ASIO4ALL causing Windows audio to stop working

robertweber

Forgive me if this is the wrong section to post this in, but I've searched Google and the forums here and can't seem to find a good fix for my problem. When I fire up a program that uses ASIO4ALL (such as Kontakt or Cubase), it immediately causes all other audio from my PC to stop working, such as Chrome (YouTube) and my media player. I need to be able to watch YouTube tutorials and/or hear my media player while my ASIO4ALL-using programs are open.

Can someone please point me in the right direction as how to fix this? I'm convinced it HAS to be possible.

robertweber

Thanks everyone for your answers. I've done a little further digging and discovered a driver called FlexASIO that allows for multiple audio streams. I've already tried it in Cubase and it works perfectly with no latency and I was able to switch over to YouTube and watch video with sound. I'm thrilled beyond measure. Thanks again for your help!

https://github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO

chk071

ASIO4ALL is not multi client, which means that it doesn't support simultaneous playback from multiple sources.

See here: https://www.asio4all.org/index.php/help/instruction-manual/#Cannot-play-sound-from-another-application

Kubrak

A) I am not sure, if following would work. It might...

Some audio interfaces have two drivers exclusive (just one source possible) and non-exclusive (concurent sources possible). If your audio interface has non-exclusive driver, use it in ASIO4All and audio interface might possibly (I am not sure) work also for other audio sources simultaneosly.

B) Use two audio interfaces, one for Kontakt/Cubase and the other for the rest.

chk071

In my case, DAW audio with ASIO driver of my audio interface in Studio One, and Youtube with the integrated audio chip of my computer works fine.

So, option B. 😉

Brad Yost

ASIO4ALL is just a wrapper for the WDM driver in Windows to fake people into thinking that they are getting an operable driver. WDM is a single stream driver, and is the lowest grade and slowest driver on the platform.

You might try WASAPI (shared) to achieve your goal.

Or better yet, invest in a real audio interface with bona fide ASIO capabilities.

robertweber

Thanks everyone for your answers. I've done a little further digging and discovered a driver called FlexASIO that allows for multiple audio streams. I've already tried it in Cubase and it works perfectly with no latency and I was able to switch over to YouTube and watch video with sound. I'm thrilled beyond measure. Thanks again for your help!

https://github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO