Roland US has improved the ASIO drivers for audio interfaces, MIDI, keyboards and drums

After struggling through the Windows 8 pre-release cycle of with Roland’s Windows Vista drivers, I was surprised to find the driver for my UA-25EX USB AudioCapture available right away.

Roland has already released Windows 8 drivers for most of their audio capture devices, MIDI, MIDI keyboard controllers, sound modules, drums and percussion modules.

Some users are reporting latency and dropout problems from on-board audio DSPs and audio capture devices from other manufacturers. Surface sound keeps muting – Microsoft Answers.

Roland UA-25 EX driver settings

Not only are the drivers available, Roland has improved them by adding software controllable settings including ASIO.

In the Windows 7 driver set, you had to rely on the application software to control the settings and reboot the device or your computer.

For example, with the new Windows 8 drivers for the UA-25EX, the audio buffer size can be adjusted 112 to 960 samples.

Previously, settings like ASIO Direct Monitor needed a hardware re-boot. Update – changing the sample rate on the UA-25EX still requires a reboot of the device by unplugging the USB cable and plugging back in.

The improved level of software function in Roland’s Windows 8 drivers makes the audio capture device more flexible.

The UA-25EX works with both 16-bit and 24 bit audio up to 96 kHz, although two channel bi-directional operating stops at 48 kHz. That’s more than adequate for my needs in a secondary audio setup.

Roland has higher performance capture devices up to the half-rack UA-101 that can capture and monitor 6 channels of 24-bit at 192 kHz. Roland is not supporting Windows RT at this time.

Windows 8 drivers have been released for the Quad-Capture, Octa-Capture, MIDI interfaces up to the UM-3G,  A800-Pro and PCR-800 series MIDI controller keyboards, the Octapad SPD-30 and SPD-SX pads, and the TD11, TD15 and TD30 drum modules. 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.

For the complete list of Windows 8 supported devices see Roland US Go Windows 8.

Roland Cakewalk have tested the Sonar X2 digital audio recording software running under Windows 8 with positive results. Using the Windows 8 Consumer Preview and Sonar X2, Cakewalk testing reported better load balancing across multiple core CPU, faster bounce times, and more efficient memory usage and kernel use. For the details, see >Windows 8 – A benchmark for music production applications

Selected Roland Products Windows 8 compatible

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