Can Pro Tools Run Without An Audio Interface?

[JoeCoop]

As I start to run Pro Tools 10 on windows 7 I get to a point where a window pops up and reads "The selected asio audio device could not be initialized. Please choose another device." Once I click okay it brings me to the playback engine window and settings for my Tascam US-1800. I was under the impression that as long as I had an iLock key in I did not need an interface connected to run Pro Tools. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Darryl Ramm]

Do you have the latest drivers for the Tascam installed?

Failing that please post a Sandra report as described in the "Help us Help You...." Link above.


Darryl

[JoeCoop]

SiSoftware Sandra

Computer
Chassis : Desktop
Mainboard : Intel DG41TX
Serial Number : BQTX02******
BIOS : Intel TXG4110H.86A.0054.2011.0602.0102 06/02/2011
Total Memory : 3.21GB DIMM DDR3

Processors
Processor : Pentium(R) Dual-Core CPU E5800 @ 3.20GHz (2C 3.19GHz, 2MB L2)
Socket/Slot : FC LGA775

Chipset
Memory Controller : Intel P45/P43/G45/G43 DRAM Controller 4x 200MHz (800MHz), 4GB DIMM DDR3 800MHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics

Memory Module(s)
Memory Module : Kingston 9905471-006A01LF 4GB DIMM DDR3 PC3-10700U DDR3-1334 (9-9-9-25 4-34-10-5)

Video System
Monitor/Panel : ACR ACER X203H
(1600x1200, 19.9")
Video Adapter : Intel(R) G45/G43 Express Chipset (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM 1.1) (8 SM4.0 400MHz, 32MB DDR3 800MHz 64-bit, Integrated Graphics)

Graphics Processor

Storage Devices
WDC WD10EARS-00MVWB0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5") : 932GB (C:)
Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2) : N/A (E:)
Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2) : N/A (F:)
Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2) : N/A (G:)
Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2) : N/A (H:)
Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2) : N/A (I:)
TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222AB (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache) : N/A (D:)

Logical Storage Devices
System Reserved : 100MB (NTFS)
Hard Disk (C:) : 931GB (NTFS) @ WDC WD10EARS-00MVWB0 (1TB, SATA300, 3.5")
Removable Drive (E:) : N/A @ Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2)
Removable Drive (F:) : N/A @ Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2)
Removable Drive (G:) : N/A @ Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2)
Removable Drive (H:) : N/A @ Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2)
Removable Drive (I:) : N/A @ Generic STORAGE DEVICE (USB2)
Optical Drive (D:) : N/A @ TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-222AB (SATA150, DVD+-RW, CD-RW, 2MB Cache)

Peripherals
LPC Hub Controller 1 : Intel 82801GB/GR (ICH7) LPC Interface Controller
LPC Legacy Controller 1 : T2 87-21
Audio Device : Intel 82801G (ICH7) High Definition Audio
Serial Port(s) : 1
Parallel Port(s) : 1
Disk Controller : Intel 82801G (ICH7) Ultra ATA Storage Controller
Disk Controller : Intel 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7) Serial ATA Storage Controller
USB Controller 1 : Intel 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 2 : Intel 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 3 : Intel 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 4 : Intel 82801G (ICH7) USB Universal Host Controller
USB Controller 5 : Intel 82801G (ICH7) USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
SMBus/i2c Controller 1 : Intel ICH SMBus

Printers and Faxes
Printer : Microsoft XPS Document Writer (600x600, Colour)
Fax : Microsoft Shared Fax Driver (200x200)
Printer : Canon Inkjet MX310 series FAX (200x200, USB)
Printer : Canon Inkjet MX310 series (600x600, USB, Colour)

Scanners and Cameras
Scanner : Canon MX310 ser (Scanner, USB)

Peripherals

Network Services
Network Adapter : Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet (Ethernet, 1Gbps)

Operating System
Windows System : Microsoft Windows 7 Home 6.01.7601 (Service Pack 1)
Platform Compliance : x86

Windows Experience Index
Current System : 3.2

[Darryl Ramm]

You have many issues here.

This processor may be a bit underpowered to expect to run Pro Tools--depends on what you want to do.

It has a low-end graphics, not really recommended for Pro Tools systems.

Where is the separate hard drive you are supposed to have for audio/session files (and it needs to be 7200 rpm or faster)?

If you are recording to the system drive then you will likely run into all sorts of problems regardless of how fast that drive is. However in this case you have a WDC Caviar Green drive that are one of the worst POS to have in a computer, they certainly don't meet the specs for an Avid audio drive and they are very low performance that I would not use then as a system drive or VI plugin sample drive either. They are suitable maybe as backup drives, or paperweights. If you have internal drive slots I would toss the WDC green drive and install two WDC Caviar Black drives (one boot/system drive and one for audio/sessions). If you use sample based VIs those samples go on the system drive, if you make heavy use of those VIs then you may want a third drive.

You may just be much better off buying a proper spec new PC.

You have to address these issues or you will likely have an unstable system.

However that is not likely explaining this immediate problem. So again, have you the latest drivers installed for the interface? What version are you running?

If you have such an under configured PC them I am also suspecting you may not have done all the recommended systems optimizations. Find the optimization instructions for your OS version under the "Help us help you..." link above and do every single last thing documented there..some of those may be relevant to this problem.

Darryl

[Darryl Ramm]

I also think these processors are dual memory channel and so you should be running matching DIMMs for best performance. This PC has only one DIMM. So at a minimum add another that in the matching slot for the other memory channel.

You may not actually see much real world performance increase, but this can also just cause all sorts of strange errors. So just do it.

Darryl

[Darryl Ramm]

And to to answer the question posed by the title of this thread... No, Pro Tools cannot run without an audio interface. However it can run with an ASIO compliant internal interface as found in most modern PCs. If you have an ASIO interface in your PC it will show up as a choice under setup>playback engine.

If your intel audio chipset supports ASIO you need to make sure you have the latest drivers installed. If it does not support ASIO it will support WDM, install the latest WDM drivers and you should be able to install ASIO4ALL to map this to ASIO. Search for ASIO4ALL in this forum, it's been flogged to death here.

A new PC is probably the best option here...

Darryl