Important Hints for MARIAN Family I driver version 4.41 for Windows™

1. System Requirements
2. New Installation
3. Driver Update
4. Driver Uninstall
5. What's new?
6. Samplerate Considerations
7. MME, WDM-Audio and DirectSound

1. System Requirements

Windows™ 10 (each 64 bit or 32 bit), Windows™ 11 and related server systems.

2. New Driver Installation

In the most cases Windows™ does not start the installation of new found PCIe hardware automatically. Thus, you have to start the installation by use of the Windows™ Device Manager. You can open the Device Manager with right click "Computer", then "Manage | Device Manager".
There, right-click at "Other Devices | Multimedia Controller" and choose "Update Driver Software".
In the following dialog click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
Now choose the folder of your CD or the folder where you have unpacked the driver update package and click on "Next".
If you get a message which asks you to trust software of "MARIAN GmbH", acknowledge that message and activate the option "Always trust software of MARIAN GmbH" in order to get that message never again.
The drivers are now installed. Windows now copies the driver files. When you are asked to overwrite newer files answer with "No" to keep the newer version of that file.
Finally, another dialog will tell you the end of the installation process. Click on "Close" here.
In some cases, the installer has to change some windows settings which need a restart. Please restart windows, if the installer requests it.
Attention: Directly after the installation, Windows executes extensive audio tests with each audio device / channel pair of the installed audio interface. During this time almost every audio functionality with this audio interface is blocked by Windows. Thus, we recommend to start working with the audio interface and every related software first when these audio tests have been finished. It take appr. 1-2 minutes but takes place just once directly after the driver installation or if just once, if you setup a new sample format in "Driver Settings | WDM Audio".

3. Driver Update

Unzip the driver update package for Windows 10/11 "sphad8_w10_4414.zip" with the included subdirectory structure to any folder.
Uninstall the driver software like described in "Driver Uninstall".
Restart Windows™
You have to start the installation by use of the Windoows Device Manager. You can open the Device Manager with right click "Computer", then "Manage | Device Manager".
There, right-click at "Other Devices | Multimedia Controller" and choose "Update Driver Software".
In the following dialog click on "Browse my computer for driver software".
Now choose the folder where you have unpacked the driver update package and click on "Next".
If you get a message which asks you to trust software of "MARIAN GmbH", acknowledge that message and activate the option "Always trust software of MARIAN GmbH" in order to get that message never again.
The drivers are now installed. Windows now copies the driver files. When you are asked to overwrite newer files answer with "No" to keep the newer version of that file.
Finally, another dialog will tell you the end of the installation process. Click on "Close" here.
After these steps it might be necessary to update the firmware of your MARIAN PCIe Audio Interface. It can only be determined after the installation of the new driver if a firmware update is needed. If that is the case, the update will then be performed automatically. In order to get the new firmware in effect, you have to SWITCH OFF and to SWITCH ON the computer.
Attention: Directly after the installation, Windows executes extensive audio tests with each audio device / channel pair of the installed audio interface. During this time almost every audio functionality with this audio interface is blocked by Windows. Thus, we recommend to start working with the audio interface and every related software first when these audio tests have been finished. It take appr. 1-2 minutes but takes place just once directly after the driver installation or if just once, if you setup a new sample format in "Driver Settings | WDM Audio".

4. Driver Uninstall

First uninstall the driver software using the Windows™ Device Manager. You can start it right away with a right-click on "Computer" in the start menu. Then choose "Manage" and acknowledge the question of the User Account Control with "Continue".
In the Device Manager under "Sound, Video and Game Controller" right-click on the required MARIAN PCIe Audio Interface and choose "Uninstall".
In the next dialog activate the option "Delete the driver software for this device" and start the uninstall with "Ok".
After the Uninstaller has finished, you only have to restart Windows™ if you want to install another driver.

5. What's new?

Version 4.39:

New: Driver Support for "Clara B". Thus, this driver supports the products "Seraph 8", "Seraph 8+", "Seraph 8 MKII", "Seraph AD8", "Seraph AD8 MKII" and "Clara B". All products have one thing in common: they support analog and (optional) digital AES3 channels at one PCIe card. And additional will follow. That's the reason why we changed the driver name to "MARIAN Family I" instead naming it like a specific product.
The name of the ASIO driver has changed "MARIAN Family I". All products mentioned above, upto 8 cards can be used simultaneously with ASIO.

Version 4.38:

Fixed: TDM SyncBus Channel-ON-State is now restored properly when the computer recovers from hibernation, suspend or Windows Quickstart.
GUI: Solved a graphical glitch in mixer window when using higher DPI scales (200% and more)

Version 4.37:

The Manager-App will be started also, if a card with incompatible firmware was detected. Beside the known autoatic firmware update you can now use the manuall update too.
In conjunction with firmware updates and multi-card operation, we made internal plug&play faster and more stable.
Settings | Sync: the configuration of the wordclock output now arrived also in the settings dialog.
Settings | WDM Audio: Solely changes of settings of the multichannel-device are now detected as change, processed and stored.
Settings | WDM Audio: you may now use also the keyboard to type in the number of WDM-Audio stereo devices.
Previously, at start of the driver software it may happen, that the input and output device volumes got strange values. We corrected that issue.
ASIO: We freed the name of the ASIO driver from prefix "ASIO".
ASIO: At start of an ASIO application, we also set the level of the DAW inputs to 0dB. Like we do that all the time with the DAW outputs. Thus, the Windows-Device level settings are overwritten as long you use the according ASIO channels. After your ASIO session, we restore the level settings of Windows again.

Version 4.35:

Version 4.34:

New: we added a new section in driver settings, called "DAC". Here you can find some options to control the filter behaviour of the Digital Analog Converter.

Version 4.33:

ASIO: channel names are now always generic - e.g. "DAW In 1" or "DAW Out 1". If you rename stereo devices in ASIO Device Setup, this has no influence anymore to mono channel names.
ASIO: when working with multiple cards, the channel names beginning from the second card on are now correctly.
ASIO: for multi-card operation, we now implemented an additional safety margin which ensures, that the clocks of all used card are stable in every case.
GUI: When other multimedia devices were enabled/disabled, messages about errors could appear even if there were no erros. We removed these messages.
Bug fixed: in rare cases, disabling the driver could lead in a BSOD. Solved.
WDM Audio: the driver now reports its sample format capabilities according the current operation mode (see Settings). This prevents Windows from testing all generally supported sample formats unneccessarily and accelerates the process of device capability testing after device installation/reconfiguration.
WDM Audio: samplerates are finally set only, if the WDM Audio client really starts the stream. This accelerates the process of Windows device capability testing after device installation/reconfiguration.
GUI: we improved the performance of moving/resizing the mixer window especially on 4k screens.
New: this driver version supports Seraph AD8 MKII. Welcome! :-)

Version 4.32:

First official release for Windows 11. Previous versions for Windows 10 were successfully checked for compatibility with Windows 11.
ASIO: some ASIO applications did not recognize the MARIAN ASIO driver (anymore). Fixed.
GUI Fix: the mixer now only shows the sums AUX1, AUX2 and the master sum in 192 kHz operation mode. All other sums are only available in "96 kHz" and "48 kHz" operation modes.
GUI Fix: possible graphic glitch when resizing the mixer window vertically in 192 kHz operation mode fixed.
GUI Fix: visibility state of "Parts" of the mixer is now restored when loading a setup file.
GUI New: the key assignments to open the Mixer/Routing/Status/Matrix windows now act as toggles. If a window is open, pressing the key combination will close it and vice versa.
New: the driver software for Seraph 8/8+ and the driver software for Seraph AD8 have been merged. The present driver software now supports the products: Seraph 8, Seraph 8+, Seraph AD8, Seraph 8 MKII.
GUI: Icon in the taskbar changed to the golden wing of a Seraphim. ;-)

Version 4.20:

ASIO: A new option "Auto" is now available for the selection of buffer sizes in the ASIO setup dialog. This is the default setting for all ASIO applications. If this option is active, the currently set ASIO buffer size is automatically applied to the application. I.e. at the start of the first ASIO application the buffer size from the driver settings is applied - at the start of further applications the buffer size determined by the first started application is applied to these applications. This facilitates the use of multiple, simultaneously running ASIO applications and enables the definition of buffer sizes in the driver settings for applications that do not allow access to the ASIO setup dialog.
ASIO: When using multiple ASIO applications at the same time, there was sometimes noise when ASIO applications were started later. Fixed.
In addition, when using ASIO applications simultaneous with applications that use WDM audio, WASAPI, DirectSound or MME, the start order is no longer relevant.
GUI: In multi-card mode, the performance settings can now be set for each card individually.

Version 4.12:

GUI: The function "Reopen Windows at Startup" now works like expected.
GUI: When using more than 3 MARIAN Family I within one system, the graphics resources are limited now in order to prevent that Windows limits are exceeded. You may open a maximum of 3 mixer windows, 3 routing windows and 3 status windows simultaneously. Of course you can use these windows for all of maximum 8 installed MARIAN Family I.

Version 4.11:

Version 4.10:

Support for Clara's Flash Type

Version 4.09:

Fixed: wrong samplerate after wakeup from sleep or hybernate mode

Version 4.08:

New: with the HotKey Editor in the settings, you can now assign system-wide key combinations, for example to open the mixer, the routing or the status window
GUI: various improvements in content display on high dpi systems, especially 4K monitors
GUI: fixes a display problem in settings dialog when ALT key was pressed
Under the hood: various performance enhancements and reduction of resource consumption

Version 4.07:

This version removes a bug which could occur during driver's initialization on 32 bit systems.

Version 4.06:

Improved error reporting by the MARIAN Family I managing software in case of very early initialization failures of hardware or driver software.

Version 4.05:

Manager | Settings: WDM Audio extended. You can now set the sample format for all WDM Audio devices of a card at this central place without having to do this for each device separately using the Windows sound device properties. Thus, the use of the MARIAN-Tool "MaDevPropW7+" is obsolete now.
No Windows restart is necessary anymore to get any of the WDM Audio settings in effect - just click "Apply" and the settings are used immediately.
Manager | Settings: MIDI Filters removed.
Bugfixing: Beginning from v4.04 the initialization of some ASIO applications could fail and result in a BSOD. Solved.
Bugfixing: If the WDM Audio multichannel device were set as Windows default device, beginning from v4.04 volume changes in the PreDsp could lead to a BSOD. Volume changes may initiated by Windows multimedia keys, Windows volume control or ASIO Direct Monitoring. Solved.

Version 4.04:

The clock and synchronization settings you made in driver's settings panel can now be used within your ASIO application too. As default setting you find the entry "Seraph Manager Clock Setup" in "Clocksource" of your ASIO application. If this option is active, the ASIO driver does not control the clock setup anymore - instead it relies on the clock settings you made in driver's settings panel. Please take care on a proper clock setup especially if you use multiple Seraph Sound Systems within one computer using the SyncBus for synchronization. Choose a certain clock source in your ASIO application to give back the control to the ASIO driver. It will ensure proper synchronizaton of all installed Seraphs using the SyncBus.
Settings panel: "ASIO Initiale Clocksource" removed. Obsolete because of this new functionality.
Settings panel: visualization of clock/sync settings redesigned.

Version 4.03:

New options to adjust the PCIe performance. See "Settings | Latency | PCIe Performance".
For best results, we recommend the "compatible" option, if the PCIe slot used is connected with the CPU directly. (e.g. 16x slots or small mainboards with just one or two PCIe slots)
We recommend the "boost" option for all other, standard cases, where the PCIe slot is connected with a PCIe host controller.
This driver software comes with a new firmware. The update is applied automatically after the driver installation.
First release for Seraph AD8 (internal use at MARIAN)

Version 4.02:

New: WDM Audio Multichannel input and output devices. Together with the standard stereo devices you may assign the available channels to these devices in a very flexible way. As default setting we choosed eight stereo recording and playback devices, one 16-channel recording device and one 16-channel playback device. But you may change this at any time in "Settings | WDM Audio".
Redesign of the routing matrix ("Beast Aside Routing"). Additionally you may set the output volume now directly from there.
ASIO Direct Monitoring: now, the correct output level is restored, when you switch from input monitoring to playback monitoring.
When operating a MARIAN Family I within a virtual machine on a VMware ESXi Server, problems occured on restart of this virtual machine. Solved.

Version 4.01:

Version 3.09:

Version 3.08:

The ASIO driver now uses unique channel names in order to solve potential problems with ASIO applications who solely rely on channels names for channel identification.
New option for WDM/MME/DirectSound applications:
New: It's not necessary anymore to shut down the Windows system after a firmware update. Directly after a firmware update, the MARIAN Family I hardware and its driver software reinitializes and your MARIAN Family I is ready to work immediately. This way, managing audio systems at remote places is much easier than before.

Version 3.07:

Version 3.06:

Version 3.05:

When using different Seraphs within one system, mixer, routing and TDM SyncBus settings may not initialized correctly on system start. Solved.
The height of the routing window was not set correctly, when DAW inputs became visible again via "Snapshots". Solved.
The menu of Seraph's taskbar icon could be incomplete when the operation mode of the Seraph changed. Solved.

Version 3.03:

Supports the Windows Power Management Functions Hibernate, Suspend and Quickstart (Windows 8/10)
ASIO: improved robustness against system conditions which prevent a continous audio data transfer.
Windows 8/10: improved control characteristic for Windows Volume Control
Installation: the installation process now increases certain limits of Windows system ressources when insufficient for operation of the driver software.
Fixed: the Microsoft Management Console could crash after the user opened the property dialog of a MARIAN audio device within the Windows Device Manager.

Version 3.02:

Version 3.01:

First official release for Windows™ 10.
The grafical user interface now uses significant less Windows resources. Thus, you may work with multiple mixer/routing windows simultaneously when you installed more than two MARIAN Family I.
Now you can show/hide DAW input channels in the routing window using the button "Parts".
Many improvements in detail. Beside others, now you can determine whether you want to reopen actually opened mixer/routing/status windows when you login the next time. See taskbar icon menu.
Possible initialization problems with output volume, mute and routing solved.

Version 2.87:

For compatibility with older Windows Vista/7 versions, the driver files are now digitally signed with a SHA-1 certificate instead of a SHA-2 certificate.
In rare cases an ASIO initialization problem could occur with 64 bit ASIO applications. Solved.

Version 2.85:

Depending on the system configuration, playing back the test tone was not possible. Fixed.
Problems loading setup files solved.

Version 2.84:

Visual improvements of the status panel.
Possible problems when storing the audio settings of the Beast Mixer/Router fixed.
New: the MARIAN Family I can now be used within one of multiple, separated TDM SyncBus connections. In such a case, there are no checks whether a certain TDM signal channels is already occupied.
New: supports the Seraph 8+ with new, improved AD/DA convertes and status display via LED:
- LED off - hardware defective.
- LED yellow - hardware active, driver software not active.
- LED red - driver software detected an error.
- LED green - hardware active, driver sofware detected no errors.

Version 2.80:

New: ASIO Sample Format Emulation. Some ASIO applications are not fully compatible with the sample formats required by the ASIO 2.2 standard. Thus, you may get empty recordings or playbacks of silence. In your ASIO application you can open driver's ASIO settings. There we introduce a new option called "Sample Format Handling: Emulate 32-Bit Integer for incompatible ASIO applications". Enable this option if you encounter such kind of problems. Please note: only if this option is not active you experience the full performance of the ASIO-in-Hardware feature of the Trace and Seraph series.

Version 2.70:

Products of the Seraph series now support ASIO 2.2 Direct Monitoring. Thus, ASIO applications can switch the outputs of the card directly onto the inputs in order to listen/monitor the input signals there. Additionally they also can control the monitoring volume. This functionality works with the Pre-DSP of the card - therefore completely in hardware without adding latencies and without payloading the CPU of your computer.

Version 2.69:

Version 2.68:

Version 2.67:

NEW: The brand new routing matrix enables you to connect each output channel with any input channel. This either immediately or only if a recording at the input channel runs. (Exception: ASIO). You find the routing matrix in the menu of the management application "Beast Aside Routing".
Supports then new revision of the firmware flash memory

Version 2.66:

Another firmware update improves the compatibility with several mainboards. After installation of the new driver, the firmware update starts automatically. Please note the remarks of version 2.63!
MIDI devices are now shown only, if the WC/MIDI extender MWX2 is connected.

Version 2.65:

After changing the operation mode, manager's system menu now gets restored completely
The function "Play test tone" now uses the correct playback device 1-2. No erroneous error messages anymore.

Version 2.64:

The level settings for Windows recording devices are now connected with the DSP/the gain controller of the card. Thus, changes of the recording level are now made in hardware. This also affects programs like Audacity which use the volume/level settings of Windows for their own purposes.
Problem solved: possible, permanent output level attenuation by -3 dB when Windows™ mixer is used.

Version 2.63:

Seraph Series: New firmware improves compatibility with several mainboards. After installation of the new driver, the firmware update starts automatically. Please follow the instructions during the update.
Attention: Please do not install this new driver version right away on a system with compatibility issues, because the firmware update may fail.
Please follow these steps:
- Uninstall the driver software from the destination system like described in 4. Driver Uninstall.
- Remove the MARIAN Family I hardware from the destination system.
- Install the MARIAN Family I hardware in a system without mainboard compatibility issues.
- There, install this new driver software and execute the automatic firmware update when prompted.
- Afterwards, install the MARIAN Family I hardware in the destination system again and install this new driver software.
If you do not have a working system for the firmware update, please contact our support department via support@marian.de. We will exchange your MARIAN Family I free of charge.

Version 2.62:

Possible problems with playback/recording via MME and DirectSound in multi-channel operation removed.

Version 2.61:

First official release for Windows™ 8
One driver package for all supported Windows™ versions (see System Requirements)
Possible problems with playback/recording via MME and DirectSound with earlier versions of the 64 bit driver removed.

6. Samplerate Considerations

On recent versions of Windows™, audio applications are able to set a certain sample format only, if they use ASIO or WASAPI in exclusive mode. In all other cases Windows handles the audio devices in so called "Shared Mode" and the sample format is set in the advanced settings of an audio device (Windows™ control panel) or in the driver settings "WDM Audio". If the desired sample format of an audio application is not equal to the sample format of an audio device, a sample fomrat conversion with possibly an audible loss of quality will be the result!

7. MME, WDM-Audio and DirectSound

Audio applications, who do not use ASIO or direct WDM-Audio, now communicate with Microsoft MME or Microsoft WDM Audio drivers instead of communicate with the MARIAN drivers directly. The Microsoft drivers in turn communicate with the MARIAN drivers.
For audio applications, who use these Microsoft drivers, apply:

They can playback simultaneously using one playback device. The Microsoft Kernel Mixer mixes the playback signals of the applications into one stereo stream and routes it to one physical output device.
The number of the available recording and playback devices Windows™ 7 is limited to 32 devices each (64 channels)
This limitation applies to the number of all audio devices installed in the system.
You can use ASIO to walk around this limitation.
The minimum possible latency is limited to app. 20..30ms through the Microsoft Kernel Mixer architecture.
Use ASIO to walk around this limitation.
Some audio applications show additional audio devices with theirs names appended by "(3+4)" or "(5+6)". This is caused by an anomaly of the Microsoft MME/DirectSound system. Please ignore these devices and do not use them.