5.1 ASIO soundcard & drivers

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

Does anyone know what sound card comes with the 5.1 ASIO driver?
Does ASIO come in 5.1? Yes, according to Sony (Vegas 5.0 +DVD).
Thanx

[froyo]

Hello. Do you mean 5.1 ASIO as in an ASIO driver version 5.1? Or do you mean an ASIO driver that can do 5.1 multichannel?

If it's the latter, the question is based on some misconceptions. An ASIO compatible sound card only enables a software to run on it. It is up to that software to deliver features, like multichannel 5.1. You can do surround 5.1 or higher with stuff like Nuendo, Cubase and older versions of Logic on a PC, with Digidesign hardware. Or you can do the same with the Core Audio driver on Logic, DP, Nuendo, etc.

Surround can be done on Pro Tools LE, it's just a pain in the neck.

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

Yes, Froyo, I meant surround. Vegas 5.0 +DVD does AC3 encoding and the documentation mentions needing a 5.1 multichannel ASIO compatable sound card for making use of all the playback features of surround.
So, I am wondering what sound cards support or come with the 5.1 Surround ASIO drivers. I will still do most of the fine tuning in PTLE but wish to audition the mix as it is encoded to AC3.

[froyo]

By SimpleNatureSpirit

So, I am wondering what sound cards support or come with the 5.1 Surround ASIO drivers.

Hello. This is what I was referring to as a misconception. There is no such thing as a 5.1 Surround ASIO driver or a stereo ASIO driver or anything of that sort. There is just an ASIO driver that enables a specific software to run on a particular piece of hardware. Whether that hardware 'supports' or can handle the multiple channels necessary for 5.1 is another story.

The Mbox, AMIII, ECHO Gina, M Audio Audiophile 2496 are examples of stereo in and stereo out hardware interfaces. The 001, 002, 002 Rack, MOTU 828 and 896, Echo Layla are examples of hardware interfaces that have multiple outputs. All of those interfaces use the same ASIO driver. They don't have a separate stereo ASIO driver and a multichannel ASIO driver.

So unless you are using an Mbox or AMIII card, you can use your 001, 002 or 002 Rack to run other software with ASIO. And you can use that same Digidesign hardware with Nuendo or Vegas or whatever for multichannel.

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

Fair enough, for some reason I thought Digi's ASIO driver was a two channel driver only. Thanx