Echo Digital Audio Corporation

The vast majority of motherboards and chipsets are compatible with Echo's PCI products. For more information about rare problematic motherboards, see this technote. For a list of motherboards that have proven incompatible please go here.

If you would like to participate in our Compatible Motherboard and Chipset Survey, please go here.

To find out the maker of your motherboard or chipset, we recommend using a utility called Sandra.

2. What if I am having performance problems with my dual-core or multi-processor motherboard?

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We have had some reports of performance problems with dual-core and multi-processor machines. If you are experiencing decreased performance with either a dual-core or multi-processor motherboard, you might want to try this patch from Microsoft.

3. What FireWire card do you recommend for my AudioFire?

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We recommend more recently manufactured FireWire cards with a Texas Instruments chipset. If you are encountering problems with the built-in FireWire in your desktop or laptop, we suggest that you try a PCMCIA or ExpressCard FireWire card and disable the built-in FireWire.

The following FireWIre chipsets have produced good results:

Texas Instruments: TSB12LV26

Texas Instruments: TSB43AB23

Texas Instruments: PTSB41LV03 (This is an older chipset and does not work well at 192K with our AudioFire 12.)

Agere: FW323-06

Agere: FW323:05

The following FIreWire chipsets are not recommended:

Via: VT6306

Via: VT63061

4. What if my FireWire performance has decreased since installing Windows XP SP2?

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If you noticed a decrease in your FireWire performance after installing Windows XP Service Pack 2, try downloading this patch from Microsoft.

5. Is there an ExpressCard version of Indigo?

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Yes, we now have an ExpressCard line: Indigo IOx and Indigo DJx. PC drivers are available for XP and Vista (32-bit and 64-bit). Mac OS X drivers will be available later this year.

6. Is my hardware compatible with an Echo product?

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Each of our product families requires a different hardware interface to the computer. The interface required by each product family is described below.

AudioFire family: AudioFIre 2, AudioFire 4, AudioFire 8, AudioFire 12 -- requires a 400 Mbps FireWire interface.

Indigo family: Indigo i/o, Indigo d/j -- Requires a Type II CardBus slot. (ExpressCard slots will not work!)

Echo 3G and Echo24 family: Layla3G, Gina3G, MiaMIDI - Requires a PCI slot*

*All PCI products are compatible with 5V PCI, 3.3V PCI and PCI-X.

7. Is my software compatible with Echo products?

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All our products come with Core Audio, WDM, Direct Sound, MME, ASIO and GSIF* support.

*GSIF is not supported in 64-bit Windows XP or Vista.

8. What converters are used in Echo products?

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All our products use high quality 24-bit oversampling converters from AKM or Cirrus Logic. These are the converters used in our current product line:

Indigo DJx - AK4396

Indigo IOx - AK4620B

AudioFire 2 (Newer models) - AK4620B

AudioFire 2 (Older models) - AK4620A

AudioFire 4 (Newer models) - AK4620B

AudioFire 4 (Older models) - AK4620A

AudioFire 8 - CS4272

AudioFire 12 (FireWire ports' beveled edges pointing down) - AK4620B

AudioFire 12 (FireWire ports' beveled edges pointing up) - CS4272

Layla3G - CS4272

Gina3G - CS42426

Indigo dj - CS4392

Indigo i/o - CS4272

MiaMIDI - AK4528

9. What are the different Echo driver "families"?

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In order to speed driver development, each of our products is grouped into a driver family. With this system driver updates are carried out on entire families of products rather than having to update each product separately. Also, the driver for all of our PCI products is based on the same core of programming code. In this way, when improvements are made to one family, they are easily carried over to the families.

This list shows which products are in each driver family:

AudioFire family (echo1394) - AudioFire 2, AudioFire 4, AudioFire 8, AudioFire 12

3G family (echo3g) - Layla3G, Gina3G

Indigo family (echondgo) - Indigo dj, Indigo i/o, Indigo

Echo24 family (echo24) - MiaMIDI, Mia, Layla24, Gina24, Mona

EchoGals family (echogals) - Layla(20), Gina(20), Darla24, Darla(20)*

*The EchoGals family is no longer supported. Drivers can be found on the Archived Drivers page.

10. Are 64-bit Windows drivers available for all Echo products?

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64-bit Windows drivers are now available for the 3G, Indigo, Echo24 and AudioFire families. We will not be releasing 64-bit drivers for the EchoGals family.

11. Where are the old support documents?

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They can be found in the support archive page.

12. Do you support Intel Macs?

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Yes! We are proud to fully support the Intel Mac platform.* The AudioFire line of products use Apple's built in FireWire driver, so support was built in since the very first Intel Mac was shipped! We also provide a software console which works in compatibility mode on Intel Mac. A Universal Binary version of the software console can be downloaded from our driver page.

*The hardware in the Intel Macs is incompatible with our PCI and Cardbus hardware.

13. What about Vista and Vista64 support?

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Vista 32-bit and 64-bit drivers are now available for the AudioFire, 3G, Indigo and Echo24 families. We will not be releasing Vista 32-bit or 64-bit drivers for the EchoGals family.

14. What settings should I use in Sonar?

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SONAR supports ASIO and WDM/KS for low-latency access to audio hardware. The ASIO mode performs well and is straightforward to set up, requiring no special configuration. If you want to adjust the buffer size when Sonar is running, you do this in Options/Audio/General/ASIO Panel.

If you prefer, you can also use SONAR in WDM/KS mode. Here are the required settings for using SONAR with our driver in WDM/KS mode:

Within SONAR, go to Options/Audio.
• On the “General” tab, set “Audio Driver Bit Depth” to 24.
• On the “Advanced” tab, we suggest selecting “Trigger & Freewheel”
• On the “Driver Profiles” tab, uncheck “Access Driver In Mono”. Be sure to set “Stream > 16 bit data as” to “32-bit PCM, left justified”.

You may get a message that your audio devices are not compatible with the specified format; you may need to restart SONAR several times. Make sure each time that the settings are correct; once SONAR starts successfully without the “not compatible” message, be sure to run the Wave Profiler under Options/Audio/General.

Note: When installing a new hardware device, you may need to delete the aud.ini file. For Sonar 6.0 this is found in the Application Data folder in XP and the ProgramData folder in Vista. Deleting this file resets the settings back to their defaults and facilitates installing new or different hardware.

15. What settings should I use in Cubase?

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The settings in Cubase 3 and Cubase 4 are slightly different.

In Cubase 3, go to Devices -> Device Setup -> VST Audiobay. From the drop down menu choose "ASIO AudioFire" or "ASIO Echo PCI" depending on the product you are using. If it asks you if you want to switch, say yes. Then go to "ASIO AudioFIre" or "ASIO Echo PCI" under VST Audiobay. From here there is a "Control Panel" button from which you can control the buffer size. Next go to "VST Inputs" and hit the "Reset" button. Do the same under "VST Outputs." The final step is to go to Devices -> VST Connections. From here you set up your input and output busses. I would suggest starting from scratch and deleting the busses that are shown. Then add the busses you are going to use. Note that having all possible busses available may slow down performance. Now that you have set up the busses, you can access these busses from your tracks.

Cubase 4 is similar to Cubase 3, except that the "VST Inputs" and "VST Outputs" pages have been conflated with the "ASIO AudioFire" or "ASIO Echo PCI" page. You should reset the inputs and outputs from this page. You will still need to setup up your busses in "VST Connections."

16. How do I set up the Echo console for the Indigo DJ correctly?

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The phones output is Analog 1-2 and the line output is Analog 3-4. In the Echo console, you can choose between the Analog 1-2 bus and the Analog 3-4 bus in the upper right hand corner. In the Analog 1-2 bus make sure you have virtual output 3-4 muted. In the Analog 3-4 bus make sure you have the virtual output 1-2 muted. From within your audio application you can now assign your headphones output and your house (line) output.

17. What if my Indigo doesn't work with my laptop's ENE CardBus Controller?

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Some laptops with a PCMCIA controller made by ENE have been found to be incompatible with our Cardbus products (Indigo, Indigo io, Indigo dj, Layla24 Laptop, Mona Laptop). If you have such a laptop and are having audio playback problems with one of our products then this utility may help you. Go here to find out more information and download the utility.

18. What if I have a product suggestion?

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If you have a new product suggestion or an idea for an improvement to an existing product, please email technical support. Please put in the subject line: "New Product Suggestion."