ASIO support?

[simstationfuchs]

Hi this project works well so far and I love the idea of a new NAudio competitor,
I felt the documentation was a little behind, but with help of the examples I was able to make a lot of things work.

What I am still a little confused about is the support of ASIO in this project. The documentation makes clear that there is no ASIO support so far. But when looking through the code I saw a few mentions of it, like in the EngineHostType and PaHostApiTypeId. Or this in the AudioDeviceInfo.cs ->

public string Name { get; }

/// <summary>
/// Gets the name of the audio engine that manages this device.
/// Examples: "Wasapi", "CoreAudio", "PulseAudio", "Portaudio.Asio", "Portaudio.Wasapi", "Miniaudio"
/// </summary>

So.. am I correct that ASIO is actually supported by using the native engine (PortAudio/miniAudio) but it is not implemented so far that it is ready to use?

If thats the case (or that ASIO is really not supported yet), is it planned to add ASIO support in the near future? This would make things so much easier for some of my use cases 🎉

Best regards,
Dominik

[ModernMube]

Hi!

Native Portaudio handles ASIO on Windows, native Miniaudio does not. ASIO handling is built into the API.

// Use the standard OwnaudioNet API - it will automatically use NativeAudioEngine
AudioConfig config = new AudioConfig()
{
SampleRate = 48000,
Channels = 2,
BufferSize = 512,
HostType = EngineHostType.ASIO
};

// Initialize via OwnaudioNet (internally uses AudioEngineFactory)
// This will first try NativeAudioEngine Portaudio, then Miniaudio, then fall back to platform-specific engines
OwnaudioNet.Initialize(config);

If initialization is successful, the audio engine will use ASIO, in all functions!

Important warning!

A new compilation of native Portaudio has been released recently, I need to check if ASIO is included. Until then, please be patient!
I'll let you know here when I've checked!

[simstationfuchs]

Thank you so much for the fast reply!
I will test this. And yes please, let me know about what you can find out concerning Portaudio.

[ModernMube]

Hi!

I checked the Portaudio currently in use!
It does not include ASIO.

I will make a Portaudio version that includes ASIO today or tomorrow and upload it to the repository.

[ModernMube]

Hi!

I added ASIO support to native portaudio. Now ASIO works in the API!

When initializing, you need to set it to use the ASIO host, if the initialization is successful, all functions of the API will use it!

// Use the standard OwnaudioNet API - it will automatically use NativeAudioEngine
AudioConfig config = new AudioConfig()
{
    SampleRate = 48000,
    Channels = 2,
    BufferSize = 512,
    HostType = EngineHostType.ASIO
};

// Initialize via OwnaudioNet (internally uses AudioEngineFactory)
// This will first try NativeAudioEngine Portaudio, then Miniaudio, then fall back to platform-specific engines
OwnaudioNet.Initialize(config);

// Get current audio device information
var outputDevices = OwnaudioNet.Engine?.UnderlyingEngine.GetOutputDevices();
if (outputDevices != null && outputDevices.Count > 0)
{
    // Find the current device (either by OutputDeviceId or the default device)
    AudioDeviceInfo? currentDevice = null;

    if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(config.OutputDeviceId))
    {
        currentDevice = outputDevices.FirstOrDefault(d => d.DeviceId == config.OutputDeviceId);
    }
    else
    {
        currentDevice = outputDevices.FirstOrDefault(d => d.IsDefault);
    }

    if (currentDevice != null)
    {
        Console.WriteLine($"  ✓ Audio Engine: {currentDevice.EngineName}");
        Console.WriteLine($"  ✓ Output Device: {currentDevice.Name}");
    }
}

[simstationfuchs]

Hello again,
Thanks for the update, much appreciated!

I downloaded and referenced your latest commit to my project to test this.
Unfortunately when trying to list my ASIO devices as you described above, the outputDevices are still empty.

When using the EngineHostType.None configuration I see for example my USBAudio interface (Focusrite) but only as WASAPI device.

Do you think there is still an issue with the API or the included Portaudio library? Or do you have an idea what may still be the problem here?

[ModernMube]

Hi!

You should see the installed ASIO devices.

The API automatically selects the appropriate audio engine for the platform and host.

If OwnaudioNet.Initialize(config) is successful, this is the easiest way to get the devices.

Examples:

// Get audio devices information
List<AudioDeviceInfo> outputDevices = OwnaudioNet.Engine?.UnderlyingEngine.GetOutputDevices();

or the same thing in another way

// Get audio devices information
IAudioEngine engine = OwnaudioNet.Engine!.UnderlyingEngine;
List<AudioDeviceInfo> outputDevices = engine.GetOutputDevices();

The value of UnderlyingEngine is the engine for the current platform and host.

But this should work too.

// Get audio devices information
List<AudioDeviceInfo> outputDevices = OwnaudioNet.GetOutputDevices();

or

if(OwnaudioNet.IsInitialized)
{
    // Get audio devices information
    List<AudioDeviceInfo> outputDevices = OwnaudioNet.GetOutputDevices();
}

The outputdevices list must contain the device!

[simstationfuchs]

Hi,
I just checked this out one more time. But I still cannot see my Asio devices.

I tried to compare with a small NAudio test program, which Asio devices should be visible.
With NAudio I got this ->

But when initializing OwnAudioNET (or the native engine itself) and listing the ASIO devices as you described I have an empty list ->

[ModernMube]

Hi!

Yes, ASIO works completely differently than all other platforms.
Like most DAW programs, Naudio also retrieves the installed devices from the registry.
Even those that are not connected or are currently occupied.

Native portaudio by default only lists ASIO devices that are active, support the set sample rate, and are not used by other software.
The advantage of this is that only those devices are listed that are ready to use.

I found a listing error in the code that can prevent the detection of free ASIO devices.
I am improving the code to return a more accurate list, I will upload the change soon!