So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

2016-02-28 13:19:09

I use Foobar2000 for DJ'ing - two instances (portable installs) running, one as a player, one as library/prelisten.

Over the years, I've accumulated a few sound cards. There is an issue of not all the channels being available for use with some WDM drivers.

As an example, the Numark DJIO. In ASIO mode, I can select two channels for the player install, and two channels for the prelisten install. In WDM mode, only one pair of channels is available. Why not just use ASIO (or WASAPI) mode? Only in WDM mode is the excellent Fading option available in the Output.

Cards that I know work with all channels available in WDM mode -
Auidio2 DJ (Native Instruments)
Gigaport HD

Cards that I know do not have all channels available in WDM mode -
Numark DJIO
Hercules DJTrim 4&6

Re: So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

Reply #1 – 2016-02-28 17:48:45

Just tire kickers so far. The thing that may eventually help is if SqrSoft ports their "Advanced Crossfading" plugin to Foobar2000. Currently it is only available as a Winamp Output Plugin, so the Foobar2000 Winamp DSP wrapper doesn't help. This is probably the most advanced crossfader available, works with ASIO (at least in Winamp), and would circumvent this whole issue. However, I'm not holding my breath.

Re: So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

Reply #2 – 2016-02-29 10:15:39

I was gonna ask, how are you crossfading with just one instance of FB2K as the main player? Just the auto-crossfeed? Often thought it'd be great to DJ with two instances of Foobar, but never really worked out how it could be implemented.

Re: So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

Reply #3 – 2016-02-29 16:49:47

Thank you for responding.

I'm not crossfeeding between the two Foobar installs. The "Prelisten" install is just for picking songs to be played, which I then load into the playlist of the "Live" install which actually plays them. Using the DirectSound output allows access to the Fading options in Foobar - ASIO and WASAPI don't. The Fading is just a nice, simple transition from song to song, there really is no mixing.

Why do I do this? There are many DJ's who play Salsa, Merengue, Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Country, and line dancing. We do not mix the music. The dancers want the whole songs unaltered with only a short pause in between (usually to change partners). Non DJ's do not understand the need for a program that does this well (remove silence from files, a slight fading option, a slight volume compression function, and a normalization function) plus good library management. They think Serato, Traktor, etc., is the solution. They are not - I own both, and like most traditional "Two Virtual Turntables" programs, they do not do "Auto DJ" well, so you see all kinds of contortions being done with Winamp, Musicbee, Foobar, iTunes, etc., to do this.

So far, a dual portable install of Foobar2000 has worked best for me, with the exception of the sound card problem - some manufacturer's are not supplying a true "Enhanced WDM" driver that allows the selection of output channels in DS (Direct Sound) mode.

Re: So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

Reply #4 – 2016-03-01 08:29:14

Thanks for the explanation, I can see that would work very well for the style of mixing/music you describe.

Re: So called "Enhanced WDM" drivers

Reply #5 – 2016-03-01 16:18:49

The really crazy part is, here you have a piece of software (Foobar2000) which is dedicated to sound (playing music), yet has no forum for audio interfaces. You have to dig through tons of old posts searching for what works and might sound good. Totally illogical. The Guru's who have the knowledge to deal with these problems, don't understand the DJ's dilemma, while the DJ who does, doesn't have the knowledge to fix it. Classic Catch 22, compounded by Hydrogenaudio's policy of only totally objective comparison's being acceptable (but wait, don't all audio interfaces have analog output stages?).

No problem, I will go the the store this afternoon and get $10,000 worth of them and report back tomorrow!