Operation Manual

AUDIO BASICS
20
PC Specific Information
About ASIO DirectX, MME and the Sound Buffer
setting
There are three ways for Windows to access the audio hardware:
Via an MME (MultiMedia Extensions) driver
This system has been around since Windows 3.0, and it is this type of driver that is
normally installed in the Control Panel and via Plug’n’Play. Most regular sound play-
back (like when Windows goes “bing” on startup) happens via MME.
• Practically all cards come with an MME driver. If your hardware appears in the Sys-
tem part of the Control Panel, you have an MME driver installed.
• Using audio hardware via an MME driver gives you the longest latency figures.
• Only one program at a time can use audio hardware accessed via MME.
Via a DirectX driver
DirectX is a later system developed by Microsoft to provide developers with more ef-
ficient routines to access audio.
• Not all audio hardware come with DirectX drivers. However, drivers for some hard-
ware are included with DirectX itself.
• Using a DirectX driver gives you a shorter latency, between 40 and 90 millisec-
onds.
! Only use DirectX if you are sure that there is a “certified” DirectX driver
installed for your audio hardware.
✪ More information about DirectX can be found on Microsoft’s DirectX
web pages, at www.microsoft.com/directx.
Via an ASIO Driver
Most audio cards designed for serious music and audio use come with ASIO drivers.
• Using a card via an ASIO driver can give latency figures as low as 3ms.
• When you use ASIO, only one program at a time can access the card.
✪ More information about ASIO can be found on Steinberg Media Technol-
ogies’ web pages, www.steinberg.net.
About processors
When you run Reason under Windows, the clock speed of the processor is a major
factor determining how many devices you can use at the same time. However, there
are other factors that should be taken into account, and one important such factor is
“floating point arithmetic performance”.
All audio operations in Reason are done with floating point calculations (counting with
decimal numbers rather than with non-decimal numbers, integers) to ensure the high-
est possible audio quality. You can get high audio quality on an integer system too,
but floating point is effective and accurate when it is available.
Intel and AMD processors are fast at floating point mathematics. Some other lower
priced processor have taken shortcuts which reduce their performance in this partic-
ular aspect. This will have noticeable effect on the performance of the program. Our
advice is:
✪ If you plan to buy a computer specifically for Reason, you can play it safe
and choose an Intel or AMD processor. Alternatively, make sure you se-
lect a processor that is renowned for high floating point arithmetic per-
formance!
Mac Specific Information
Under Mac OS X, all communication with most audio hardware can be handled by the
internal built-in audio controller.
D Other options may be available as well, mainly for compatibility with all
possible hardware/software configurations.
Use these only when required.