Aggregating devices in Windows

[wst3]

For as long as I can remember, one of the most compelling arguments to jump ship - switch to Mac OS - was Core Audio. While not perfect, the few missing pieces are easily replaced, albeit with hardware. But when one ponders, one suspects that anyone sophisticated enough to need to aggregate devices (MIDI or audio) probably has reasonably capable gear.

Bluecat Audio now has a solution for the rest of us! Blue Cat Connector, and maybe Blue Cat Patchwork, still not entirely clear on that. They just (this past Monday!) published a tutorial on the topic:

Using Multiple Audio Interfaces with a single DAW

I haven't gotten it working just yet, I am trying to avoid purchasing Patchworks, time will tell! But this is exciting. I may be able to address my Apollo x6 and Twin X (Thunderbolt), and my now ancient Presonus 1818VSL (USB2) and my Line 6 Helix (also USB2) simultaneously, as a single ASIO device. Which takes care of audio.

If I understand their literature, Connector also handles MIDI. I've been using Bome's MIDI Translator, and it does everything one can imagine, at least as far as I can tell. For a long time I was using a pair of Alyseum AL-88s to handle MIDI to/from my synthesizers. Sadly the product was discontinued, but Copperlan - the software that managed them, - was still working until very recently. I haven't decided how I want to handle MIDI over IP, I have Bome's, and IOConnectivity, and at least one of them should do the trick. iPMIDI does work, but it is klunky.

If I can get all of this to work I will finally have a (nearly) patchbay-less little studio. That has been a goal for a long time, and I could have done it using DANTE for audio, if I could afford the hardware. Now it may be within my reach...

[Thomas Mavian]

Ooohhh! Aggregate device was one reason I held on to Mac as long as I did. Sold of all outboard synthesizers and had enough channels with the Apollo and an eight channel ADAT interface to finally switch to Windows.

Will indeed check this out. Thanks!

[wst3]

Enjoy - and please, do let me know when you get it all figured out

[Linos]

Great that there is a way to do this in Windows finally. It looks complicated to set up. And the big question is, how reliable is it?

A few years ago I would have tried this. I was looking for ways to get enough outputs for a 7.1.4 setup without paying thousands for an audio interface. In the end, an RME Multiface combined with Behringer AD8200 provided the solution. It's stable and reliable, and doesn't break the bank.

[wst3]

Presently I have an Apollo x6 with an Audient ASP-880 connected via ADAT, and an Apollo Twin X, so I'm not really short on I/O for most of my projects. But I'd really like to avoid wiring up new patchbays for my synthesizers, and if I can stick audio interfaces in the synth racks and connect them via USB then I'd be a happy guy. The catch, of course, is ASIO.

If I were wealthy I'd use UAD Dante enabled interfaces and just run everything over the LAN... and that would address the single "client" ASIO issue, but alas, I am not that wealthy.

Dante is a pretty cool solution, but it is pricey!!!

[Thomas Mavian]

A while back I found ASIO4ALL https://asio4all.org/ and installed it but didn't actually set it up because I was in the middle of a project and was afraid to screw things up.

Anyone tried it?

[Linos]

A while back I found ASIO4ALL https://asio4all.org/ and installed it but didn't actually set it up because I was in the middle of a project and was afraid to screw things up.

Anyone tried it?

Yes I did. It's capable and stable. However, the latency is quite high compared to other ASIO drivers. It's a good workaround if the manufacturer of your audio device doesn't offer good drivers. It can't compete with the best ASIO drivers, like the ones from RME, for example.

[wst3]

Same here, except I did not find it to be all that stable, that was a while ago so I am sure they sorted that out, but the latency was a deal breaker for me.

There have been a couple other solutions offered, but none of them actually worked as advertised.

I'm pretty sure it is a very tricky needle to thread, since the actual ASIO API does not permit multi-client operation.

[SirKen]

A while back I found ASIO4ALL https://asio4all.org/ and installed it but didn't actually set it up because I was in the middle of a project and was afraid to screw things up.

Anyone tried it?

I have seen comments that this is actually better
https://github.com/dechamps/FlexASIO/

[wst3]

So it was a while ago, but FlexASIO latency was also a deal breaker. I may give it another try. Thanks for the reminder!!

Also took a look at VB-Audio, who published a virtual Audio Cable a long long time ago, something that I've used from time to time. Now they have a matrix that purports to provide a solution to aggregating multiple audio devices. I'll take that for a spin too.

[Thomas Mavian]

Interesting, quite a few choices but it seems no one is "up to par" with what I would call an acceptable latency. I'm just using an old Silverface Apollo (with Thunderbolt card) and an even older Focusrite OctoPre mkII. Rock steady. Will kepp it like that until the new studio is ready (converting a bit of my barn!).

[wst3]

I haven't had time to be all scientific, but curiosity got the better of me and I installed VB-Audio Matrix... it works! It just works!! The latency did not feel oppressive, in fact it was barely noticeable. And that's in the default state, there are settings one can adjust to reduce it even further.

This thing is DEEP. You will need to read the manual, and you will probably have a misstep or two at first, but it appears to be worth the effort.

Downsides? Just a couple. First, I did have to open the manual, and we all know how much I hate reading manuals. And second, now I have two large, scary looking matrices to manage. In theory I'll only have to set up each matrix once, but then there is the difference between theory and practice to consider.

Still. $20 for the basic Matrix, or $35 for the ultimate version, is a LOT less expensive than a pile of Dante enabled audio interfaces, especially from UA. I've got 30 days to figure out if this is the solution I've been looking for, and I have not given up on Blue Cat, but since I've been unable to get that working so far, and the piece that may be required is an additional $100, it is looking like VB-Audio may be the winner.

So now I will have an aggregated ASIO driver and networked MIDI... I'm almost there