ASIO

[Steam Rig]

Hey everyone. I'm new around here, so hopefully this is the right board for this rather noobish question.

Anyhow, like many folks out there, I use the ASIO driver with Ableton to reduce lag (especially on VSTs). Now, the problem I have with it is that it won't let me change the volume on my system at all. I've done a bit of digging and I've found that ASIO has something called bit-perfect sound, where it won't let you change your volume because of distortion.

It wouldn't be a really big issue, except that I like to leave about 4-5 dB of peak headroom when mixing to leave space for mastering and all that. Needless to say, it's pretty quiet. I've found myself consistently switching to directX to hear my track, then back to ASIO to record. It's a real pain in the arse, especially since ASIO seems to give better sound quality.

So, what do you guys do? I'm certain I'm doing something wrong (and my apologies for this possibly being a really stupid question.)

[Navron]

I record my tracks while in ASIO (virtually no latency), and mix and master the track using my soundcard's driver.

All ASIO really does, it help lower recording latency. In my case, ASIO also seems much flatter and more bass heavy, so it's very hard to hear what the track sounds like while using it.

So unless there's some gigantic EQ problem I need to fix right away, I generally record my tracks first, then switch over to my soundcard to adjust volumes, fades, and EQ for the mixing process.

[Sugarholik]

What the... I have used ASIO for really long and none of these issues ever occured to me. O.o
NavyBrony, if switching to ASIO changes your frequency response you may have some sort of EQ on OS sound system. I recommend taking it off.

And Steam Rig, try just leaving everything in the windows' mixer on full and only adjust volume from whatever hardware you have. Eg. external soundcard / speakers etc. I really don't see how ASIO would reduce volume at all.

By the way, the reason why you can't see your DAW on windows' mixer while you're on ASIO is because ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) bypasses all the operating system's audio system mumbo jumbo (including mixer) as they cause latency and whatnot.

[bartekko]

I have an ASUS Sonar DX sound card, which had dedicated ASIO drivers, however they were VERY glitchy.
Crashed Ableton, made clicks, stuff like that. but then I switched to ASIO4ALL, and never had these problems after that, letting me enjoy 20ms latencies without any problems, and with a very important feature, that is that the asio volume is linked to the system's volume, so I don't blow my ears.

If you have dedicated drivers, try changing them to asio4all