Echo Digital Audio Corporation Echo 3G family: Gina3G Layla3G Windows driver version 7.3 install
Table of Contents DISCLAIMER..... 2 INTRODUCTION..... 2 NEW FEATURES..... 3 FIXES..... 3 KNOWN ISSUES..... 3 WINDOWS VISTA..... 4 64-BIT WINDOWS..... 5 ASIO SUPPORT.... 6 USING SONAR..... 7 WINDOWS VOLUME CONTROLS.... 8 TROUBLESHOOTING.... 9 VERSION HISTORY.... 10
Copyright 2007 Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer

This is a fully supported release. While we have tested these drivers extensively, there may still be bugs lurking. Please be aware that these drivers are used at your own risk; Echo Digital Audio Corporation is not responsible for any damage or loss incurred by the use of these drivers.

Introduction

This driver supports the following versions of Windows:
Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows XP Professional x64 Edition Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Windows Vista Windows Vista 64-bit Edition
Windows ME is no longer supported.

New features

Support for playing compressed Dolby Digital, WMA Pro, and DTS over S/PDIF Multichannel Windows volume controls for surround sound Console sessions are now saved in the user documents folder.
Better physical memory management for x64 Windows Improved kernel streaming framing for better Vista and DirectKS support Fix for recording with NGWave

Known issues

In Vista, you may hear glitching with Windows Media Player. If so, try changing the preferred format to a lower sample rate in Vistas Sound control panel. In Windows XP, you may still see warnings that the driver is unsigned. Windows XP will display this warning unless a driver has been signed directly by Microsoft. ASIO Direct Monitoring changes are not updated in the console in real time. ASIO Direct Monitoring panning control does not work.

Windows Vista

This release provides support for Windows Vista running in 32-bit and 64-bit mode. Windows Vista features a completely new audio architecture. This new architecture affects any application that uses DirectSound, wave/MME, or the new Vista audio interfaces. Applications that use ASIO are unaffected and should work as before.
Please remember the following when using Windows Vista with your Echo hardware: Using the sample rate lock in the console may result in applications playing or recording at the wrong sample rate. Wave device configuration and PureWave are still supported. To change the wave device configuration without restarting the computer, you need to run the console as an administrator. To do so, right-click on Show all console windows and select Run as administrator. Setting the device name in the console does not affect the name displayed for the audio devices. Windows Vista allows you to select the preferred sample rate for playing and recording. If you are using multiple audio applications at the same time, ensure that the preferred sample rate is set to the correct rate for each playback and record device in Vistas Sound control panel. Surround sound delay management is not supported in Windows Vista.
Finally, please be aware that not all audio applications have been updated for Windows Vista and may not behave properly. Some may require you to run them with administrator privileges.

64-bit Windows

Using Windows in 64-bit mode is very similar to using 32-bit mode. Some features are not available when using 64-bit Windows: PureWave is not supported GSIF is not supported
This release includes support for both 32-bit ASIO applications and 64-bit ASIO applications.

ASIO support

This driver release includes full ASIO 2.2 support. Just select ASIO Echo PCI from within your ASIO-based application.
Help! I dont see all of my inputs and outputs.
This is probably due to the fact that another program is using them. The most likely culprit is the Microsoft wavetable synthesizer, which is being opened by your audio application as a MIDI output device. Make sure that your audio application does not have Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth selected as a MIDI output device. If your outputs still dont show up, you may have some other software thats doing the same thing.

Using SONAR

SONAR supports ASIO and WDM/KS for low-latency access to audio hardware. The ASIO mode performs well and is straightforward to set up, requiring no special configuration. If you prefer, you can also use SONAR in WDM/KS mode. Here are the required settings for using SONAR with our driver in WDM/KS mode: Within SONAR, go to Options/Audio. On the General tab, set Audio Driver Bit Depth to 24. On the Advanced tab, we suggest selecting Trigger & Freewheel On the Driver Profiles tab, uncheck Access Driver In Mono. Be sure to set Stream > 16 bit data as to 32-bit PCM, left justified.
You may get a message that your audio devices are not compatible with the specified format; you may need to restart SONAR several times. Make sure each time that the settings are correct; once SONAR starts successfully without the not compatible message, be sure to run the Wave Profiler under Options/Audio/General. Note: When installing a new hardware device, you may need to delete the aud.ini file in your Sonar install folder. (This is found in ProgramData folder in Vista). This resets the settings back to their defaults and facilitates installing new or different hardware.

Windows volume controls

The WDM driver supports the Windows volume control program. When you run it (Start/Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Volume control), you should see a slider marked Line volume. This is the same as the Virtual Out slider in the console. Adjusting the Wave and Synth sliders will set the volume levels for the Windows kernel mixer, not the hardware. These settings are not the same as the volume sliders in the console. The console sliders adjust the levels in the hardware; the Windows volume controls are for adjusting the levels in the Windows mixer.

Troubleshooting

If you are running Windows 2000, XP, or Vista and your computer spontaneously reboots on you, you probably have experienced what Microsoft calls a bug check, but what everyone else calls the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The default setting for the BSOD is not to show the BSOD, but to reboot the computer. This isnt very helpful for tracking down problems. If you are experiencing blue screens, heres how you can help us track it down: Select Start/Settings/Control Panel/System Go to the Advanced tab and click on Startup and Recovery Uncheck Automatically reboot Set the memory dump to Small Memory Dump Now, next time you get a blue screen, look at it. See if the crash occurred in echo3g.sys; if it did, it may be something we need to fix. Restart your computer and find the most recent.dmp file this is the memory dump. Its probably in a folder called minidump under your main Windows folder. Zip up this.dmp file and send it to techsupport@echoaudio.com along with a description of how it happened.

Version History

7.3 7.2 7.1 7.0 6.14 6.13 6.12 New firmware - resolves the issue with MIDI input and output causing audio to glitch. Rewrote the DMA code The ASIO driver is now called ASIO Echo PCI instead of ASIO Echo WDM. Fixed a problem with synchronizing wave devices Fixed several bugs that could potentially cause the machine to crash. Improved the DMA code Fixed problems with delay management code and 7.1 audio playback Fixed minor bug with getClockSources in the ASIO driver New firmware to fix problems with 88.2 kHz and 96 kHz S/PDIF inputs Added support for x64 Windows XP and Server 2003 Added support for 32-bit Windows Vista Fix for mono recording with Adobe Audition Fixed issue in Cubase with changing sample rates Improved kernel streaming for Sonar in WDM/KS mode Improved kernel streaming to reduce glitching in Windows Vista Added support for Windows Vista 64-bit Edition. Installer and drivers are digitally signed. Optimizations for Windows Vista. Installers re-written for improved Windows Vista support. Support for playing compressed Dolby Digital, WMA Pro, and DTS over S/PDIF Multichannel Windows volume controls for surround sound Console sessions are now saved in the user documents folder. Better physical memory management for x64 Windows Improved kernel streaming framing for better Vista and DirectKS support Fix for recording with NGWave

6.11 Initial release

PureWave is a trademark of Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright 2007 Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Echo Digital Audio Corporation Echo 3G family: Gina3G Layla3G WaveRT version 8.0 for Windows Vista
DISCLAIMER..... 2 INTRODUCTION..... 2 WINDOWS VISTA..... 3 KNOWN ISSUES..... 4 64-BIT WINDOWS..... 5 CORE AUDIO..... 6 WINDOWS VOLUME CONTROLS.... 8 TROUBLESHOOTING.... 9 VERSION HISTORY.... 10
Copyright 2007 Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

Disclaimer

This is a fully supported release. While we have tested these drivers extensively, there may still be bugs lurking. Please be aware that these drivers are used at your own risk; Echo Digital Audio Corporation is not responsible for any damage or loss incurred by the use of these drivers.

Introduction

This driver supports the following versions of Windows:
Windows Vista Windows Vista 64-bit Edition

Windows Vista

This release provides support for Windows Vista running in 32-bit and 64-bit mode. Windows Vista features a completely new audio architecture. This new architecture affects any application that uses DirectSound, wave/MME, or the new Vista audio interfaces. Applications that use ASIO are unaffected by this new architecture and should work as before. This driver has been specifically designed for Windows Vista. If you have used Echo hardware on a previous release of Windows, the driver may behave differently than you expect.
WaveRT WaveRT is a new driver model that is only supported by Windows Vista. Essentially, WaveRT lets the driver get out of the way, enabling audio applications to connect more directly to the hardware. Applications that use standard Windows audio APIs such as DirectSound, wave or the new Core Audio API should enjoy more robust, glitch-free performance with the new driver.
Surround sound playback This driver supports surround sound playback and will automatically create multichannel audio devices depending on the configuration of your hardware. Unlike the Windows XP driver, no further configuration is required.
ASIO optimizations The ASIO driver included with this release includes Vista-specific improvements; please refer to the ASIO section of this document for more information.
Features that are no longer supported The driver no longer supports surround sound delay management. In addition, PureWave mode is no longer available as it has been superseded by Vistas new Exclusive Mode.
Audio application support Finally, please be aware that not all audio applications have been updated for Windows Vista and may not behave properly. Some may require you to run them with administrator privileges. Cakewalks SONAR may not work correctly in WDM/KS mode. We recommend that you use ASIO mode in SONAR.

Known issues

Importing sessions from the old console is not supported. Console volume controls are not synchronized with Windows volume controls. Multiclient mode may work differently than you expect.

64-bit Windows

Using Windows in 64-bit mode is very similar to using 32-bit mode. Currently, GSIF is not supported in 64-bit Windows. This release includes support for both 32-bit ASIO applications and 64-bit ASIO applications.

Core Audio

Core Audio is the name for Windows Vistas new audio system. You can set the sample rate and format used by Core Audio in the Sound control panel. If you open the Sound control panel, you should see one or more playback and recording devices for your Echo hardware. For Echo hardware, each of these playback and recording devices share a common physical audio clock in other words, if you have your analog outputs set for 48 kHz, your digital outputs are also running at 48 kHz. However, Core Audio does not recognize this concept. Therefore, rather than setting the Core Audio sample rate from the Sound control panel, you can set the Core Audio sample rate from the Echo PCI console. Be aware that setting the Core Audio sample rate or the digital mode from the console will cause the current playback and recording devices to be removed and new ones created in their place; this ensures that the sample rate is consistent. The downside is that this will stop any applications that are currently playing or recording. We therefore recommend that you only change the Core Audio sample rate or the digital mode when you are not playing or recording. If you set your audio software to play or record at a different format or sample rate than that specified for the Core Audio sample rate, Windows Vista will automatically perform format conversion. Note that none of this applies to audio software that uses ASIO. Setting the Core Audio sample rate has no effect on the sample rates available to or used by ASIO.

ASIO support

This driver release includes full ASIO 2.2 support. Just select ASIO Echo PCI from within your ASIO-based application. New features for Windows Vista The scheduler in Windows Vista has a new feature called MMCSS, or Multi Media Class Scheduler Service. MMCSS is intended to enable audio software to run at the highest priority to avoid glitching. The ASIO driver included with this release supports MMCSS. On the ASIO control panel, you will see two new settings. Use Vista multimedia priority boost: Checking this box tells the ASIO driver to use MMCSS to run at a higher priority. Lower Vista window manager priority: Checking this box causes Vista to prioritize audio playback and recording over drawing windows on the screen.
Both settings are checked by default. Finally, the ASIO driver now stores the ASIO control panel settings separately for each individual user.
Help! I dont see all of my inputs and outputs.
This is probably due to the fact that another program is using them. The most likely culprit is the Microsoft wavetable synthesizer, which is being opened by your audio application as a MIDI output device. Make sure that your audio application does not have Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth selected as a MIDI output device. If your outputs still dont show up, you may have some other software thats doing the same thing.

Windows volume controls

The WDM driver supports Windows volume controls. However, the current release of the console does not synchronize its volume controls with the Windows volume controls. We therefore recommend that you change the volume either using Windows volume controls or the console, but not both simultaneously.

Troubleshooting

If your computer spontaneously reboots on you, you probably have experienced what Microsoft calls a bug check, but what everyone else calls the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). The default setting for the BSOD is not to show the BSOD, but to reboot the computer. This isnt very helpful for tracking down problems. If you are experiencing blue screens, heres how you can help us track it down: Select Start/Settings/Control Panel/System Click on Advanced system settings in the left column Click on the Settings button under Startup and Recovery Uncheck Automatically restart Set the memory dump to Small Memory Dump in the drop down menu under Write debugging information Now, next time you get a blue screen, look at it. See if the crash occurred in echo3g.sys; if it did, it may be something we need to fix. Restart your computer and find the most recent.dmp file this is the memory dump. Its located in a folder called Minidump under your main Windows folder. Zip up this.dmp file and send it to techsupport@echoaudio.com along with a description of how it happened.

Version History

8.0 Initial release with WaveRT support
PureWave is a trademark of Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Copyright 2007 Echo Digital Audio Corporation. All Rights Reserved.