ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output) is a protocol for low-latency digital audio specified by Steinberg. Latency is the time a message takes to traverse a system. ... Digital audio comprises audio signals stored in a digital format. ... Steinberg is a German musical equipment and software company. ...

ASIO provides an interface between an application and the sound card. Whereas Microsoft's DirectSound is typically for stereo input and output for consumers, ASIO provides for the needs of musicians and sound engineers. ASIO offers a relatively simple way of accessing multiple audio inputs and outputs independently. It also provides for the synchronization of input with output in a way that is not possible with DirectSound, allowing recording studios to process their audio via software on the computer instead of using thousands of dollars worth of separate equipment. Its main strength lies in its method of bypassing the inherently high latency of operating system audio mixing kernels, allowing direct, high speed communication with audio hardware. DirectSound is software supplied by Microsoft that resides on a computer with the Windows operating system. ... Latency is the time a message takes to traverse a system. ... An operating system (OS) is a computer program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... This article is about the operating system concept. ...

External links

• ASIO SDK
• ASIO4ALL - a free universal ASIO driver for Windows that brings ASIO support to users of virtually all consumer-grade soundcards and integrated audio chipsets.It also supports semi-pro and pro digital audio systems.
• ASIOTestSigGen - a simple, free Audio Test Signal Generator utility to test ASIO setups
• The kX Project - third party WDM audio drivers for EMU10K1 and EMU10K2-based sound cards (ie. SoundBlaster Live or SoundBlaster Audigy 1/2 cards)