Instruction Manual

1231
Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers
Beginner’s Guide to Cakewalk Software
14. Click Finish.
WDM and MME
In most situations, the newer WDM (Windows Driver Model) sound card
drivers that most sound card vendors are creating are a much better choice
than the older MME (Multi-Media Extensions) drivers. If your sound card
vendor has a WDM driver, it’s usually a good idea use it. The following table
compares their characteristics:
IRQs
An IRQ (Interrupt Request) is an assigned location where the CPU expects
to be interrupted by a device when it has completed a task. There are 16
IRQs on a PC. Usually, three or four are taken by the system, leaving 12 or
13 for other devices, like printers, USB devices, hard disks, floppy disk
drives, keyboard and sound card. Some of these devices can share an IRQ
with other devices, but for the most part this is not a good thing, and for a
sound card which can use a lot of CPU power, it can be a real problem. IRQ
conflicts can cause your system to freeze or fail to boot up properly, or the
system may fail to recognize your sound card. Sometimes the problem only
reveals itself when you attempt to use the device that is sharing an IRQ.
WDM… MME…
Lower latency Usually higher latency
Works with Windows 2000, ME,
98 SE, but not 98 Gold
Works with Windows 98, and ME. Some
MME drivers may work with Windows 2000.
Not every sound card vendor has
produced a WDM driver.
MME drivers are widely available.
Note: If you use two or more sound cards at
the same time, and not all of them have
WDM drivers, you must force the WDM
drivers to function as MME drivers. Do this in
the Audio Options dialog box (except in GT
Pro) on the Advanced tab by checking the
Always Use MME Interface Even When
WDM Drivers Are Available checkbox.
In GT Pro, see the README document that
came with your software.