Multiple USB Sound Cards

[Ben Lawrance]

Hi All,

 

I am aware this thread may become computer orientated, so I apologise.

 

I have just got another M-Audio Quattro USB of eBay (I all ready have 1)

 

I have loaded the drivers and the hardware, and all is hunky doray. The computer sees the two devices and is all ok.

 

I've got Cubase SX3 which I am trying to use my two devices with (8 audio inputs), but am having a hard time using the two at the same time. Cubase will recognise the 8 inputs, but will not let me use the second 4.

 

I have loaded a driver called ASIO4ALL, which apparently allows the use of more than one device on ASIO. But still not luck.

 

I have a feeling this is a USB bus issue.

 

Any ideas???

 

Cheers

[dbuckley]

ASIO4ALL specifiaclly allows one to use ASIO software with sound devices that do not support ASIO, if your audio devices have native ASIO support (and my guess is that anything M Audio make will have) then you dont need ASIO4ALL.

 

In general, you cant split record between two different devices, as the software needs to synchronise itself with the exact clock frequency of the input device, and if two different devices were permitted then the difference in clock rate will cause problems as they drift apart. This is why (for example) ADAT systems use wordclock, to lock together devices that would otherwise drift.

 

That shouldn't prevent you from recording from the second device only thogh...

[Simon MFR]

I've had exactly the same problem using the Quattro 4/4 on the laptop using SX3. The first problem I had was whilst I was using the laptop on a portable basis.

 

The system has 6 USB inputs in all, and I quickly discovered that if I didnt connect the 4/4 to the same input each time, it asked me for the drivers again which was a swine. I then found out that Cubase only recognised one device in one USB input at a time so I wasnt able to use other devices on the spare inputs. Also, the USB inputs are limited to the amount of power that can be sent (about 4.5 v I think) and drawn by the individual devices, which meant that there are serious limitations to what I could use on the system. There are endless compatibilty issues with Cubase and outboard lightpipe/USB devices, and they are never 100% infallible, but, strangely enough, I have not once had similar dilemmas with Wavelab. Curious....not a direct answer to your problemo, but its noce to know that you are not alone!

 

[Bobbsy]

A couple of points.

 

First, regarding power issues, it's not likely a voltage issue, more probably it's to do with current. The USB spec provides for a maximum draw of 500 milliamps, but many mother boards provide a TOTAL supply of 500ma or not much more which has to be shared among all devices. I encountered this early on when my ISP kindly gave me a USB ADSL modem which drew 507ma and (surprise surprise) gave me lots of unwanted disconnections. If this is the only issue, a powered USB hub can be a solution.

 

Beyond that though, despite not being a computer guru I once sat down and tried to read the USB spec. It's worth remembering that USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus" and that the available bandwidth is shared by a system of interrupts which makes the system not the most suitable for multiple audio devices. Even if the bandwidth seems to be adequate for the number of channels, unless software is specifically written to use the bus efficiently, the end result can easily be interrupt conflicts and problems.

 

Bob

[paulears]

I too have never managed to get two usb inputs operational at the same time on my SX3 installation - multiple outputs work fine but ins never worked. I have an m audio 8 x 8 but that should really work alongside the other usb interfaces, but I can't make them work