Windows + Pro Tools sound with ASIO4ALL?

[kol12]

Is it possible to get sound from both Windows and Pro Tools at the same time with ASIO4ALL or at least be able to have Pro Tools open and watch Youtube videos?

[Darryl Ramm]

What might be possible depends on drivers supporting multiclient access.

But who cares. *The* recipe for stable, well behaved, most performant, Pro Tools on Windows is easy: you use a quality Audio interface with a native ASIO driver. You put Windows Audio on a separate device and you never install ASIO4ALL. You want to mess around with other stuff with who knows what specific setup try it for yourself and see. Nobody here can guess what exactly will happen.

All this advice has been discussed on DUC hundreds of times, you could have found it by searching.

[junkgear]

You have several other posts asking the same question and receiving the same answers. Please review the forum rules about posting multiple threads on the same topic.

As others have stated, ASIO4ALL may work and there may be other software out there that will allow you to share your audio device, but they typically do not work well on Windows or may not work at all. Your best bet is to get a dedicated ASIO audio interface for Pro Tools and use your onboard sound card for Windows audio.


https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=419449

https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=382518

[sw rec]

Or if onboard audio is unacceptable, a decent 2 channel secondary interface works well. All my PT audio goes thru the Apollo 8, all my Windoze audio, including Source Connect, is assigned to a Focusrite 2i2.

[albee1952]

Good advice already, but here's my own 2 cents: To use Pro Tools successfully, you need to be willing to work within the requirements. Yes you can run most PC's with ASIO4ALL, but at the sacrifice of Windows sound when you run Pro Tools, OR, be willing to buy a suitable interface(which can be very affordable). If that's not something you're up for, then there are some other options that are definitely worth a look, such as Reaper(free to try and cheap to buy) or Cakewalk by Bandcamp(formerly known as SONAR) which is totally free. Either of these options can do anything Pro Tools can do when it comes to audio production. So, ask yourself if you NEED to use Pro Tools

BTW, if you need to be able to listen to Pro Tools and internet sound at the same time, there are a few ways to do it. The expensive(but better) way is to use a monitor/source selector like a Mackie Big Knob, Presonus Monitor Station, etc. The affordable solution is to grab a small mixer(think Alesis, Alto, Behringer, etc) with at least a pair of stereo inputs. Patch the recording interface and computer sound to a pair of stereo inputs and connect your headphones or studio monitors to the mixer

[kol12]

Apologies for not sticking to one thread. What do I need to consider when looking for an audio interface like something from Focusrite? And with an audio interface how would that allow me to listen to both Pro Tools and Windows sound simultaneously?

As a side question what is the quality of the headphone outputs on audio interfaces? Are they comparable to desktop headphone amplifiers? I have been looking into an audiophile headphone amplifier but if I can get something comparable in an audio interface that is two birds with one stone..

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by kol12

And with an audio interface how would that allow me to listen to both Pro Tools and Windows sound simultaneously?

The audio interface you get for Pro Tools typically does nothing to allow you to listen to Pro Tools and Windows sound simultaneously, its only playing back Pro Tools-that is the point. Do you need to listen to Windows sound *while* you are using Pro Tools? other programs can use the interface when Pro Tools is not running.

What you want to do beyond that is up to you. Need simultaneous output then run both outputs to separate audio monitors, run both outputs to a monitor controller or small mixer, some higher end interfaces have monitor controllers/hardware mixer capability built in (but may be clunky/awkward to use). Start simple and just get going doing stuff and learn.

yes higher interfaces can have "audiophile" like sound output. Those that try, or at least want to sell to folks looking for that, will talk about it. Like the ability to drive high impedance headphones. None I am aware of offer built-in cross feed capability. But then so much of "audiophile" stuff is just masterbation. Look at RME as an example vendor (they make very nice, arguably higher-end, stuff and also sell audiophile headphone amps), I have multiple RME interfaces and am very biased towards them.

Considerations in buying an interface include: the number and the types of inputs and outputs it has. The number of mic preamps and DI inputs it had internally, or you use external preamps into line inputs, the quality of those internal preamps, what hardware monitoring/internal mixer capabilities it has (if you want to hardware monitor), what the minimum latency is (depends greatly on the driver and proper computer specs/optimization allowing operation as small IO buffer sizes), what monitor controller features it has if any, how many headphone outputs it had, and are they all discrete outputs so you can send separate headphone mixes to them? What front panel metering there is. Does the vendor provide an ASIO driver? is that a high-quality driver with few known issues? How good is the vendor support, especially for driver update/compatibility with new OS releases etc. What is the likely support life time of the interface (esp for continued Driver updates). Does the interface support digital connections needed, might be none, or S/PDIF ADAT/SMUX, MADI, AVB, Dante, etc. What interface(s) are supported to the computer USB 2, USB 3, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt 3, PCIe card, DigiLink, Dante, etc. How is the interface powered? How easy/well done us the front panel use/setup. etc. etc. etc. And finally your budget.

And if you don't understand anything there you can google or read up on stuff, or maybe it is stuff that does not matter. spend time looking over interfaces on Vintage King or Sweetwater web sites. But get started by getting started, buying something simple and inexpensive and learn, and later you can spend a few $k to few $10k on fancy interfaces.

[kol12]

Thanks for the detailed reply @Darryl Ramm.

I only want to listen to Windows sound while using Pro Tools to follow video tutorials.

Regarding the audio interface and particularly the headphone output, I assumed for audio work you would require a high quality and accurate sounding headphone amp/output...

Noob question: Can mixing been done with headphones or should mixing/mastering strictly be done with monitors?

[junkgear]

Mixing and mastering can be done on headphones and often is. The important thing is getting to know the sound of your headphones or speakers and learning how to mix/master on them.
You will get lots of personal favorites as suggestions, but here is one to give you an idea of what is out there.

Beyer Dynamic DT-990 Pro

[kol12]

I currently own Hifiman HE400i headphones. They're not the highest end from Hifiman but very nice sounding open back planar magnetic headphones... They also require a bit of juice to drive the volume on them...

So are there any beginner to mid range audio interface's you guys would recommend that would be suitable with the Hifiman? RME looks mostly high end and at the top of the price range...