20
F-CONTROL
AUDIO
FCA202
4. WORKING WITH THE FCA202
4.1 Device drivers and latency
A device driver is an interface that ensures communication between the software (audio application)
and the hardware (the FCA202). In recent years, the PC platform has witnessed the establishment
of several different driver models for sound cards. Some of these drivers cannot be used for
simultaneous recording and playback or for working with software plug-ins, since they do not
support the full range of functions provided by professional sound cards and cause a long time
delay (latency).
The FCA202 software provides a number of driver models for Windows
®
platforms and for
professional recording. With standard Windows
®-
applications,
you dont need to worry about which
driver is currently being used by the operating system. You only need to select the correct
playback device via the Windows
®
Control Panel. However, as soon as you start to produce or
record computer-based music and work with special audio software such as Cubase
®
, Live
®
,
Logic
®
, Tracktion
®
, or others, you should make sure that you selected an ASIO
®
driver. This driver
model supports the full range of functions offered by your hardware and gives you the best
performance. You will normally find the selection of a driver model for the FCA202 hardware in an
audio setup menu or in the standard default settings of the software you are using. If necessary,
check the documentation for your software.
If you work with the program Sonar
®
from Cakewalk
®
, you can also use the WDM KS driver, since
this achieves comparable latencies to the ASIO
®
driver. In case of doubt, check whether the ASIO
®
or the WDM KS driver gives better results with your Sonar
®
system.
4. WORKING WITH THE FCA202
