Using PsychoPy with external ASIO audio interface (soundcard) for lowest latency

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If this template helps then use it. If not then just delete and start from scratch.

OS (e.g. Win10): Windows 10
PsychoPy version (e.g. 1.84.x): 2021.2.0
Standard Standalone? (y/n) If not then what?: Y
What are you trying to achieve?: Lowest latency audio presentation using external USB audio interface (RME Fireface UCX), but mainly at the moment just being sure that PsychoPy is using the ASIO driver for this interface - is there a way to confirm and force PychoPy to use ASIO?

What did you try to make it work?:
Trying different sound libs and putting ASIO as the first driver to be used.

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Just wondering if I might get a little help with this… :face_with_peeking_eye:

First and foremost, what is the best way to confirm that the PsychoPy experiment is using the ASIO driver (and not, for example, defaulting to WASAPI or other built-in Windows option)?

@jon @Becca @anyone :melting_face:

Thanks in advance!

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This thread suggests that ASIO might have licensing issues.

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The need to use ASIO has pretty much been superceded by WASAPI, which can now present very low latency audio. The timing tests for PsychoPy-lab-based recordings in our mega-timing study were using WASAPI audio driver via psychtoolbox and had excellent audio timing

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Many many thanks for the input. @wakecarter and @jon! Glad to see/hear that WASAPI does the job. The main reasons I asked were that we have a relatively fancy USB audio interface (RME Fireface UCX) that have especially low-latency and robust ASIO drivers that I wanted to try taking advantage of and that the input latency is also a consideration - have you had similar success with audio input device latency using WASAPI? In my experience, this is where audio drivers can really show their worth.

Thanks again.

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I haven’t run any systematic tests on this but my understanding is that it should be very good timing. Would be interested to know what you find, if you find a way to test it