Opening Pro Tools Gives Error With Roland Cakewalk UA-25EX Audio Interface

[John9281]

Problem: Opening Pro Tools Gives Error With Roland Cakewalk UA-25EX Audio Interface
Error message: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program."

If I unplug the UA-25EX, Pro Tools opens OK.

With Pro Tools closed, OUT (UA-25EX) plays MP3 files OK on VLC media player.

Please see attached screen shots of errors, settings, and driver.

************************************************** **********
*** Software ***
Pro Tools, Version 2021.12.0 Trial
Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, OS build 19043.1415

*** Roland Cakewalk UA-25EX Audio Capture ***
https://www.roland.com/global/produc...5ex/downloads/
*** UA-25EX Driver ***
Driver Provider: Roland
Driver Date: 8/17/2015
Driver Version: 1.0.0.0
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows Hardware Compatibility Publisher
************************************************** **********

I am unsure if I should or should not enable the following for the UA-25EX:
CD Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device

I am unsure if the UA-25EX has ASIO or I need to use ASIO4ALL.
How do you tell if a driver has ASIO?

Thank you in advance.

[Darryl Ramm]

Googling for your interface model number and the word “ASIO” tells you there is ASIO support. Do that and see for yourself. Is that driver version claimed to be compatible with your OS version?

The error message may be telling you *exactly* the problem. Make sure nothing else, including Windows sound is trying to use that interface. Here you seem to be doing exactly what you should not, and exactly what the error message is telling you not to do…Why is Windows sounds input and output using that device? Hold down the ‘n’ key while pro tools starts up and select the Interface and playback engine. If it is not listed there describe all the options you see.

Do not install ASIO4ALL. If you are still stuck contact Roland support. This is unlikely to be a Pro Tools issue.

[John9281]

I held down the ‘n’ key while Pro Tools starts up.

Pro Tools still gives me the error message: "Pro Tools hardware is either not installed or used by another program."

When I click the OK button in the error dialog, Pro Tools closes
so I am unable to make any changes in Pro Tools.

Windows sound is not using the UA-25EX interface.
Windows sound output is Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio).

I am unsure if I should or should not enable the following for the UA-25EX:
CD Allow applications to take exclusive control of this device.

Do only ASIO devices appear in the "Playback Engine" drop down list?

Thank you for the feedback.

[Darryl Ramm]

I know you are using a trial now but has this ever worked for you with Pro Tools for you?

The screenshots earlier showed Windows sound input using the Roland device, you are sure you changed it?

Pro Tools supports ASIO and Windows WASAPI. And only those devices will show up in the playback engine options. You really really want to be running ASIO. One reason for wanting to force that dialog to appear while holding down the 'n' key is to make sure the playback engine is the ASIO device. But also for testing if the playback engine dialog is showing WASAPI devices you could try them. It's possible that Pro Tools is stuck on the WASAPI device and that's being used by Windows and that causes problems.

Something's not right here you should see the playback engine dialog before Pro Tools is complaining about the playback engine. Start Pro Tools and immediately hold down the 'n' key on the keyboard and just keep it held down until the playback engine dialog appears.

And all Pro Tools troubleshooting should starts with trashing prefs. Read up under "help us help you" up the top of each DUC web page and follow the directions for you OS and Pro Tools version. I know it's tough if you are evaluating Pro Tools but a easier way to trash prefs on Windows is to buy the Trasher app. http://www.pro-tools-pc.us/category-s/1514.htm

You should search the web for known issues with the device and/or driver. I've unfortunately got a not great impression of Roland support and software/driver quality over the years, but with no direct experience so take that with a grain of salt. The canonical; low-end interface that is very widely used, including with Pro Tools if the Focusrite 2i2 and that is what many of us here normally point people at when they are getting stated. If you want to try a different interface and describe what connectivity etc. you need folks here can suggest good choices.

And finally if nothing else works then you can try WASAPI with the install ASIO4ALL as a debugging test... maybe disconnect the Roland interface and try to get ASIO4ALL to work with other built-in audio devices.

[Top Jimmy]

It looks to me like ASIO hasn’t been supported by a driver for this unit since Win7. The product webpage says to allow Windows to find and install the necessary driver on Windows 10 and that certainly wouldn’t include an ASIO driver.

Maybe the Win7 driver will run on Windows 10?

[Darryl Ramm]

Going to delete/repost an edit here this thread is a mess already thanks to me.

I initially thought James was right about no ASIO support in the Windows 10 drivers, that's what the terribly written Rowland web page implies. But if you actually download the "information packet" for that driver from that Roland web site it makes clear the automatically installed Windows 10 driver actually does support ASIO. (there is no reason a PnP driver cannot... it's just detecting a device ID and installing *something* for that device).

John: make sure you download that driver info packed (it's just a readme, that should be on the website in plain html) see the warnings about how the driver will not start up at times etc. : https://www.roland.com/global/suppor...c-e1375160a962. What a messed up company that buries this info in a frigging zip file.

So then is the switch on the back of the interface in Advanced mode? It won't support ASIO without that.

And if the Pro Tools error is just there is no ASIO or WASAPI device, I was still hoping it would let you get as far as an empty Playback Engine list. That's bad on Pro Tools part.

To the OP: Sorry for creating confusion, if the interface is in advanced mode have you have tried holding down 'n' properly and can't get to the playback engine dialog?

Remember to trash prefs before doing anything else. Just because, always try trashing prefs.

If none of that works you could try ASIO4ALL and see if you get the ASIO4ALL wrapped device to work. https://www.asio4all.org -- But even if this works I'd encourage you to find an interface with native ASIO support that works. ASIO4ALL frequently is unreliable, can be painful to use (the developers need their heads read for removing the offline settings panel), and their current website is a toxic wasteland of spam installer ads (don't go near it without an ad blocker). That spam alone is good warning the project is awful. Personally if you can't get a driver with ASIO to support to work for your current interface I'd buy another interface, starting with a Focusrite 2i2. But if you are going to do that describe what you need and we can point you at some great choices.

If things are just messed up and you need to try to get this to work you could try spinning up a new clean Windows install as a test on a spare drive or partition and only install Pro Tools and let the Windows 10 driver auto install.

And for giggles: the Windows 7 and 8 drivers sure does not want to install on Windows 10 on my system, borks with an incompatible OS error. But prior to Roland providing the Windows 10 driver via Microsoft there were folks on the Cakewalk forum have worked out how to get around this installer to install the old drivers on Windows 10. See http://forum.cakewalk.com/The-ultima...-m3267234.aspx Not that you should have to here since the Windows 10 driver install supports ASIO, but kinda nice to see what they did to support each other vs. waiting for Roland.

Any vendor who hands their driver distribution to Microsoft, inflicts PnP pain on users and and loses the ability to do rapid fixes is not somebody I'd want to buy an audio interface from. And they have had such infrequent updates I suspect Roland has little in-house engineering ability to do much, maybe another low-end vendor relying on chipset vendors example drivers and outsourced engineering consultants. I'd never buy an interface from Roland, but I love me some Boss guitar pedals, think I'd avoid any Boss pedals that needed additional software. Sigh.

[Darryl Ramm]

And to answer an earlier question, you should be able to see what ASIO driver software is installed via Regedit.

Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ASIO

This does not mean the driver is loaded or even installed properly, just that an installer at some time wrote the entry there. e.g. on my Windows 10 system...

[John9281]

I appreciate all your help.

As you suggested, I will dump the Roland UA-25EX and look for an alternative Audio Interface.
I posted two threads regarding this.

*****
Avid Pro Audio Community > Pro Tools Hardware > Third Party Interfaces
Subject: Which Audio Interface to Purchase? - I Specify My Goals
https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?...80#post2624280

*****
Avid Pro Audio Community > Pro Tools Software > Pro Tools 2021
Subject: Why Are Disabled ASIO Audio Devices Displayed in Playback Engine?
https://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?...82#post2624282
*****

I appreciated the regedit tip to look at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ASIO
UA-25EX was there so the driver should have ASIO.
Unfortunately, it still does not work even if I set it as the default device.
Unclear if another app grabs it before Pro Tools can grab it.
The error message seems to imply it.
Unclear how to determine which app is grabbing the driver.
Unclear how to assign the UA-25EX specifically to Pro Tools since assigning it with the Playback Engine does not prevent another app from grabbing it first.

I am trying to read through this Microsoft article which discusses how setting the default audio device works. The workflow is very complicated and fails to clarify many obvious questions.

Default Audio Endpoint Selection Starting in Windows 10 [Microsoft] 12/14/2021
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...oint-selection

Thank you again.