Installation and drivers

When you install a sound card, you are installing both the hardware and software called a driver. The sound card driver is what allows your operating system and your sound card to communicate. This section is aimed at preventing problems when installing both your sound card and its driver.

Installing a sound card

Follow your sound card’s documentation for installing the sound card in your computer. If you are installing a PCI card, or any hardware that requires you to open the cover of your computer, be careful to discharge any static electricity you are carrying by touching the metal casing of your computer before handling the sound card itself. Static electricity can damage a sound card’s circuitry.

WDM and MME

In most situations, the newer WDM (Windows Driver Model) sound card drivers that most sound card vendors are creating are a much better choice than the older MME (Multi-Media Extensions) drivers. If your sound card vendor has a WDM driver, it’s usually a good idea use it. The following table compares their characteristics.

WDM	MME
Lower latency	Usually higher latency
Not every sound card vendor has produced a WDM driver.	MME drivers are widely available. Note: If you use two or more sound cards at the same time, and not all of them have WDM drivers, you must force the WDM drivers to function as MME drivers. Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Playback and Recording and select MME in the Driver Mode list.

Sonar and audio hardware

The following tips will help you get the most out of your sound card and Cakewalk software:

Use Sonar’s Wave Profiler anytime your install a new sound card. Wave Profiler determines the correct settings for your sound card.

Read the documentation for your sound card. You can save yourself a lot of time by learning about your hardware before you try to use it. Many sound cards have their own control panels which allow you to customize the card’s settings.

 

For more information, see:

Audio

MIDI

Audio hardware and drivers

Audio playback in Sonar

Tracks

Clips

Track-by-track playback

Connecting an instrument, home stereo, or microphone to your sound card

Choosing inputs

Audio recording