bridge" seemed really promising but when I have it running I'm not able to use ASIO in Nuendo.
Apparently this is because the Scope ASIO driver is "single client". It gets consumed by "ASIO Bridge" and is no longer available for Nuendo.
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dante
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by dante »

I use my Zoom UAC-8 to play youtube, VST and Rack Extension demos, as my $4000 Apollo and $3000 XITE-1D don't support it. :lol:
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valis
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by valis »

asktoby wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 7:10 am Here's the diagram that I drew:
Image
What Scope i/o does your card have, XLR or RCA?

If you have the "classic" i/o, then you need to be connecting to Line-In (not mic-in), using a dual RCA to 1/8" like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-105597-3-Feet-Premium-Stereo/dp/B0094A1F3S/

If you're using XLR i/o on Scope, it's a bit more than a simple cable, as there's going to be a level and impedance mismatch.

So, what i/o does your card have?
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asktoby
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by asktoby »

My Scope breakout cable is the RCA one.

I'm currently connecting to the MicIn on purpose, rather than the LineIn, because some Windows apps will not listen for mic-in on the line-in socket. (Two examples: Cortana, Rocksmith). My Mic-EQ in scope has some attenuation to bring the level down from Line level to Mic level.

I'm thinking of getting a second pro soundcard solely to receive the Mic from a balanced output from the A16 Ultra and route that to Window's microphone input.
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valis
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Re: Connecting into another soundcard for general Windows stuff

Post by valis »

This is the reason for your noise, the mic in it’s too sensitive and simply turning it down in software doesn’t address this...the distortion and noises already present.

When you open settings to your sound devices in windows 10, you should be able to access the old control panel app for adjusting recording and playback devices via a text link in the top right. What that text link says depends on which version of Win10 you’re on, but once the dialogue is open Go to the recording tab and find the line in device and right click it to set it as the default device and the default communication device. Any newer browser or ap should see that just fine.
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