Windows 10: Windows 10 Changes to Reduce Audio Latency - Legacy Mode Still Supported?

I do a lot of work with audio signal path artifact correction and, specifically, correction of Windows Sound Mapper audio for specific listening hardware and environments. Audio signal path latency is not an issue for me because I can correct for it in the video players (VLC Media Player, Cyberlink PowerDVD) I'm using.


I've recently transitioned from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and have noticed some problems with audio glitches. I've followed all of the advice out there to fix this (driver update, windows update, BIOS update, stopping unnecessary processes/services, etc., etc.) but have not succeeded in getting glitch-free audio.


The evidence suggests that the culprit may be how Windows 10 handles audio device drivers that weren't specifically written for Windows 10. In Windows 7, the OS used a fixed 10ms buffer from which the audio device driver would fill its own buffer. As long as the device buffer wasn't larger than the OS buffer (resulting in buffer underruns or a total failure of the sound device to function at all), audio was glitch free, but, as expected, it included a minimum of 10ms of latency because of the fixed buffer size within the OS. For real-time audio processing where you're trying to eliminate latency wherever possible, 10ms of fixed latency was a problem that Microsoft addressed within Windows 10. Under Windows 10, the OS allows the audio device driver to specify the desired buffer size up to a maximum of 10ms. Because Windows 10 eliminates the fixed 10ms audio buffer on the OS side, audio latency can be significantly reduced... if the audio device driver knows how to inform the OS of the desired buffer size.


Now, you would think that Windows 10 could still work with legacy audio drivers if, unless told otherwise, it still assumed a 10ms buffer from which the audio device driver could draw its data. Unfortunately, this does not appear to be the case. I have evidence from two specific cases of attempting to use legacy audio drivers with Windows 10 that suggest the OS is not defaulting to a 10ms buffer.


Example 1: Using Synchronous Audio Router (SAR, an app that allows creation of synthetic ASIO audio input/output devices) to capture Windows Sound Mapper output to reroute it to Ableton, through a VST Finite Impulse Response correction filter, and finally through a Roland Octa-capture to speakers. Under Windows 7, this configuration worked flawlessly with ASIO buffer sizes up to 10ms. Under Windows 10, however, this configuration is not stable (results in continuous buffer underruns) beyond an ASIO buffer size of 5.3ms. The Roland Octa-capture needs an ASIO buffer size of at least 8ms to guarantee glitch-free audio, so the 5.3ms that Windows 10 is forcing upon this configuration makes glitch-free audio impossible.


Example 2: Once again, using SAR to capture Windows Sound Mapper output to reroute it via ASIO4ALL to Ableton, through a VST Finite Impulse Response correction filter, and finally through ASIO4ALL to a laptop internal sound device to internal speakers. Just like with example 1, under Windows 7, this configuration provided glitch-free audio with ASIO buffer sizes up to 10ms. Under Windows 10, however, this configuration is not stable (results in continuous buffer underruns) beyond an ASIO buffer size of 1.3ms. Just as with example 1, a 1.3ms buffer within ASIO4ALL is not long enough to guarantee glitch-free audio.


In both of these cases, the actual ASIO drivers (Roland Octa-capture and ASIO4ALL) are legacy drivers that weren't specifically written for Windows 10 and its new "latency-reducing" audio buffering architecture. Instead of defaulting to the legacy 10ms buffer to accommodate the legacy drivers, however, the evidence suggests Windows 10 is still attempting to employ "latency-reducing" buffer sizes that simply aren't appropriate for the legacy drivers.


Finally - the question: Is there any way to force Windows 10 into "legacy audio mode" where it always uses a 10ms buffer, just like Windows 7 did?


I apologize for being so verbose; it just seems that there is a metric ton of advice online for correcting Windows 10 audio problems and none of the advice gets to the root of the problem.


Thanks so much!


-Dale

:)

 

Support Had Me Change From UEFI to Legacy mode in BIOS Re: DISASTER


This was Acronis True Image 2018 support not MS or Lenovo (P51). Those familiar with True Image know that you can create bootable media on a flash drive to run the software. No problem with True Image 2017 but True Image 2018 did not work. Although the flash drive loaded the program the GUI was garbled and I was unable to navigate. Support had me switch from UEFI back to Legacy and that was a bad idea. Sorry for the caps but this was what I wrote back to Acronis support. FYI the rest of the message was not in caps:

SUPPORT: I have discussed this issue with the Experts team and they have suggested testing whether changing from UEFI to Legacy mode in BIOS fixes the issue or not. This step is suggested for testing purpose only.THAT WAS A TERRIBLE SUGGESTION. I WENT INTO THE BIOS AND DID AS YOU INSTRUCTED AND CHANGED FROM UEFI TO LEGACY. I CLICKED EXIT AND SAVE AND WITH THE FLASH DRIVE PLUGGED IN THE 2018 BOOTABLE MEDIA I WENT TO BOOT MENU OPTIONS AND CHOOSE BOOT FROM FLASH DRIVE AND I WAS DROPPED BACK INTO THE BOOT MENU OPTION. SEE ENCLOSED PICTURE. I THEN SELECTED BOOT FROM THE SSD DRIVE AND I WAS AGAIN STUCK IN A LOOP THAT DROPPED ME BACK INTO THE BOOT MENU OPTION. I THEN TRIED BOOTING FROM THE SECOND INTERNAL HDD OPTION AND AGAIN WAS DROPPED BACK INTO THE BOOT MENU. I COULD NOT GET BACK INTO THE BIOS TO CHANGE BACK TO UEFI FROM LEGACY. I HAD TO DO A HARD SHUTDOWN AND POWER BACK ON AND ONLY THEN WAS I ABLE TO GET INTO THE BIOS AND CHANGE BACK FROM LEGACY TO UEFI.

This is a pic of the loop I was caught up in. Why do you all think I was not able to boot either from the flash drive or the SSD or the HDD once I changed from UEFI to Legacy in the BIOS? TIA.

 

Unlocked Realtek HD Audio Drivers Windows 7 & 8 (With Dolby Digital Live and DTS Interactive)

DTS supported natively by Windows 8/8.1 and it should work on windows 10 too just DDL require to unlock your driver .

 

Audio stuttering/buzzing and storport.sys high dpc latency

I've only had this audio issue for a few weeks already after I did a custom windows 10 install bc of a previous problem. I've also posted twice about this but no one has helped me yet. I'll post the following possible solutions and suggestions that
I've already done to avoid repeated answers

I did: audio troubleshooter, uninstalled then reinstalled audio drivers, disabled audio enhancements and tried different audio quality under the advanced tab.


After more searching online I tried using DPC Latency Checker (and then LatencyMon to be more detailed) since I read that having high dpc latency can cause problems with real time audio among other things. Apparently
storport.sys is the problem? I literally just have basic knowledge about anything regarding this kind of stuff and I don't have any clue on how to fix this so I just hope someone can help me and give me steps by steps suggestions on how I can solve this. my
audio has just been driving me crazy with those stuttering sounds and I don't want it to worsen.

I would also like to know if having
Ricoh SD/MMC Host Controller and nothing else aside from that, under
IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, is okay and won't cause problems?

please, I hope someone can help and answer this time around!