DSP Robotics Support

I designing a project to be distributed on computers that have no use ASIO drivers. In some computers (allways with Windows 7) all works well.
But in some other computers, Flowstone (or the exported EXE file) does not find Direct Sound. When I try to use it in a scheme or in an executable, it appears the message:

"Direct Sound could not be started. The most likely reason for this is that you have an application running that is using ASIO. (....) Close the application that is using ASIO or cahnge it so that is uses Direct sound instead."

but I have no other applications using ASIO. I uninstalled ASIO4All but that problem remains. Any idea to solve it?

I encountered exactly the same problem with the Direct Sound Out primitive, same message:

"Direct Sound could not be started. The most likely reason for this is that you have an application running that is using ASIO. Close the application that is using ASIO or change it so that is uses Direct Sound instead."

Strange but this occurred when I accidentally pulled out the speaker cables when the computer was switched on.

I checked the Speaker Settings in Windows Playback Devices and on the Realtek HD Audio Manager and they are both set to:

"Stereo, Realtek HD Audio Default Device; 16 bit, 44100 Hz"

I have no ASIO drivers installed ever and I even checked every player i.e. Windows Media Player, QuickTime player, iTunes player, etc. - and they are using the Direct Sound Driver. I tried for hours to eliminate the problem by uninstalling (using Uninstaller Pro 11 to remove every trace of suspected software) certain audio applications that may be causing the conflict, but with no positive results - the problem persists till this day.

All other Audio software applications are functioning correctly and both speakers produce sound.

Thought I should just mention this here as it seems that there may be a bug with the DS Out Primitive ?

I am using Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

These are just thoughts, so handle with care:

Facts are
(1) DirectSound used to be part of DirectX. Nowadays it is a much more developed interface standing on its own.
(2) The DirectSound binding was programmed for the old synthmaker, which means at least some 7 or so years ago.

My suspicion is that Flowstone's DirectSound binding may fail under the newest installations of DirectSound, but will work with DS as it is under DirectX 9.0c. One test could be to just install DX9 on those Computers where Flowstone has issues (it is safe to install DX9, it will not affect any newer DX installations), in case the newer DirectSound misses certain files that Flowstone relies on.

If the PCs then work with the DX9 installation, it would be a clear sign that Flowstone needs to address this issue.

Thank you for your time and the advice Tulamide. Just to give you some feedback on the issue:

I installed Direct X 9.0c for 64-bit Win 7 and rebooted the computer, but the problem regarding Direct Sound Out Primitive still persist.

I am using windows 7 ultimate 64-bit. My Sound card is a built-in unit (RealTek) which is part of the Main board, and I was wondering if it could be an issue with this particular Sound Card Driver? I also installed the latest Sound Card drivers for this mother Board (Gigabyte) but no luck there as well. What bothers me is that everything appeared to function correctly until I accidentally removed and then again plugged-in the speaker cables to the sound card (computer was switched on) - from then on, whatever I tried to correct the issue with the sound drivers was fruitless as it keeps on giving the error message that another program is using ASIO. But I do not own an ASIO Sound Card neither did I ever installed any ASIO drivers on this PC. Apart from the Direct Sound Out primitive not being able to start-up Direct Sound, all other audio software functions correctly and produce sound through the speakers.

I tried the Direct Sound Out Primitive on my laptop (Hewlett-Packard) also with windows 7 64-bit (Direct X 11, same as on my Desktop) but it has a different Sound Card (Beatsaudio) and no similar issues occurred.

Anyways, thanks again for your effort. Maybe I have to live with it.

regards.

What a bummer. I really hoped it was just an outdated file. If you think it could be the driver, then it would mean that it isn't 100% DirectSound compatible. It may very well be, that the addressing of the hardware devices got confused when re-plugging the speakers, but that's rare. Do you have one of those drivers that track the inputs to open a dialog if something is plugged in? Maybe it didn't have the chance to update the matrix or some entry in the registry?

The message you get basically means that access to the sound driver via DirectSound is blocked for Flowstone. That is unusual. An active ASIO driver indeed blocks any other access, but if only DirectSound is used then several independent applications may access the sound card and DirectSound takes care of the mixing.

I have a built-in Realtek HD sound chip in my desktop (mobo is Asus), and am also running Win7 64-bit, so I attempted to recreate this issue by unlugging, then plugging in a set of speakers while FS was running, but I had no issue.

Not sure if it helps anyone or not: the Realtek device wasn't available in FS until I plugged the speakers in, whereupon the Realtek driver popped up a dialog about which jack was being plugged into. If I started FS without the speakers plugged in, the device was gone. So I had to start FS with the speakers plugged in, then unplug/replug. The dialog still popped up when I did this.

Just figured I'd put that out there in case it helps, since I saw Realtek mentioned. I don't usually use the Realtek device, I just remembered seeing that name when I was setting the computer up. If nothing else, this may help rule out the DirectX version being a problem... I just have whatever came with the Windows installation (apparently 10, according to my control panel).

It may be that the sound chip has died but the ASIO thing suggests not.

If this were my system I would do this next:

- Make a system restore point.
- Use regedit to search for ASIO and delete ALL references (keys).
- Reboot, test and if still the same remove the hard disk and install an empty one and reload Windows etc. from scratch.
- If still the same replace the motherboard or fit a sound card or USB audio interface.

Good luck!

Spogg

Thank you guys (tulamide & noisenerd) for your input and time. Well, I did some further testing with the same Gigabyte motherboard (H61M-USB3-B3) with Win 7 64-Bit OS installed on a brand new Hard Disk.

To my surprise, I still get the same message that Direct Sound cannot be started up due to some unknown software using the ASIO driver. Which is strange since this same Motherboard used to work with Direct Sound Primitive prior to the start of this ASIO issue.

There can be no ASIO drivers on a brand new Hard disk, or can it be? All I installed on the new Hard Disk is Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit, the necessary Chip-set (Intel) Drivers for the Motherboard which of coarse include the Audio Drivers for the on-board RealTek Sound Card.

Thank you for your input Spogg, I appreciate. But I have already done all of those things and the issue with ASIO persists. I am also beginning to suspect the motherboard, sad, because I never had any issues with GIGABYTE Mainboards prior to this and I cannot even yet confirm that the motherboard is at fault.

Today I am ordering a new Mainboard and faster Intel CPU and also more memory installed on the Mainboard. When I receive all the items and have set it up I will run another test. Hopefully I can report back on the issue by next week or so.

Ps. My sound card setup works similar to that explained by noisenerd.

A different issue: Further, I wanted to buy the latest version of DSP Robotics Flowstone v3.0.9 but when I started up some schematics with it which were done with v3.0.7, those schematics do not function anymore (mostly written with Ruby). So, for the time being I would rather back off from buying it right now. I have enough issues with it already.

regards.

The thing that really doesn't add up is that you said all other DirectSound apps work and you get sound, yet you still have a problem with a fresh install of Windows and Flowstone. I assume you did a completely fresh FS install? Also did you try a new basic schematic just to test the DS out? I'm thinking corrupt schematic obviously so what you get is not what you see...

Cheers

Spogg

Hi Spogg, a clean Win 7 install on a brand new Hard disk but with the same motherboard gives the same result: both speakers fully operational. Schematics or exported *.exe's gives the same result - "D.S. cannot start up as another program is using ASIO." Yes, it doesn't add up since where would the other audio software or the ASIO then come from?

B.T.W. the same schematics and exe's works perfectly fine on my laptop computer.

Same reasoning for the initial hard disk drive, no ASIO installed, no ASIO sound Card - but still I get that notice that another piece of software is using ASIO therefore D.S. cannot start-up.

I will see how it goes with the new motherboard, I already ordered new motherboard, CPU & RAM.

Will give feedback when all is ready & tested again.

regards