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Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ
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Appendix C: Windows Driver Model (WDM) FAQ
So you can see that there are several layers of software interposed between our
driver and the application. This means we don’t have as much control over the
interaction between our hardware and the audio software as we’d like.
Unfortunately, this causes some pain; the worst of it is the WDMAUD wave driver
breaks most of the software out there that supports 24-bit audio. WDM audio, not
our driver, is in charge of which wave devices get listed and which formats we
accept.
That is why we created PureWave mode, which provides 24-bit support for
applications that don’t work with WDM drivers. For more information on
PureWave, please refer to Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel.
Q: Why can't I record or play at 24-bit resolution?
The short answer is that WDM audio drivers only support 24-bit audio if the
application is using Microsoft's new “extensible” wave format. Many existing
apps do not support this format. This only affects programs that use the
wave/MME or DirectSound APIs.
The long answer to this question appears up above.
If your audio application doesn’t work in 24-bit mode, you can try PureWave
mode, which is documented in Appendix E: PureWave and SuperChannel.
Q: Why don’t you guys support WDM on Windows 98 or 98SE?
One of the problems we have with running a WDM driver is we are largely at the
mercy of the WDM audio subsystem in Windows. WDM audio in Windows 98 is
more or less broken. Windows 98SE is better, but still has a significant number of
problems. It’s not worthwhile for us to try and support something like that.
There is a patch for Windows 98SE which corrects many of the problems with
WDM audio; however, it is not directly available for download. If you want to
pursue getting this patch, log on to support.microsoft.com and read article
Q242937
,
or just follow this link: