That part of the audio settings panel was removed in Windows Vista and later versions, although it was still possible to change the default output device through the registry up through Windows 7.
The following programs wrap that functionality, providing a nice user interface instead of forcing the user to dig around in the registry. On Windows 8, 8. Because of this, old software that relies on the default output device setting to know where to send MIDI messages will be tied to the default synthesizer.
Tools that allow setting the default device on Vista and 7 typically do not work on 8 and later. Note: you may need to register on the site to gain access to the download links in the thread. The following programs are useful for rounting MIDI messages from one device to another. Note: the compiled executable may not be broadly compatible across multiple Windows versions. However, it will not give true ASIO performance. Latency will still be higher with one of these drivers than when using device-specific ASIO drivers.
It is also well-documented. However, it causes the driver it wraps to be usable by only one program at a time. So, if you are using as synthesizer that needs ASIO, you can only get sound from that one program and no others. ASIO4All will also sometimes get invoked by programs that search through drivers upon startup common with DAWs , which can cause problems with in-program changes to the audio setup.
However, it is trickier to set up and can cause conflicts with some DAW software for example, Cakewalk Sonar X1 and X2 crashed immediately on startup when I had it installed. Sometimes it even requires logging off and on again so that JACK can be loaded as the first audio program. So, make sure you set it up in advance of when you need it. If you wait until the last minute, you risk getting in front of the audience and then having a dreaded technical difficulty delay.
This section contains general information about different types of audio and MIDI hardware I have both used myself and commonly been asked about. With on exception discussed in this section, there are really too many options in this area with too many new ones coming out each year to compare pros and cons of specific makes and models in a document like this.
Note that old hardware will not necessarily work on later versions of Windows just because it worked on XP. Make sure the manufacturer says that your version of Windows is supported. Some pieces of old audio hardware can be coerced into working with later Windows versions, but others cannot or will be unstable at best.
Nearly every moern motherboard comes with a built-in sound device. On-board sound devices also usually do not have their own ASIO drivers, which are required by many synthesizers. Tools like ASIO4All can allow on-board sound devices to be used by synthesizers that require ASIO, and this will sometimes yield a bit better latency than if the same synthesizer is set up to use another type of driver.
However, the latency will most likely still be noticeable. PCI-based sound cards usually offer an improvement in sound quality and connectivity over on-board sound. However, once again, many do not come with ASIO drivers. Cards with ASIO drivers are often at least partially intended for music development. Cards intended mainly for entertainment home theater, gaming, etc.
Many older Creative Labs sound cards intended for audio development had the added benefit of hardware-level sound font support, meaning that the cards had a very easy-to-customize MIDI synthesizer. Unfortunately, this type of feature is increasingly hard to find as DAWs and PCs have become more powerful. A list of sound-font compatibile devices can be found here:. Although obviously not a possibility in a completely freeware-based setup, there are some cheap USB audio interfaces that come with their own ASIO drivers and can give good latency with synthesizers.
However, be warned that you get what you pay for in many ways. Although not a perfect correlation, you do get what you pay for to some extent with audio interfaces.
Extremely cheap audio interfaces often have sound quality caveats and do not necessarily come with ASIO drivers i. More expensive boxes also usually offer more diverse connections, better mic preamps, and so on. Some are portable, others are intended to stay put. While convenient and usually with good performance when in one box, it is still quite common to have separate audio and MIDI interfaces, particularly for mobile setups where size needs to be minimized and both features may not be needed at the same time.
The cheapest audio interface option I have explored is the Behringer UCA , which is the only specific interface I will discuss here. The device also allows usage of multiple driver types simultaneously although only one program can be using the ASIO driver at any given time. The sound quality is marginal and, when the device is under rather a lot of strain, it is prone to glitches in the audio: clicks, pauses, etc.
Nevertheless, it is a great portable and incredibly cheap solution. This is extremely disappointing as the Behringer drivers worked far better. Sadly, I am not aware of any other devices in this price range that are good substitutes for the UCA series with the original Behringer drivers. However, they are not guaranteed to work. Examples of strange behavior include showing up in device manager but refusing to send messages through or sending bad data even though the throughput lights blink as they should.
If you have Windows 8 or 8. This section provides examples of specific setup problems and how to solve them with the tools described so far. This is common when developing interactive MIDI applications on the go with a laptop. Although another good solution is to carry a small keyboard like a Korg nanoKey2 or a QuNexus, they are not the only option. From the list of software earlier in this document, you will need the following:.
Then, take input from the same virtual port in the application requiring MIDI input. I have been in this position many times. And then, off you go with laggy kazoo fun. Not all old software can be configured to do otherwise unfortunately.
However, those programs that can usually have an option somewhere for setting the MIDI output device. Set the synthesizer to take input from the same MIDI port. NOTE: the port should have messages flowing through it in one direction only. In other words, one program should talk while the other listens. Again, bi-directional communication between the programs would require twice as many ports to avoid feedback. First, if you are attempting to minimize the latency of the Windows default synth, it is a lost cause.
Your best bet is to use a different synthesizer and follow the instructions in the previous subsection. I usually recommend starting with a value of 10 and testing playback with at least some chords in it to hear some MIDI polyphony. Some systems can go as low as ms latency with this synth, although this is somewhat rare and requires a pretty beefy machine often a desktop tower and good audio hardware.
Many lesser machines, however, will still work with ms. On laptops in particular, the degree to which you can reel in the latency can be affected by power settings.
High performance modes can typically function with lower latencies without audio glitching than battery saving modes are capable of. If you are using ASIO drivers, you may need to adjust the buffer size to optimize the performance of the device on your system. The larger the buffer, the worse the latency will be, but the less likely you will be to have audio quality problems clicks, audio dropouts, etc. High-end audio devices meant for serious music development usually can have the buffer size set quite small.
How powerful a PC the audio device is on also impacts this process. I own a brand new PC Win 8. Ans less and less of hairs!!! Idem with asio4all. Buy an other! You need to enable the Aero theme to be able to use the reading mode. Aero is supported on Ultimate, Home Premium, Business editions. The reading mode effect of CareUEyes is very similar to Kindle. It minimizes eye fatigue and improves productivity. If you have better suggestions, please feel free to contact us.
This may be useful if a MIDI keyboard or interface is either communicating intermittently i. This guide discusses one way to quickly set up and test the device.
Other software may interrupt or conflict with the results of the test. This is usually a good sign. This means that the device in question is communicating with the computer in some way. If the device is still not communicating with your software i.
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