The Ploytec USB ASIO driver works in kernel mode without using the Windows usbaudio.sys. This means direct access to the hardware and way better performance compared to simple solutions. The freeware drivers are adapters sitting on the operating system's drivers.
True, the driver erases all other driver data, but the driver works miracles with the latency issue with some cards. I was able to achieve a 3/4ms I/O latency with this driver.
While with the original driver from my manufacturer (Lexicon Omega) i was only able to achieve a 10/10ms I/O latency. I have to hand it to the guys. They are great. Now wonder Behringer Bought the source from Ploytec and made it free for all their Behringer sound cards.
The driver is kinda expensive if you ask me, but worth every penny.;).
Contents. Overview ASIO bypasses the normal audio path from a user application through layers of intermediary Windows operating system software so that an application connects directly to the hardware.
Each layer that is bypassed means a reduction in latency (the delay between an application sending audio information and it being reproduced by the sound card, or input signals from the sound card being available to the application). In this way ASIO offers a relatively simple way of accessing multiple audio inputs and outputs independently. Operating systems Interface support is normally restricted to. Starting with, has been removed and replaced by and a new port driver. As of 2007 there is also an experimental ASIO driver for, a Windows compatibility layer for Linux. This driver uses the sound server as its audio back-end and allows many ASIO-aware applications to run with low latency under WINE.
Usage limitation Being a proprietary protocol, compatibility with Windows-based DAW and other recording software is not universal. For example, the user manual of the states: 'Licensing restrictions prevent us including ASIO support in released versions of Audacity, but Audacity can be compiled with ASIO support for private, non-distributable use.' A popular alternative is to use the ASIO4All driver by German programmer Michael Tippach, which can often deliver low latency on soundcards that have not been designed with music production in mind. See also. – an open-source C toolkit that includes support for ASIO audio devices. References.