Topic: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

If I'm running Cantabile and want to listen to something in iTunes or YouTube, I can turn off the green power switch in the upper right corner, which shuts the audio engine and lets me play the other program.  I understand that some other programs like Cubase have an option to release ASIO when you run Cubase in the background.  But I can't seem to find a way to do this when I'm running Pianoteq in standalone mode.  Does anyone know if there's a way to do this?

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

Maybe I am wrong but I don`t think you can do that with PC internal sound card driver and ASIO at the same time. You need external audio interface.

Last edited by slobajudge (20-12-2016 07:02)

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

Interesting.  Can you tell me how an external sound card would let me do this?  Or maybe point me to an article or something that explains it?

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

I think it is down to how the ASIO driver has been written as to how the audio interface can be used with other programs.

For example, I have a Steinberg UR22 audio interface and I can happily run Pianoteq whilst also viewing Youtube piano tutorials or watching locally stored videos using VLC. That is using the Steinberg ASIO drivers for the UR22. I think however that when I used to use the ASIO4ALL driver with the onboard sound card I could not have 2 separate programs sending audio to the output device at the same time.

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

I have not used Windows in a long time, but an active audio application will prevent others from sharing the ASIO4ALL interface.  A potential solution is to install something in between your audio application and ASIO4ALL that allows sharing of the sound.  Maybe something like JACK Audio would work.  I have never used it myself in Windows (works great in Linux operating systems), but there appears to be a Windows version you could try and I found this web site which might help:

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopi...p;t=428605

Last edited by mwinthrop (23-12-2016 19:54)

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

jocar37,

did you try if Steinberg's old multi-client ASIO driver works for you? (Heed the README.) If it doesn't, you might also look at Voicemeeter.

These do not in fact allow you to make an application release the ASIO driver, but they provide multiple virtual ASIO interfaces instead, which should also solve your problem (I used them successfully on an older Windows system some time ago, but don't have access to a current Windows ASIO setup right now to test this myself)...

Best,
Daniel

[edit: oops, addressed the wrong poster...]

Last edited by bandoneonista (24-12-2016 08:32)

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

bandoneonista, I did not try these other tools when I used to run Windows as I did not know about them at the time.  I moved to using Linux and Jack audio a while back, which is another approach and works well for me.  Assuming the original poster wants to continue using Windows, hopefully, some of this information will be helpful.  Thanks much for providing additional info.

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

Thanks everyone for your replies.  My son gave me a Focusrite 2i2 audio interface which he said I could use to transfer several old tapes to digital.  I'm still in the steep uphill of the learning curve in using virtual piano softwar, daws, etc.  So I've put off the tape transfer for now - information overload, and consequently have not familiarized myself with the 2i2 as of yet.

It's easy to visualize connecting 2 physical devices with the 2i2 - cables running from my tape deck to the 2i2 and separate cables from the 2i2 to the computer. But how does an external interface, or even a virtual interface, can allow me to connect different audio drivers to different programs that all reside on the computer? I just don't see how the connections between those programs which seem to be all contained within the computer can be separated by using the 2i2.

I've found nothing in the 2i2 manual or on the Focusrite website.  I imagine it's something pretty basic that my own ignorance of this stuff is obscuring, but if someone could please explain, or point me to an article/discussion that does, I'd appreciate it.

Last edited by jocar37 (24-12-2016 17:59)

Re: Does Pianoteq have a way you can release ASIO and run another program?

An easy workaround is to dedicate your external audio interface to ASIO/Pianoteq and then you let everything else use the onboard sound chip.  This requires 2 sets of speakers though.

Beyond that, you'd have to dwelve into the Focusrite driver settings which I cannot give you any hints on since I don't have one.  If it has 2 output channels, then in theory Windows would show 2 different Focusrite devices of which you'd attach ASIO to one and leave the other for the Windows mixer.