JGSF

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This intends to be a simple guide for beginners who want to try 96Khz/24-bit asio recording/playback with Audigy2 cards and kX drivers, and still don't have much experience with the kx drivers. Due to lack of hardware support, Audigy1 and Live cards do not support 96Khz/24-bit recording/playback.

Since kx doesn't support 96Khz/24-bit ASIO, what we'll be doing is running asio4all on top of kX's wdm waveHQ (which handles 96Khz 24-bit audio streams), present in Audigy2 cards.

I will not address matters such as routing the p16v chip outputs thru the DSP. The intention is too keep it as simple as possible for beginners.
I will be using the default DSP settings you get when you install kX and set everything up from there (in fact the DSP will not be necessary for this guide's purpose, but that's another explanation).

I think it's simpler to run your app using asio4all on top of waveHQ than using waveHQ directly in wdm mode, since you don't need to mess with that 32-bit right-or-left-padded-int-or-float thing some of you know. Besides, you'll get lower latency.
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*I will be using the rear line in (colored blue in some cards) and the default line out (colored black in some cards) for demonstration*

1 -
Install kx drivers and asio4all (I've used 3538m and 2.8 beta2, respectively) as usual. Get latest asio4all version from here:

http://www.asio4all.com

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2 -
After the reboot, go to kx mixer, and in the following screen, change the p16v tab to "I2S 1":
http://i10.tinypic.com/6auj5ea.jpg
It means the p16v will be getting its audio signal from the rear line in (p16v is the chip that handles 96Khz/24-bit audio that only exists in the Audigy2 cards):

note: If you have a frontal drive, I2S 0 is the line/mic and I2S 2 is the aux2 - your choice

note: always restart your application (if running) when you change the above.

In the ac97 screen, set the red-marked controls here as shown:
http://i18.tinypic.com/62fd5ys.jpg

And that's it regarding kx settings.

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3 -

a) In your application, choose ASIO driver mode, and select ASIO4ALL ins/outs*.

b) Bring up asio4all control panel and disable everything except waveHQ (waveHQ's are the 96Khz/24-bit in/outs). It should look something like this (don't forget to change to "advanced" mode):

http://i12.tinypic.com/4ktxuf9.jpg

notice the latency is set to 2048 samples (that's about 20ms at 96Khz). Lower it the maximum you can without getting your sound trashed.
In this modest test machine running an AXP2400 cpu + Asrock Kt400A-based board, it's the best I can get.

note: Asio4all uses per-application settings.

note: if you are sure your other cards (if any) support 96Khz/24-bit, you can leave them enabled and use them as well. But for this, lets only focus in one Audigy2 card.

c) in the application, set resolution to 96Khz/24-bit* (I just did it last because of error messages about unsuported sample rates).

note: notice that after all this you'll have four available outputs in your application named "ASIO4ALL v2 kX wave (etc) 1/3/5/7". 1 corresponds to the default line out (black coulor on some cards). I assume your speakers are connected to that rear line out (the black one/swapped).
The others (3/5/7) correspond to other outputs, such as the headphone out in the frontal drive. Try and see which is which. If you're running a vst, you'll hear the sound, if it's an audio input, you'll need to enable soft monitoring to hear anything**.

note: You might need to do a) b) and c) in a different order if necessary. Some apps are picky.

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Me running sonar 4 LE in asio mode at 96Khz/24-bit, ready to record from the rear line in:
http://i11.tinypic.com/4yrv0x5.jpg
(in this case I had to enable soft monitoring, so I could hear anything)

I hope this is useful. Any improvement suggestions to the explanation are welcome.

*restart the application if necessary
**I'll leave the audio source 48Khz/16-bit direct monitoring for other thread.

Doug W

Have you thought about turning your instructions into a Webpage?

JGSF

Hum, but why?... It's just little descriptions of stuff that works for me with some sidenotes for better understanding for newbies. A little (good or bad) contribution to the forum.

I think it's better to post it here so people will find it when they're searching for answers. Maybe it works for someone else too.