There is a known limitation on Windows with many drivers for audio and MIDI hardware: They do not support multi-client operation. This means Synfire and a DAW can not play audio or send/receive MIDI to the same device at the same time. This problem only arises when the DAW and Synfire are run at the same time. It is also not specific to Synfire. On Windows in general, running more than one DAW at a time is a challenge. This problem does not exist on OS X.
Solutions
One solution is to assign different audio and/or MIDI drivers to the DAW and Synfire respectively. For example, you can assign ASIO to your DAW and Windows Audio or DirectX to Synfire's Audio Engine. Also, if you have two hardware keyboards, you can use one for the DAW and the other for Synfire. Or alternatively plug the keyboard into USB and in addition connect it via MIDI cable to a MIDI interface, which gives you two independent MIDI ports to connect to each program.
Multi-Client Drivers
Some hardware comes with multi-client drivers, completely eliminating the above issues. This Wiki page is for collecting a list of those products. Please add your own hardware or software solutions to this page, if they are working for you (just edit this page).
Thank you!
| Interface | User | Remarks | Date |
| RME Babyface USB | Boydbob | Seems fine here with Windows 8.1. I've done drones with both Reaper and Studio One Pro, and in the process of setting things up, Ive had projects running with a global rack on some tracks and drones on others. I wasn't testing it, but all seemed fine. | 2015 |
| RME UFX | ? | All RME interfaces share the same drivers, I can confirm my RME UFX works fine in Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit with Ableton Live | 2015 |
| Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 Audio/MIDI Interface | Petearch | Windows 7 seems to work fine for me | 2016 |
| Jack Audio | janamdo | See comments below | 2016 |
| Asio Link Pro | janamdo | See comments below | 2016 |
| Voicemeeter Banana | sksherman | See comments below | 2018 |
Feel free to edit and update the above table.
Comments
Mo., 22.08.2016 - 22:05 Permalink
1) Jack Audio on Windows is awesome -- ASIO is more usable now! (multi client asio driver)
2) Asio link pro http://odeus-audio.com.au/Odeus/AsioLinkPro (multi client asio driver)
Di., 31.07.2018 - 15:33 Permalink
The fellow that supported "ASIO LInk Pro" died, sadly. In his honor, some folks reverse-engineered a patch needed to enable the software. They have also provided links to get the current version as well as the patch:
(http://give.academy/downloads/2018/03/03/ODeusASIOLinkPro/)
I found that Reaper won't recognize the "ASIO Client" provided by the (very dated) Steinberg ASIO multi-server. So, I went instead with the above. It looks like Finale, Reaper and SynFire Audio Engine are now all able to connect to "ASIO Link Pro" concurrently. This approach appears to be working, though I am currently still tweaking it.
FWIW, I use a laptop and have routed the ASIO outs to the headphone. This is windows, and I've solved the problem of working concurrently with WIndows audio by using a USB sound module (in this case, an old Asus Xonar U3). This means to listen to the web, I plug the headphone into that. To listen to Finale/Synfire/Reaper I plug the headphone into the laptop sound jack.
Steve
Di., 31.07.2018 - 23:15 Permalink
So it is now becomes a free audio multi driver version ASIO LINK Pro ( like AsioforAll )?
Steinberg ASIO multi-server is not working in a Synfire 64 bit version as i remember.
Thanks for your effort to get a multi client windows audio driver!
Jan
Di., 31.07.2018 - 23:25 Permalink
The solution is now supported by voluntary donation to the folks that are running the website, which is encouraged.
It seems to be the current best solution, as near as I can tell. Thus far, it looks like Finale, Reaper and Synfire can run with it concurrently. (I am using an older Finale but the latest Reaper and Synfire.)
The default Windows out (via the USB sound module) is a little unreliable but does appear to be working concurrently as well. Without the external or second sound card on Windows things would be more difficult. Browsers, for example, do not support ASIO. And, the general audio mixer and routing support included within Windows appears somewhat lacking.
Steve
Mi., 19.09.2018 - 18:48 Permalink
I have deinstalled "
ASIO LInk Pro
" in favor of a better solution, "Voicemeeter Banana". The reason is that, while it basically worked, "ASIO Link Pro" was still not a clean, robust solution. "Voicemeeter Banana" allows me to run everything at once to my headphones, including Firefox, Synfire Express, Reaper and even an external microphone. Also, the interface is much easier to manage, better documented and has better updates. It is donationware:
(https://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm)
Steve