Questions & Answers

My audio interface is showing up as 4 different devices

0 votes
1,105 views
asked Apr 3, 2018 in AudioBox VSL Series by samueljackson8 (180 points)

Device - Audiobox 1818VSL

Computer - Custom Ryzen build. Shouldn't be relevant to this issue.

OS - Windows 10 64 bit

All software, firmware, and drivers up-to-date

As you can see in the picture, Windows sees my device as many separate devices. This means that I cannot select the device as a whole in my DAW, and have access to all the inputs at once. I therefore cannot multitrack, and my 8 track interface is completely useless.

1 Answer

+2 votes
answered Apr 4, 2018 by jtwinpcola (430 points)
edited Apr 4, 2018 by jtwinpcola

Regardless of how Windows sees your device, the important question is how does your DAW see your device. In S1, if you open Options | Audio Setup | Audio Device, â€‹does the dropdown list box show the individual pairs of inputs/outputs like in your picture, or just the device itself?

If its just the device itself, then you don't have a problem. Just select the device, click OK, and your off and running. The individual I/O's will be available within S1.

Windows sound doesn't really know what to do with muti-channel audio devices. Most other software on your system that requires sound will utilize a pair of outputs that are selected as the default on the Playback page. For instance, if you play YouTube videos, your web browser will utilize the default pair of outputs on the Playback page. 

DAWs are a different story though. DAWs communicate directly with the ASIO driver supplied by your audio device manufacturer, bypassing anything in the Windows sound settings. This is also true of some other audio software, such as stand-alone versions of virtual instruments.

If you go to Device Manager, and you see your audio device listed under Sound, Video, and Game Controllers, and "The device is working properly" is shown under properties, then you're good to go.

So, to summarize, with respect to your DAW, you can ignore the "Sound" dialog box shown in the picture above. Your DAW communicates directly with your audio device via its ASIO device driver software. 

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