Alesis Hammerfall DSP System manual Operation under Gsif Gigasampler Interface, Windows 2000/XP

14. Operation under GSIF (Gigasampler Interface)

Windows 2000/XP

The GSIF interface of the HDSP MADI allows direct operation with Gigastudio, with up to 32* channels, 96 kHz and 24 bit. The new GSIF 2.0 is also supported with both audio and MIDI.

Gigastudio requires a lot of the computer’s calculation power. An optimum performance is achieved with a stand-alone GSIF PC. However, when using the Hammerfall DSP, the latency is always the same as the one selected for ASIO operation. This can cause performance prob- lems on slower machines when using GSIF and ASIO at the same time.

Please note that the W2k/XP driver fully supports multi-client operation, including the combina- tion MME/ASIO. So for example Cubase, Gigastudio and Sonar can be used simultaneously, provided each of these programs uses its own audio channels exclusively. For example ASIO could use channels 1/2 and Gigastudio (with GSIF) channels 3/4 simultaneously, and so on.

Simultaneous operation of GSIF and ASIO requires to use different channels. For example, if Cubase uses tracks 1/2 these tracks can not be used by Gigastudio.

Common Problems

Please note that Gigastudio is running unexpectedly in the background (thus blocking its as- signed audio channels), as soon as the Gigastudio MIDI ports are used – even when Gigastu- dio itself hasn't been started. This causes a lot of confusion, as the driver seems to behave completely buggy, and the user does not recognize the simple reason for it – for example simul- taneous operation of ASIO and GSIF on the same channels.

If Gigastudio starts up properly, loads gig files too, but won't play at all even when using the virtual keyboard: Go to Hardware/Routing and select a valid MIDI input port. Note that blank is not valid, but <none> is.

*The limitation of 32 channels is caused by Gigastudio 2.54. According to Tascam, Gigastudio 3 will support 64 channels.

User's Guide HDSP MADI © RME 23