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System requirements and installation
Depending on your preferences and requirements, using
the built-in audio hardware may be sufficient for use with
Cubase AI. It is always available for selection in Cubase AI
– you don’t need to install any additional drivers.
About drivers
A driver is a piece of software that allows a program to
communicate with a certain piece of hardware. In this
case, the driver allows Cubase AI to use the audio hard-
ware. For audio hardware, there are two different cases,
requiring different driver configurations:
If the audio hardware has a specific ASIO driver
Professional audio cards often come with an ASIO driver
written especially for the card. This allows for communica-
tion directly between Cubase AI and the audio card. As a
result, audio cards with specific ASIO drivers can provide
lower latency (input-output delay), which is crucial when
monitoring audio via Cubase AI or using VST Instruments.
The ASIO driver may also provide special support for mul-
tiple inputs and outputs, routing, synchronization, etc.
Audio card-specific ASIO drivers are provided by the card
manufacturers. Make sure to check the manufacturer’s
web site for the latest driver versions.
If the audio card communicates via DirectX (Windows
only)
DirectX is a Microsoft “package” for handling various
types of multimedia data under Windows. Cubase AI sup-
ports DirectX, or to be more precise, DirectSound, which
is a part of DirectX used for playing back and recording
audio. This requires two types of drivers:
• A DirectX driver for the audio card, allowing it to communicate
with DirectX. If the audio card supports DirectX, this driver
should be supplied by the audio card manufacturer. If it isn’t
installed with the audio card, please check the manufacturer’s
web site for more information.
• The ASIO DirectX Full Duplex driver, allowing Cubase AI to
communicate with DirectX. This driver is included with Cu-
base AI, and does not require any special installation.
Hardware Installation
Installing the audio hardware and its driver
1. Install the audio card and related equipment in the
computer, as described in the card’s documentation.
2. Install the driver for the card.
Depending on the operating system of your computer, there are different
types of drivers that could apply: card-specific ASIO drivers, DirectX
drivers (Windows) or Mac OSX (Mac) drivers:
Specific ASIO driver
If your audio card has a specific ASIO driver, it may be in-
cluded with the audio card, but you should always make
sure to check the audio card manufacturer’s web site for
the most recent drivers. For details on how to install the
driver, refer to the manufacturer’s instructions.
DirectX driver (Windows only)
If your audio card is DirectX compatible, its DirectX drivers
will most likely be installed when you install the card. If you
have downloaded special DirectX drivers for the audio
card, you should follow the manufacturer’s installation in-
structions.
Mac OSX drivers (Mac)
If you are using a Macintosh computer, make sure you are
using the latest Mac OSX drivers for your audio hardware.
Follow the manufacturer’s instructions to install the driver.
Testing the card
To make sure the audio card will work as expected, perform
the following two tests:
• Use any software included with the audio card to make
sure you can record and play back audio without problems.
• If the card is accessed via a standard operating system
driver, try playing back audio using the computer’s standard
audio application (e.g. Windows Media Player or Apple
iTunes).
!
Some Macintosh models have audio outputs but no
inputs. This means that you can only play back audio
– recording is not possible without additional audio
hardware.
!
If your audio hardware comes with a specific ASIO
driver we strongly recommend that you use this.