Common Usage Cases Optimizations
• Playing Software Synths Live
In this scenario, you do not need audio inputs. Therefore, you best disable them all, which normally will
provide you with a better stability at very small ASIO buffer sizes, or allow smaller buffer sizes in the
first place. Further, you should also disable all audio outputs you do not really need. To disable channels,
use the advanced control panel, expand the items in the WDM device list and disable everything you do
not want to use in this setup!
• Computer As Effects Processor
Obviously, in this scenario you do need inputs. But, as always, you should disable all channels you do not
want to use. Disable 44.1KHz resampling if it is not really necessary!
• General Purpose Sequencer Setup
Normally it matters most that you do not get any dropouts even when the CPU load goes through the
roof. Thus, it is recommended that you relax the latency requirements a little and work with an ASIO
buffer size that feels comfortable with all your favorite VST plugins active. This especially applies when
you are recording audio, in which case dropouts are a little worse than just moderately annoying. If your
sequencer provides latency compensation, you probably want to check that recorded audio is aligned
properly, and, if not, make the necessary adjustments in the “Latency Compensation” section in the
advanced settings dialog.
• Latency Does Not Matter A Lot
In certain configurations, ASIO4ALL allows for bit transparent audio where the Windows driver stack
does not. Hence, audiophiles prefer ASIO output over DirectSound or MME, which most likely does
mangle audio data. In these scenarios, latency is of little concern and audio input is not asked for.
Naturally, you would make sure that all inputs are disabled, set the ASIO buffer size to the maximum and
be happy!
