This is a very basic question about audio setup- If I use an external audio card, will I also be able to use WASAPI?
Hey Lee,
The answer is no AFAIK. You can have both installed but can use only one at a time.
Not entirely true, Dave - using a “donationware” software mixing tool called “Voicemeeter” you can have both worlds at the same time. It functions as a virtual ASIO device as well (similar to ASIO4ALL). See http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/ for the standard version and http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/banana.htm for the pro version with more inputs and outputs and support for inserts. Both are fully functioning whether you make a donation or not. Vincent has a VB-Audio Facebook page also: https://www.facebook.com/vbaudiosoftware/
Set the A1 button to point to your ASIO device in order to get the low buffer benefits of that device spread across all other systems for best latency. (Remember - “A” is for “Audition” or monitoring devices, while “B” buttons are for “Broadcast” or recording/streaming uses.)
I have several videos on using it at my Youtube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLADO0ZcWBBb7h0BGoMjHEJMiTEnXHAtoV
Terry
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Thanks for the post @terrybritton, I was not aware this existed. How long has it been out there? Sorry for bad info, the last I knew this wasn’t around. 
One limitation might be that while it allows another layer of mixing for blending of various hardware and virtual hosts, the hardware inputs and outputs are still not available for routing at the host level (in the event you wanted to have more inputs and/or outputs from multiple hardware interfaces for use in Cantabile for example). Anyway thanks for the video tuts on this software!
I am now thinking that a video on using it with Cantabile would be a great topic! Let me think about that for a bit! 
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So for example, in this scenario I would use this software and an external audio card with ASIO to run Cantabile, and would still be able use WASAPI to run other apps such as my DAW (Reaper) simultaneously. Correct?
Basically, yes. I would likely use Voicemeeter as the audio source for both. Definitely set it as default Playback and Recording device in the Windows Audio control panel. I’ll do some setups for a demo and make a video over the weekend.
Terry
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Lee - sorry I hadn’t gotten around to doing the video yet. I haven’t made any videos in months, and there was more involved in setting up the new computer to do so than I had anticipated!
Everything is set up now, so I should get that done very soon. It will be a quick one, as I anticipate replacing it in a very few days as Vincent has already shared the upcoming test version, and it adds some nice features.
Basically, what I discovered is that if you only have a simple USB ASIO interface with a single set of stereo outs, or use the first two outputs of a more complex interface (like my MOTU Ultralite mk3 hybrid and 828 mk3 hybrid units) then simply using the basic version of Voicemeeter does the trick. If you need to send out of different output ports than the first stereo out, you need to use the Pro “Banana” version and select the ASIO output ports you want (up to 4 stereo pairs at once!)
You can control up to two hardware stereo inputs (or 4 mono) with basic Voicemeeter’s two sliders or up to three stereo hardware inputs on Banana’s 3 sliders. Plus, it is acting as two separate stereo ASIO devices on Banana, (one on the basic version). It is definitely like ASIO4ALL on steroids! Cantabile only needs one of those.
Terry
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Thanks for the detailed instructions Terry 
I’m going to file this for future reference in anticipation of using an external sound card with my setup at some point. Looking forward to the video.
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Terry… To Dave Dore’s point…
I got Voicemeeter Banana setup and working in Cantabile 3, but Cantabile doesn’t appear to enable accessing more than two outputs, even though Voicemeeter supports more. Am I just not doing something right?
What I am trying to accomplish is to route the Cantabile 3 media player to one set of outputs and my keyboard controller to a second set of outputs, so that on my hardware mixer I would have four channels (L1,R1 and L2, R2) coming into the mixer. Looking for a soution to do that since my sound module only has one output set of jacks.
Lee only needed the same stereo output from Cantabile going out both an ASIO interface AND from a WASAPI/WDM one at the same time, which is easy to accomplish in Voicemeeter by setting the two “A” outputs - A1 to the ASIO output device and A2 to the Wasapi one. (And I discovered, for stability, the Wasapi does need to be set to “exclusive” mode, or so my experiments this morning suggest.)
What you are trying to do can be done within Cantabile (if sending all through the same output device) by creating the channels for those and sending the media player out one and the keyboard stuff out the other.
So, I’m assuming you do not have a 4-output ASIO interface, but want to use a 2-output ASIO interface for one and Wasapi for the other, correct?
I will do some experiments to see if that can be done.
Off the top of my head, I think that if you send the signal intended for the WASAPI out channels 1 and 2 to Voicemeeter ASIO, and the one intended for the ASIO interface’ output to channels 3+4, then you can select 3+4 as the output to the A2 or A3 device in the settings dialog of Banana, but I’ll have to run a test.
Terry
Terry… Many thanks for your prompt reply. I sent out my message very late at night as I stayed up to play around with setting up Voicemeeter, which was relatively straightforward once I grasped its basic concepts.
Yes, I use a Roland SD-50 (Mobile Sound Canvas) as my primary sound device. It has a very good Gen MIDI sound set which I use for backing tracks, and I use its native ASIO for my audio engine within Cantabile 3. The SD-50 has only one set of stereo outs.
I like the concept of staying within Catabile’s main screen when playing, using the media player to play a backing track from a playlist, and being able to easily enable and disable various keyboard sounds (e.g. VB3 organs, Kontakt horns and e-pianos, etc.), so I had been hoping it could be accomplished within Cant3.
Since the Vst sounds are not being generated on the SD-50, but from the PC running Win7 64-bit, I also have an Audigy-Z2 soundcard installed as well as the built-in Realtek(?) sound chip. Either of those can run with WDM/KS or WASAPI (or ASIO). I initially thought that running Voicemeeter as my audio engine in Cantabile 3 would make available within Cant3 an additional set of outputs (virtual?) that I could use to split my keyboards from my media player output. Although I can get Cant 3 to show those additional outputs (3-4), it is not clear whether I can route Outputs 3-4 to a different sound card. Dave Dore’s earlier message suggests that it may not be possible to have Cant3 correctly route using Output 3-4 thru Voicemeeter thwn thru the Audigy soundcard. I may be simply doing it wrong or making what I need overly complex. .
So, appreciate any guidance or ideas on whether I can use Cantabile 3 the way I outlined, or whether I have to run my backing tracks using the Sonar X1 DAW that I use to create/modify them and keeping flipping back to Cantabile to manage my Vst usage.
BTW…I do not play professionally any more, but have a “studio” setup in a spare room where I get many hours of personal enjoyment noodling around across several keyboards and a collection of older hardware modules that I enjoy tweaking to extend their usefulness. So, just a hobbyist.
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SUCCESS!! I decided to tinker this evening with Cant3 and my studio gear to see if I could access two audio cards/modules and use Cant3 routing to send the output of keyboards to one card and the media player through a different card.
I went back to a configuration using ASIO4ALL-2 and brought up the settings screen, and for whatever reason I was not able to “power” more than one soundcard before, I was able to power up two cards on this try. Once Asio4all was accessing two cards, it was straightforward to access two outputs on one card and also access two outputs on the other, so that allowed me to route the keyboards and media player to separate cards and ultimately on separate mixer channels.
Problem solved… and am able to use multiple soundcards in a Cant3 session!
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That’s great news! Do you have either card set to non-exclusive in the Windows audio control panel settings? I would love to see pics or a video how you did it!!!
I am making my video on using Voicemeeter in place of ASIO4ALL today. I ran into a technical conundrum seeking a way to get the audio from Voicemeeter and Cantabile into the desktop audio input of OBS for recording. Solved that Monday, so I’ll get to the video as soon as the rain stops pounding audio noise into my tin roof upstairs where the studio is!
Terry
@dave_dore They claim, “The first ASIO driver to mix WDM audio into ASIO!” which is a bit dubious, since Vincent Burel has been doing this with Voicemeeter for some time now. Also, $50 per machine! Holy cow!
Voicemeeter is donationware and doesn’t even need to be registered. I recommend the “Banana” version for deeper uses. http://vb-audio.pagesperso-orange.fr/Voicemeeter/banana.htm
Video coming soon on using it with Cantabile!
Terry
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Terry… Each card was setup in standard fashion, i.e. however it gets installed.
Something earlier was blocking me from checking the “power up” icon on more than one soundcard, but when I tried using the latest version of ASIO4All (v 2.13 11/05/2015) yesterday, I could light up the icons on multiple cards. I can take a screen print of the Asio4all settings screen, but there was nothing more I had to do other than power up both cards. I then setup two Outputs in Cant3, e.g. Output 1-2, and Output 3-4, with each output set going to a different card. Made the output changes on Media Player and my keyboards, and started playing with everything routed correctly!!
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That easy, eh? I’ll have to try that with my Motu Ultralite and Focusrite both plugged in. That made a sync-disaster for me using straight ASIO, so perhaps ASIO4ALL will make it possible!
Thanks!
Terry
P.S. - today became “install air conditioners day” so the promised Voicemeeter video was put on hold until tomorrow…
Terry… I did forget to mention that before I successfully linked both my Audigy2-ZS soundcard with my Roland SD-50 sound module under ASIO4All, I went to website and downloaded the latest version of ASIO4All which is version 2.13 that was released on November 5, 2015. It is possible that this newest release may incorporate some changes that make it easier to address multiple sound cards.
I see that you are a person of many talents. Do you also accept questions on air conditioner installation issues??
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No, not any more. Too much demand! 