CW PA7, VirtualSampler, MIDI & Audio. Can it be done?

[BluesMeister]

This is my set-up:
Celeron 466
128MB RAM
Terratec EWX 24/96 audio card*
CW ProAudio 7.0
Virtual Sampler 2.74

This is what I want to do:

1 Using VS, load four, perhaps five SoundFonts (*the EWX doesn’t have on board wavetable synthesis), for example, piano, Fender Rhodes, bass guitar & drums.

2 Fire up CW and load one of the many MIDI files I have composed

3 Record my Ibanez Artist electric guitar along side the MIDI tracks

4 Mix to stereo wave file

5 Convert to MP3

I put that same question to Terratec and eventually received a reply from them that says:

> The problem is, that you can't use 2 Appliactions
> at the same time with this card. This is only possible
> with ASIO and GSIF for Gigasampler!
>
> All other cases would make multiclient driver
> necessary.
> So you have to disable the audio part in Cakewalk
> so that it does'nt make use of the soundcards drivers.

Now I’m a little confused here, because my EWX has ASIO and GSIF. So am I multi-client or not?

Maz at Virtual Sampler confirms that I can’t do 1-3 because CW is DirectX. He said that ASIO and DirectX won’t work together.

So my question to the reader is as follows: Is there something I’m failing to understand about this whole deal? Is there anyone else doing what I am trying to do?

What hardware & software must I have in order to achieve 1-4?

 

[audiohead]

You'll be able to do all this and more if you upgrade to Sonar 2.0.
However, you may want to at least consider adding RAM or you will be very limited in the number of tracks/FXs.

ah

 

[BluesMeister]

AudioHead,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, more RAM is definitely the next step, an upgrade to 512MB.

Sonar 2 may be a touch of overkill for my needs, what do you think of Home Studio? Would that do what I want? Unlimited MIDI and 16 Audio tracks could be just right for me.

I've e-mailed Terratec (yet again!) to ask if a multiclient driver for my card is likely to be written. Maz over at SpeedSoft (the VirtualSampler people) tells me he has a 6Fire card from Terratec that shares the same drivers as my EWX card. DirectX in VS and CW should work fine he says.

Somehow I think one of us (Terratec or me) has got hold of the wrong end of the stick regarding the capabilities of the EWX 24/96. I was lead to believe that the EWX would indeed do all the things I want.

--
BluesMeister