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I've discovered a limitation to ASIO in that multiple sound cards/devices cannot be used together (at least as far as Adobe Audition, N-Track, and Vegas Pro goes).

What I was trying to do was use ASIO drivers for my input-to-track mappings for recording, but use my Realtek built-in sound card for the "master" output as I do not have powered monitors and therefore can't take advantage of the Delta 44's discrete outputs.

Are there any real gains for quality with ASIO for recording analog multitrack on balanced TRS inputs from an analog mixer?

I can still achieve 96KHz/24-bit sample rate without ASIO; not sure there's any benefits to using ASIO drivers (the MME or DirectSound drivers allow me to use the Delta 44's inputs as L/R pairs, and just as importantly allow me to use my built-in sound card/speakers for monitoring).

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ASIO is a technology designed for low-latency. You shouldn't see any quality improvements (or indeed, any quality difference at all) using ASIO over, say, Directsound. It's not about quality, just about how close to the hardware the software is.

Where you will see a quality difference is in using different hardware. Your Delta 44 is most likely going to have much better preamps and converters than your built-in soundcard, so you are wise to try and find a way to use it.

If you can't get ASIO to use multiple devices (I've never tried it, don't know if it's possible), and you don't need the improved latency, then MME or Directsound is a great solution for your situation.

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  • Actually @WarriorBob, this isn't quite true. ASIO provides accurate synchronisation and clocking mechanisms that other driver interfaces don't provide (including MME and Directsound). These are essential for accurate, high quality playback.
    – JayP
    Dec 29, 2011 at 10:41
  • @JayP Oh wow, I didn't realize that; do you have reference link handy? If so please feel free to edit my answer to correct it. I scanned the link in your answer but didn't see anything about better sync or clocking.
    – Warrior Bob
    Dec 29, 2011 at 19:00
  • Suppose I'm using mic and interface and in device class if I use MME or ASIO both records audio of same quality? I have heared that MME is windows sound driver and asio uses ext sound card. So does ASIO records audio of higher quality than MME?
    – KReEd
    Nov 9, 2021 at 19:08
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    @KReEd I would expect both to record the same quality audio, but see above where JayP disagrees (and of course, specific hardware/drivers might introduce something when using one or the other). My understanding is that it should be the same stream of data, it's just a question of whether that stream goes through Windows (MME) or skips Windows and comes straight from the hardware (ASIO).
    – Warrior Bob
    Nov 10, 2021 at 16:08
  • the way you explained the concept that is really appreciable, thanks a ton for your reply, but believe me after searching a lot, somewhere I found that MME might reduce quality and somewhere I got that there is no difference in sound quality, it's only about latency, MME oor ASIO has nothing to do with sound quality :) btw!!! Your explanation attracts me towards believing that both records audio of same quality.
    – KReEd
    Nov 15, 2021 at 19:46
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Give ASIO4ALL a shot.

There's a good chance you can use it to run both your interfaces with the same audio driver, to use the outs of your internal and ins of your external in any of your software.

http://www.asio4all.com/

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