I found the solution to get my Apollo to work with Windows without the pops & cracks!

I found the solution to get my Apollo to work with Windows without the pops & cracks!

Edit: i removed the link for now. While i couldn't find anything wrong with the software a user below says it has a malicious load.



It only took me a few weeks, countless hours of trying and reading but i think i got it to work.

Just like many people here (and other forums) i had horrible pops and cracks when using my Thunderbolt Apollo in a Windows environment. Impossible to use for streaming, Skype, you name it.

I tried everything i could find. Bios changes, PCI slots changes, Voicemeter and the list goes on and on. Well, 10 minutes ago i finally got it to work.

I'm gonna say this has to work for most of you with the same problem. At least i hope it does because it's infuriating not getting a piece of equipment this expensive to work with basic Windows stuff.

Also, if this works in general then there is no excuse for UAD anymore not to bring out a Windows driver like this by default. The least they could do is contact the maker of this software!

-----------------------------------------------

Anyway, now the good stuff.
(disclaimer: i have no idea what it does and why it does it, i just know it works, so don't ask me technical stuff)

Download the free software located here REMOVED
Install it.

On the same page download the patcher. Most likely the X86 patcher. Run it and patch to 32 or 64 bits. Depending on your Windows version.

Turn on your Apollo if you haven't yet.

In your Windows menu search for the Asio Link Pro Tool. Run it.

Change the Channels in and out to the amount of channels your Apollo has (i think). In my case 4.
Click Start Asio and select your Thunderbolt Apollo device.

Now you should get the routing menu in front of you. First remove all the default routing by clicking all the X's on the right side.
Next click the 1-1 buttons till you get a setup that looks like mine, in the attached screenshot. Obviously it has way more options and connections but i'm gonna limit this to what works for me.

Save the layout (top right), close the routing menu. And you can close the start up menu as well.

Next go to your sound options and make sure it looks like what i did in the screenshot (it's Dutch but it should be understandable). Make the Mix 01 your input device!

Now do a test recording in your Windows recording for example while speaking into a mic and you should notice completely clean sound!

I hope i didn't miss anything.

And i hope this helps out everyone with this highly annoying problem.

Edit: Watch your sample rates! Make sure you use the same sample rate everywhere where you can select it. 44.1 worked perfect for me. I haven't tested yet with high sample rates!

And i hope UAD can release a driver that does this by default!!



After all this time can finally fully enjoy my Apollo and i'm gonna buy me a Engl Savage plugin as a christmas present

Cymbeline said:

It only took me a few weeks, countless hours of trying and reading but i think i got it to work.

Just like many people here (and other forums) i had horrible pops and cracks when using my Thunderbolt Apollo in a Windows environment. Impossible to use for streaming, Skype, you name it.

I tried everything i could find. Bios changes, PCI slots changes, Voicemeter and the list goes on and on. Well, 10 minutes ago i finally got it to work.

I'm gonna say this has to work for most of you with the same problem. At least i hope it does because it's infuriating not getting a piece of equipment this expensive to work with basic Windows stuff.

Also, if this works in general then there is no excuse for UAD anymore not to bring out a Windows driver like this by default. The least they could do is contact the maker of this software!

-----------------------------------------------

Anyway, now the good stuff.
(disclaimer: i have no idea what it does and why it does it, i just know it works, so don't ask me technical stuff)

Download the free software located here ODeusASIOLinkPro

Install it.

On the same page download the patcher. Most likely the X86 patcher. Run it and patch to 32 or 64 bits. Depending on your Windows version.

Turn on your Apollo if you haven't yet.

In your Windows menu search for the Asio Link Pro Tool. Run it.

Change the Channels in and out to the amount of channels your Apollo has (i think). In my case 4.
Click Start Asio and select your Thunderbolt Apollo device.

Now you should get the routing menu in front of you. First remove all the default routing by clicking all the X's on the right side.
Next click the 1-1 buttons till you get a setup that looks like mine, in the attached screenshot. Obviously it has way more options and connections but i'm gonna limit this to what works for me.

Save the layout (top right), close the routing menu. And you can close the start up menu as well.

Next go to your sound options and make sure it looks like what i did in the screenshot (it's Dutch but it should be understandable). Make the Mix 01 your input device!

Now do a test recording in your Windows recording for example while speaking into a mic and you should notice completely clean sound!

I hope i didn't miss anything.

And i hope this helps out everyone with this highly annoying problem.

Edit: Watch your sample rates! Make sure you use the same sample rate everywhere where you can select it. 44.1 worked perfect for me. I haven't tested yet with high sample rates!

And i hope UAD can release a driver that does this by default!!

View attachment 7043

After all this time can finally fully enjoy my Apollo and i'm gonna buy me a Engl Savage plugin as a christmas present

Click to expand...

The Savage is great.

So, what is the software name?

Matt Hepworth said:

The Savage is great.

So, what is the software name?

Click to expand...

Yeah, can’t wait to use it.

I linked the software in the post? It’s not spam filtered, is it?

Cymbeline said:

Yeah, can’t wait to use it.

I linked the software in the post? It’s not spam filtered, is it?

Click to expand...

The link works. Thanks, good find, although I'm not on Windows to try it with an Aoollo.

:- Don

Nice work, [MENTION=45791]Cymbeline[/MENTION]

So is this some kind of ASIO wrapper for WMA? I checked the site, but couldn't really figure out exactly how the software works. What is difference between this and ASIO4all? Does A4all work for Apollo WMA as well?

Nice work!

Don Schenk said:

The link works. Thanks, good find, although I'm not on Windows to try it with an Aoollo.

:- Don

Click to expand...

Joe Porto said:

Nice work, [MENTION=45791]Cymbeline[/MENTION]

So is this some kind of ASIO wrapper for WMA? I checked the site, but couldn't really figure out exactly how the software works. What is difference between this and ASIO4all? Does A4all work for Apollo WMA as well?

Click to expand...

Thanks guys.

Joe, i have no idea.
All i know is that i tried it with Asio4all before and other software and never had any positive result.

Cymbeline said:

It only took me a few weeks, countless hours of trying and reading but i think i got it to work.

Just like many people here (and other forums) i had horrible pops and cracks when using my Thunderbolt Apollo in a Windows environment. Impossible to use for streaming, Skype, you name it.

I tried everything i could find. Bios changes, PCI slots changes, Voicemeter and the list goes on and on. Well, 10 minutes ago i finally got it to work.

I'm gonna say this has to work for most of you with the same problem. At least i hope it does because it's infuriating not getting a piece of equipment this expensive to work with basic Windows stuff.

Also, if this works in general then there is no excuse for UAD anymore not to bring out a Windows driver like this by default. The least they could do is contact the maker of this software!

-----------------------------------------------

Anyway, now the good stuff.
(disclaimer: i have no idea what it does and why it does it, i just know it works, so don't ask me technical stuff)

Download the free software located here ODeusASIOLinkPro

Install it.

On the same page download the patcher. Most likely the X86 patcher. Run it and patch to 32 or 64 bits. Depending on your Windows version.

Turn on your Apollo if you haven't yet.

In your Windows menu search for the Asio Link Pro Tool. Run it.

Change the Channels in and out to the amount of channels your Apollo has (i think). In my case 4.
Click Start Asio and select your Thunderbolt Apollo device.

Now you should get the routing menu in front of you. First remove all the default routing by clicking all the X's on the right side.
Next click the 1-1 buttons till you get a setup that looks like mine, in the attached screenshot. Obviously it has way more options and connections but i'm gonna limit this to what works for me.

Save the layout (top right), close the routing menu. And you can close the start up menu as well.

Next go to your sound options and make sure it looks like what i did in the screenshot (it's Dutch but it should be understandable). Make the Mix 01 your input device!

Now do a test recording in your Windows recording for example while speaking into a mic and you should notice completely clean sound!

I hope i didn't miss anything.

And i hope this helps out everyone with this highly annoying problem.

Edit: Watch your sample rates! Make sure you use the same sample rate everywhere where you can select it. 44.1 worked perfect for me. I haven't tested yet with high sample rates!

And i hope UAD can release a driver that does this by default!!

View attachment 7043

After all this time can finally fully enjoy my Apollo and i'm gonna buy me a Engl Savage plugin as a christmas present

Click to expand...

Well, thats a very suspicious file. I wouldn't open it.

Registry Keys Opened
\Registry\Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\996E.exe
\Registry\MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Option
\Registry\Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\TransparentEnabled
\REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\996E.exe\RpcThreadPoolThrottle
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Rpc

Remote Access
Reads terminal service related keys

MITRE ATT&CK™ Techniques Detection
This report has 3 indicators that were mapped to 4 attack techniques and 4 tactics.

Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation

Also activates Remote Desktop Protocol and more suspicious stuff... Why?

bornyhitch said:

Well, thats a very suspicious file. I wouldn't open it.

Registry Keys Opened
\Registry\Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\996E.exe
\Registry\MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Option
\Registry\Machine\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers\TransparentEnabled
\REGISTRY\USER\S-1-5-21-1482476501-1645522239-1417001333-500\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Safer\CodeIdentifiers
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\996E.exe\RpcThreadPoolThrottle
\REGISTRY\MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Rpc

Remote Access
Reads terminal service related keys

MITRE ATT&CK™ Techniques Detection
This report has 3 indicators that were mapped to 4 attack techniques and 4 tactics.

Defense Evasion, Privilege Escalation

Also activates Remote Desktop Protocol and more suspicious stuff... Why?

Click to expand...

Is that from the software in my link?
I have no idea what that all means. What specifically is suspicious about it? Obviously i don't want to have malicious software on my computer let alone spreading it around here.

I ran several system scans and i checked the file itself for anything malicious:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...e2d7239ddd3911a838fbdaa5e50c1d46c45/detection

Nothing worrying was found?
In my search for my audio probnlem i ran into this software a few times with people using it for all sorts of audio stuff (not related to the Apollo) and no one mentioned anything bad about it.

Cymbeline said:

I ran several system scans and i checked the file itself for anything malicious:

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file...e2d7239ddd3911a838fbdaa5e50c1d46c45/detection

Nothing worrying was found?
In my search for my audio probnlem i ran into this software a few times with people using it for all sorts of audio stuff (not related to the Apollo) and no one mentioned anything bad about it.

Click to expand...

Yes, that file.

The software seems to be binded with some sort of malicious software, indeed. FUD Crypter's are used to fool Anti-virus scans, therefore called FULL UNDETECTED Crypter's. You can reverse engineere some of it, and you'll see the things i've posted. It shouldn't activate remote desktop and other things, just like backdoors/trojans does.

>
Installation/Persistance
Monitors specific registry key for changes
Remote Access Related
Reads terminal service related keys (often RDP related)
Unusual Characteristics
Imports suspicious APIs
Installs hooks/patches the running process
Hiding 2 Suspicious Indicators
<
Anti-Reverse Engineering
PE file contains zero-size sections
Installation/Persistance
Touches files in the Windows directory

I'm sure the "original" installer is clean, but this copy doesn't seem to be.

Ouch. Everyone please proceed with caution.

bornyhitch said:

Yes, that file.

The software seems to be binded with some sort of malicious software, indeed. FUD Crypter's are used to fool Anti-virus scans, therefore called FULL UNDETECTED Crypter's. You can reverse engineere some of it, and you'll see the things i've posted. It shouldn't activate remote desktop and other things, just like backdoors/trojans does.

>
Installation/Persistance
Monitors specific registry key for changes
Remote Access Related
Reads terminal service related keys (often RDP related)
Unusual Characteristics
Imports suspicious APIs
Installs hooks/patches the running process
Hiding 2 Suspicious Indicators
<
Anti-Reverse Engineering
PE file contains zero-size sections
Installation/Persistance
Touches files in the Windows directory

I'm sure the "original" installer is clean, but this copy doesn't seem to be.

Click to expand...

I have no idea what all of the above means but i'm gonna take your word for it it.

Sorry everyone. Not once in my search i've seen anyone say anything bad about this software. It's such a small niche software, i can't imagine the maker spending time on it to infect people's computers but what do i know.

But the worst part is i'm without a solution for the audio problems again. I spent weeks trying to solve this and now back to 0. This is crazy.

Edit: i removed the link in the original post. I don't want to be responsible for spreading bad software.

I seriously can't believe i'm without a solution again.
Why oh why has this Asio to WDM thing been a problem for years already without UAD writing a driver for it? It is possible. The above program does it. Why can't a company like UAD make it?

I'm mailing the creator. Let's see if he replies and can explain things.

hi Cymbeline - I use a virtual mixer application called voicemeeter banana for certain wdm/asio functions in windows10. I don't know if it will help with your situation but you can check it out here -
https://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm

I checked the ASIOlink online threat assessment and found this - while not directly identified as a malware it does have a few suspicious things about it - https://www.hybrid-analysis.com/sam...f66e5a963456a8d6d4fb7066493?environmentId=100
External Systems Sample was identified as malicious by at least one Antivirus engine
details 3/67 Antivirus vendors marked sample as malicious (4% detection rate)
source External System
relevance 8/10
Environment Awareness Reads the active computer name
Remote Access Related Reads terminal service related keys (often RDP related)
Unusual Characteristics Imports suspicious APIs
Reads information about supported languages

scanning the downloaded asiolink files with Malwarebytes does not detect any malware for what it's worth

mattbroiler said:

hi Cymbeline - I use a virtual mixer application called voicemeeter banana for certain wdm/asio functions in windows10. I don't know if it will help with your situation but you can check it out here -
https://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm

I checked the ASIOlink online threat assessment and found this - while not directly identified as a malware it does have a few suspicious things about it - https://www.hybrid-analysis.com/sam...f66e5a963456a8d6d4fb7066493?environmentId=100
External Systems Sample was identified as malicious by at least one Antivirus engine
details 3/67 Antivirus vendors marked sample as malicious (4% detection rate)
source External System
relevance 8/10
Environment Awareness Reads the active computer name
Remote Access Related Reads terminal service related keys (often RDP related)
Unusual Characteristics Imports suspicious APIs
Reads information about supported languages

scanning the downloaded asiolink files with Malwarebytes does not detect any malware for what it's worth

Click to expand...

Hi! Yes, i'm aware of Voicemeter. It's one of the things i tried first to get this to work but it failed me so far.

I understand it looks suspicious and it maybe is. I just wouldn't understand why.
Apparently the creator died and a relative made the program freeware.
This is such obscure software, not promoted anywhere. If you want to infect people through software i can't believe you would do it like this. But who knows.
I hope the creator answers my mail.

UniversalAudio said:

Ouch. Everyone please proceed with caution.

Click to expand...

Ouch indeed. If only there would be a way that all this ridiculous stuff could be avoided :roll:

Since you have been in contact with UAD about this issue could you maybe tell us the reason why after many years they still didn't create a working Windows driver?
There has to be a reason. And they can't tell us it's impossible because it obviously isn't.
What exactly is stopping UAD from bringing out a Windows driver that would help out many, many of their paying customers?

yeah sorry voicemeeter does not work for your situation, you know I am not using it in combination with uad apollo the same way I used to do. I believe a combination of past voicemeeter and uad updates caused the newer windows asio thunderbolt audio driver not to be recognized anymore by voicemeeter : ( but I use it for virtual routing anyway not for needing it to fix playback issues

you have probably been through all of these areas but aside from disabling bios options for c1 states and speedstep if possible the other settings I go through are all of the windows control panel power option settings. everything should be set to always on absolutely no stand by hibernation enabled hard drives never power off usb selective suspend always disabled network adapter power savings all disabled etc.
Another odd spot where this can show up and cause problems is the power management tab in device manager items - in device manager go into every available device properties especially network adapters and sound devices and look for a power management tab -for the ones that have it be sure to uncheck each box so that windows does not power things off and on in the background. Be sure to disable any other windows devices that aren't being used especially webcams audio devices onboard audio and hdmi audio from video cards. Network adapters (and bluetooth) have been a known culprit with uad wdm audio in some cases - when you are actively engaged in recording it never hurts to simply disable network adapters in device manager or network connections and re-enable again when needed. Obviously this won't work for your youtube/internet based playback though.

somewhat agree with one of your earlier observations that a combination of the windows device drivers perhaps display or network could likely be a culprit with the wdm audio. One way to possibly work through that would be to systematically go through remove and then update just display drivers with different versions and test audio in between, then do the same thing with network and chipset drivers etc. Sometimes specific versions of drivers will work better or not at all. Motherboard maker specific driver versions can sometimes work better than windows or Intel or other chipset manufacturer supplied drivers for the same things so perhaps a reinstall of system/board drivers in a specific manner could help? whatever it takes hope you get this sorted out before long

mattbroiler said:

yeah sorry voicemeeter does not work for your situation, you know I am not using it in combination with uad apollo the same way I used to do. I believe a combination of past voicemeeter and uad updates caused the newer windows asio thunderbolt audio driver not to be recognized anymore by voicemeeter : ( but I use it for virtual routing anyway not for needing it to fix playback issues

you have probably been through all of these areas but aside from disabling bios options for c1 states and speedstep if possible the other settings I go through are all of the windows control panel power option settings. everything should be set to always on absolutely no stand by hibernation enabled hard drives never power off usb selective suspend always disabled network adapter power savings all disabled etc.
Another odd spot where this can show up and cause problems is the power management tab in device manager items - in device manager go into every available device properties especially network adapters and sound devices and look for a power management tab -for the ones that have it be sure to uncheck each box so that windows does not power things off and on in the background. Be sure to disable any other windows devices that aren't being used especially webcams audio devices onboard audio and hdmi audio from video cards. Network adapters (and bluetooth) have been a known culprit with uad wdm audio in some cases - when you are actively engaged in recording it never hurts to simply disable network adapters in device manager or network connections and re-enable again when needed. Obviously this won't work for your youtube/internet based playback though.

somewhat agree with one of your earlier observations that a combination of the windows device drivers perhaps display or network could likely be a culprit with the wdm audio. One way to possibly work through that would be to systematically go through remove and then update just display drivers with different versions and test audio in between, then do the same thing with network and chipset drivers etc. Sometimes specific versions of drivers will work better or not at all. Motherboard maker specific driver versions can sometimes work better than windows or Intel or other chipset manufacturer supplied drivers for the same things so perhaps a reinstall of system/board drivers in a specific manner could help? whatever it takes hope you get this sorted out before long

Click to expand...

Thanks for that. From reading through it quickly i'm quite sure i've checked all of it already but i'm gonna go through it one by one again and see if i skipped something small. Appreciated!

On another forum where the i found the original post with the link i got a reply from someone who said:

While I can't say for sure that this isn't infected somehow, I strongly suspect this is a false positive.

The ASIOLink has to use RPC to bridge ASIO calls between processes (FWIW BitBridge & JBridge do a similar thing). It also uses network calls for the ASIO over network functionality. It may be that the developer decided to use the RDP protocol to enable RPC calls over the network, which would save him having to roll his own solution.

The zero sized sections within the PE is most likely the result of removing the copy protection.

I can't see anything in the list of suspicious characteristics that can't be explained by the nature of what ASIOLink does, but someone would have to monitor network activity closely to be absolutely sure (i.e. check if any remote sites are being contacted or if there's any unexplained incoming traffic).

Click to expand...

I actually very much doubt the file is malicious. But i won't put the link back up, just in case.
If you want to try it shoot me a PM and i'll point you in the right direction.