I read that by default Audacity does not support ASIO. But, you could compile it with the ASIO SDK… which I am not about to do as I know nothing of this.
Is this true? or Is there an easy way to get Audacity to support ASIO devices?
Thanks
Are you sure you need ASIO?
The main advantage of ASIO is low latency when you are monitoring yourself through headphones along with a background tack while recording.
If you are doing that kind of thing, you probably have an interface that came with recording software and it’s own true ASIO drivers (not ASIO4ALL).
Or better yet, you have an interface that has zero-latency hardware monitoring so the delay through the computer is of no consequence.
Yes the device has an ASIO driver, but my question is about the fact that I read that Audacity does not support ASIO out of the box.
I read that Audacity does not support ASIO out of the box.
Correct.
Koz
Yes the device has an ASIO driver…
Did the device also come with recording software that supports ASIO?
I assume it also has standard Windows drivers if you want to use Audacity, or if you want to use some other software for recording with ASIO, and Audacity with standard drivers for editing.
Since nobody is apparently willing to answer your question directly, neither will I!
However, your might be interested in this post here:
https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/seeking-audacity-compiled-with-asio-windows-24bit-recording/20120/1
Yes. You can compile (build) the Audacity software with ASIO support built-in. This process is fully supported and legal, but it does work out a lot better if you know what “included libraries” and “tar balls” are. Programmers like to think everybody can do this, but that hasn’t been my experience.
http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=ASIO_Audio_Interface
Koz
Thanks Koz, I will do that.
This is like ‘the name that nobody speaks’.
Not really - it’s in the “Frequently Asked Questions”: http://manual.audacityteam.org/man/FAQ:About_Audacity#asio
Building Audacity from the sourcecode on Windows should be fairly straightforward, though rather long-winded. Ensure that you have plenty of disk space before you start, and that Windows is fully updated - Installing the Windows build environment requires several GB of additional software from Microsoft.
Step by step instructions for building Audacity on Windows are here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Developing_On_Windows
If you follow those steps carefully and precisely, then Audacity should build correctly. However Visual Studio Express 2008 (required) seems to be rather buggy and when I (once) tried building on Windows I couldn’t get it to work - I may have another go some time that I have a spare Windows machine and a couple of days to waste 
I would highly recommend that you try building unmodified Audacity before attempting an ASIO enabled build. If you can get Audacity to build, then rebuilding with ASIO enabled is likely to be straightforward. The difficult part is setting up Windows build environment so that it works.
It’s probably worth reiterating DVDdoug’s question: Are you sure that you really need ASIO? For most users it is completely unnecessary.
HiFiCable & ASIO Bridge (new VB-Audio Donationware)
could help Audacity to support ASIO devices:
http://www.vb-cable.com