Delta + Win2k + latest drivers...

Your trusty guinnea pig here :)

A long time ago I tried the June 1st Delta Win2k WDM drivers and posted that they were very poor performers. Well, last night I decided to make another go at it.

It turns out that although the drivers are indeed dated 6/1/01 on the website, they've been in almost constant update. The version history dates go into late August. Pretty poor on the part of m-Audio to do updates like that.

The latest drivers do seem to work ok on Windows 2000 in applications that do WDM, DS, or MME. However, I *think* that they broke ASIO. I have two ASIO applications, n-Track and Buzz Tracker, and both crash immediately when I try to do ASIO playback. I've reinstalled n-Track and even upgraded to the new 3.0 last night. No luck. Both applications report memory read errors at the SAME address, so I'm guessing the drivers are goofy.

I tried using the new WDM support in n-Track with the latest results, and had some success. With a latency of 0.05 seconds I could mix with only subtle crackle when adjusting certain parameters (EQ, effects). It seems a little more noticable than what I was doing with the ASIO drivers though, for which I also used a latency of 0.05 seconds. I'm not sure I understand the new Delta control panel at all. There is a single setting for "DMA latency" which replaces the seperate controls for Wave and ASIO buffers. When I crank this setting to its maximum, not matter what I set the buffers in n-Track to, playback stutters like crazy. However, if I set the DMA value to its LOWEST setting of 2ms and set the n-Track buffers for 0.05 seconds of playback latency, everything is fine. Goofy eh?

Anyone else with the Delta on Win2k with any news to report? I'd sure like to use the new drivers because:

a) They're multiclient. It would be nice to be able to play from both a wave editor and multitracker without having to close one or the other.
b) They allow the selection of individual pairs of inputs and outputs from any windows application.
c) Better low latency WDM support.

FYI, to install new Delta drivers, you should also download and run the Delta Driver Uninstaller from the m-Audio website to remove your existing driver. I found this procedure to be kinda goofy on my system though:

- Like an idiot I ran the uninstaller like an idiot before manually uninstalling the delta from the device manager. This caused a hard stop (blue screen).

- I brought my system back up and verified that the Delta was still working and that nothing had been uninstalled. I went to the device manager and chose to remove the delta, and again I got a hard stop.

- I booted into safe mode, then disabled the delta, and then uninstalled the delta. This worked, so I ran the delta uninstaller and it finished without any errors.

Slackmaster 2000
 
Yeh I had the same type of issues in 2k, trying XP now. Ohh yeh you probably know. Are the Win98 drivers WDM?
 
Yeh I had the same type of issues in 2k, trying XP now. Ohh yeh you probably know. Are the Win98 drivers WDM?
 
whAHHHH!!!!

This is tragic!!!
I'm going to get the delta 66 and I use win 2k!!!
Are you sure about this, anyone here not have these problems?
 
hey

nope i havnt had that problem. but what you did shouldnt be the cause of that problem.


PRiZ-one : if your disappointed about the delta 44 not working in windows 2k, then i recommend you dont go into audio recording ;). currently not many things audio recording related work in windows 2k. and next, good luck finding a recording card that does fully support win2k. maybe motu makes one, though im not sure. but u will need to pay a little more cash than what you would spend on a delta 44. my recommendations is you switch to win98 or winME. i cant think of anyone (thought there might be) running a full time recording studio on windows 2k.

in conclusion to this conversation. i have tried many times to run my studio in win2k. first of all, i didnt notice any improvements in performance, maybe a little more stable. but i ended up just having too many problems to work with, and i end up switching right back to 98 within the first couple of hours of trying.

darnold
 
I respect your opinion but having plenty of experience with 95,98,NT4,and 2000, there is no way that I would ever consider going back to 9x. Ever. Sure Windows 2000 support has been sorta weak on the hardware side, but I've been recording with it for about a year now. I've been successfully using the Delta for a long time on Windows 2000. Plus I use the same installation for *everything*.

Priz, the Delta does work on Windows 2000. The support has just come slowly. The older ASIO drivers work great, but as I mentioned they're not multiclient, which is really the only downer. The new drivers work but ASIO seems to be broken.

HOWEVER, I screwed around a bit more with the new drivers last night, and I'm actually prefering WDM to ASIO in n-Track. Less clicks and hesitation when seeking, and to my suprise, fewer dropouts when playing with effects. The latency I'm seeing is about 50ms which is perfectly fine for mixing. This has NOTHING to do with track latency, which with the delta is consistant at around 1ms and has nothing to do with buffer settings (a common misconception).

I am bummed that ASIO is suddenly not working. I don't blame Windows 2000 but I do blame m-Audio. The good news is that ASIO will die because of or coexist with WDM which now offers low latency.

So anyway, so far so good with n-Track 3.0, the latest Delta WDM drivers. My average project is 18-24 tracks with several effects (how many depends too much on the actual effect). The only time I have bad problems is when I play around with new crap like this....but in this case I think it was worth it. I worked with 24 tracks last night, just playing with them, twisting and turning and starting and stopping. Absolutely no driver-related problems, and n-Track 3.0 seems to be about as stable as 2.3 was, though I haven't tried the new effect automation feature.

Stick with Windows 2000, get the Delta, you'll be fine. If you already owned the card my post wouldn't have been a shock to you. I know how confusing all this crap before you actually make a purchase and start playing.

Slackmaster 2000
 
WDM suckage.

ever since i started using the delta 1010 with win2k it has been crap. i haven't tried the newest drivers yet. but with the .20 it would only allow me to record 2 tracks at 24 bits :confused: arsefeck.

WDM is supposed to be a better driver model, and it probably is. but 2 years down the line and companies are still struggling to get it to work.

all the other windows are as stable as a whore on prozac and coke. win2k is the best so far, i don't crash ever, it always works. But the delta shite just will not work properly like it did in win98.
 
Different problem for me

I installed the new drivers for my Audiophile 2496 on Win2k. I followed all their instructions to the letter. Uninstaller, new Hardware, driver update, etc...

Now, in Control Panel->Sounds & Multimedia it does not offer me the M-Audio card as a choice for Recording or Playback on the Audio tab. It shows the Audiophile there on the Hardware tab but shows the old driver #. On the M-Audio Control Panel it shows it is the new driver. Has anyone had this happen? Does anyone know if there's a hardware config file or something liike that needing to be updated in Win2k somewhere?
 
Try this:

1) From the device manager, choose to remove the Audiophile. If it asks you to restart, say no.

2) Run the driver uninstallation program.

3) Reboot.

4) When windows detects the soundcard, do a "search for the best driver" and point it at the location of the new drivers (make sure the old drivers aren't in that same folder of course).

Slackmaster 2000
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a shot, but I'm going out of town so I won't be able to let you know how it went until Sunday when I do it then.
 
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