Audio Output (ASIO Output) Settings Help

[Roxie2401]

Hi -- I love the sound I'm getting with the ASIO output plugin but need some help with the settings.

I keep hearing "clicks" and first thought the file was from an LP with a lot of scratches --- nope, clean audio when playing with Audacity, etc. - even iTunes.

What I suspect is that I don't have the settings correct either in the ASIO4ALL or the MM5 Configuration of that plugin.

To start I left the ASIO4ALL defaults - Buffer Size to 512 and nothing else set in that window.

So, my question is the MM5 Configuration window options --- Thread Priority and Buffer Size would any of these setting clear up the random click/pop that I'm hearing?

Help with these and/or the ASIO4ALL would be appreciated.

[Peke]

Hi,
Unfortunately MM do not natively support ASIO and plugins that partially work are very old, not tested and supported by MM team and recommended to be used only when other methods do not work.

WASAPI in Exclusive Mode should get same results. I personally tested it few years ago on several Sound cards raging 150-3000 USD and difference in digital output recording on professional hardware was <0.005%, which means unless you have 20k+ sound hardware there is almost no way to hear the difference as all other differences should be due the settings of WASAPI/ASIO/Kernel(RAW) playback plugin.

BTW ASIO4ALL is software emulation of ASIO and not hardware like one I used in my tests.

What is the sound card you play your music?

[Roxie2401]

Peke,

Thanks for the reply. When I saw your name on the addon list in MM "ASIO Output" and then noticed that you were the one that had actually submitted the ASIO 0.67 output plugin and it was updated in 2022 I thought someone there would perhaps know more about the options and the MM configuration screen - or have seen/heard the clicking/popping I was experiencing.

It did work better when I changed the Buffer size in the MM5 Configuration screen.......

I'll give the WASAPI a try --- the ASIO works great except for that one issue - maybe someone else will respond with some info.

I'll also check the ASIO4ALL Help site, too.

My sound card is a Realtek High Definition


Thanks again -- love MM5!

[Peke]

My sound card is a Realtek High Definition

It really depends on what ALC chip you have. You can check it in Realtek HD audio manager under info.
From y experience only ALC12xx/ALC408x and newer sound chips support ASIO natively. My MB have 1220 with full DSD and ASIO support as seen pic below wheer I can select native Realtek ASIO driver not simulated ASIO4ALL.


P.S. 2022 update is only install update so that Addon can be installed on MM5+ and had no functional change on v0.67 plugin from 2006.
I wonder if you add DLL file to plugins folder from this Archive you will get better results?
https://sourceforge.net/projects/winamp ... p/download

EG. will it work better as it is updated modded version of v0.67?

[Roxie2401]

Peke,

Thanks for the updated dll --- took a while to remember how to add it to the Plugins Folder.

Works better but still a little unsure about the Buffer Size setting on the MM5 Configure screen -- that is having some affect, too.

That and the Buffer slider on the ASIO4ALL config.

Suggestions welcome.

I'll keep working with it and let you know.

Thanks so much for the support----again!

[Peke]

Hi,
Increased buffer should make things stable, but it introduce LAG, which for playback should not be an issue.

Please let us know and I'll see if I can make MMIP for MM5 and make things easier.

[Roxie2401]

Hi,
Increased buffer should make things stable, but it introduce LAG, which for playback should not be an issue.

Please let us know and I'll see if I can make MMIP for MM5 and make things easier.

Peke,

Well, it works but I'm not sure if its worth your time to develop the MMIP.

What I'm seeing (on two computers) is that when I use Tools/Options/ and select the new entry ASIO Output and Configure - I enter the Device correctly and save ------ if I close MM5 and reopen, that device is not saved and each time the program will tell me that it can't play ........ I re-enter the Device and it works.

Maybe you can test on your system - the screen shot you sent me looks the same as mine ---- MM5 is listing the Audio Outputs and you show the same configuration window that I see - the Device is empty on the screen shot.

Maybe if you get a different result, I didn't add the Audio Output dll correctly.....

[Peke]

Try to Start MM as Administrator and then setup, my guess is that it does not have permission to create files as MM is not Winamp.

[feline1]

Hi -- I love the sound I'm getting with the ASIO output plugin but need some help with the settings.

It shouldn't *sound* any different to a different type of driver... they're all just ways of sending the same digital audio data from Windows to your soundcard.
If you don't have a soundcard with Asio drivers in the first place, there's not really any reason to try and use Asio4All and the WWM5 Asio add-on.

I do use the Asio myself, as I also use my PC for making music, and have an Asio soundcard, and want Reaper to also play out of my big studio speakers (whilst conversely I send Windows' system sounds to the built-in speakers in my monitor screen)

If you really want/need to use Asio and you're getting clicks and pop, try just chosing bigger buffer sizes until they stop. (When you're recording and overdubbing audio or playing VST soft synths, you ideally want a small buffer, cos otherwise there can he a noticeably 'latency' time lag between you pressing a note and when you hear in - but that makes no difference if you're just listening back to an album)

Another thing you may want to avoid is unnecessary resampling - i.e. if the vast majority of the music in your collection is at 44.1kHz, don't ask the Asio driver to resample it to a different sample rate - you'll just stress it out to no good purpose

[Roxie2401]

Try to Start MM as Administrator and then setup, my guess is that it does not have permission to create files as MM is not Winamp.

Peke, sorry for the late reply --- Admin did not make a difference -- the settings were not saved and had to be reset each time MM5 is opened.

Also, same thing with the Portable install - options not being saved with the updated version.

Not really sure if you want to waste your time on an MMIP for MM5.

Thanks

[Peke]

Hi,
I guess that You should contact Plugin developer and see if he can fix it to work better in MM.

Feel free to tell him that MM devs are willing to help and that if he post issue on this forum he will get many more testers.

[Roxie2401]

Hi,
I guess that You should contact Plugin developer and see if he can fix it to work better in MM.

Feel free to tell him that MM devs are willing to help and that if he post issue on this forum he will get many more testers.

Peke, the WinAmp ASIO plugin works great and I don't get the clicks and pops on the audio playback that I was getting on the original 0.67 dll.

Still think this has something to do with the configuration not being saved in MM5 when the program closes and not the actual dll and its more of an interface issue but maybe someone will come up with something.

Right now, when I open MM5, I immediately reset the configuration and everything works great.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sent to the WinAmp plugin developer -

"Hi - Been trying to use this plugin (Winamp ASIO plugin) in MediaMonkey 5 - makes that player sound great with AISO4ALL v2.
Issue is that once the Generic settings screen is set and MM5 working, once MM5 is closed, then next time it is open, the Device entry is blanked out and MM5 gives a message that the output needs to be configured.

Realize you didn't develop this for MM5 but it works much better (my opinion) than the original 0.67 out_asio.dll.

One of the Developers on the MM5 forum suggested if you were to post the plugin on that forum, they would be willing to help on the compatibility issue & maybe get more "testers" to look at it as an upgrade dll.

See below:


"Hi,
I guess that You should contact Plugin developer and see if he can fix it to work better in MM.

Feel free to tell him that MM devs are willing to help and that if he post issue on this forum he will get many more testers."




Could just be an issue with MM5 configuration screen as to why the settings are not being retained and not the dll, but at this point, I thought I would reach out to you.

Thanks very much!

[Roxie2401]

Peke,

Well, I'm ready to pull the plug on this issue. The newer version of the ASIO dll works great but MM5 just doesn't save the settings like it does for other plugins.

Also, I notice if I attempt to switch output plugins while MM5 is running it will throw an exception

And MM5 has to be closed with the Task Manager - both the main program and the MM5 Helper.

Note that Exception does not always point to the new dll, sometimes it shows the original ASIO v0.67, too.

When the new one works, by setting the configuration, it plays well with MM5 (buffer size, as long as the program is left running; just doesn't retain that configuration setting on exit.

Just for fun, I downloaded WinAmp, installed the v2023 plugin and WinAmp saves the settings upon exit.

Thanks to all who have looked at this issue.

[Roxie2401]

Peke,

Well, I know what is happening, and you are correct, this will probably require the original developer to make a change for MM.

The original 2006 version, modified by Zeropoint in 2023 is writing the configuration settings to the User AppData correctly, but it is being written to the WinAmp path - the file is out_asio.ini and its not in the Plugin folder, but the top folder "Roaming\WinAmp"

And, sure enough, when I make a configuration change to the ASIO output settings screen (buffer size, Resampling, etc.), MM5 uses those setting for that session and when MM5 closes, those settings are being updated in the WinAmp out_asio.ini file.

So, the next time that Plugin is used, MM5 doesn't have the configuration ini file to read.

I know that for the current ASIO Output v0.67, it writes the conf settings to the "Roaming\MediaMonkey5\Plugins\plugin.ini file."

Getting the updated version "mod. version 2023.z10" to work in MM5 would require the code to write to a MediaMonkey5 folder in the User App Data and is probably way beyond either of us unless this is something that goes in the MM5 code like the existing v0.67.

Not really sure how to get in touch with Zeropoint but I thought I'd share with you what I found concerning the .ini configuration file for this Plugin.......

[Roxie2401]

Just a quick update --- after installing WinAmp, I no longer get the Exception error (Application throw exception error) and I think this is because the dll now has a place to write the configuration settings --- just to the wrong program (WinAmp) instead of MM5 ---- but when MM is closed, the data is written - just not usable next time MM opens.

This is way beyond my skill level, but it was interesting to figure out why there were no settings and where they were being saved.

Thanks for looking --- the original developer would probably have to write a version for both WinAmp and MM5 just to make this work.