# Important Hints to the Seraph AD8 driver version 4.08 for Windows™

1. System Requirements
2. New Installation
3. Driver Update

4. Driver Uninstall

5. Uninstalling an older driver for Windows™ 7 in Windows™ 8.x

6. What's new?

7. Operation in Windows™ Vista, Windows™ 7, Windows™ 8.x, Windows™ 10

8. MME, WDM-Audio and DirectSound

## 1. System Requirements

- Windows™ 7, Windows™ 8.x, Windows™ 10 and related server systems; each 64 bit or 32 bit

## 2. New Driver Installation

### 2.1 Windows™ 7, Windows™ 8.x, Windows™ 10

- Windows™ 7/8/10 does not start the installation of new found 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 actívate 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 with Windows 10: Directly after the installation, Windows 10 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 10. 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.

## 3. Driver Update

- Unzip the driver update package ("sphad8-win-408.zip") with the included subdirectory structure to any folder.
- Uninstall the driver software like described in "Driver Uninstall".
- Restart Windows™

### 3.1 Windows™ 7, Windows™ 8.x and Windows™ 10

- 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 actívate 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 the Seraph AD8. 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 with Windows 10: Directly after the installation, Windows 10 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 10. 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.

## 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 "MARIAN Seraph AD8" and choose "Uninstall".
- Windows™ Vista/7/8/10: 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. Uninstalling an older driver for Windows™ 7 in Windows™ 8

Beginning from driver version v2.50 the MARIAN driver software is compatible with Windows™ 8. Earlier driver version are intended for Windows™ XP to Windows™ 7. In case you tried to install an older Windows™ 7 driver in Windows™ 8, the installation now is incomplete and faulty. Please follow these steps to uninstall the older driver using a special way in order to be able to install the most recent driver afterwards:

- Computer Management | Device Manager | "Other devices" or "Sound, Video and Game controllers" | "Multimedia Controller" -> right click | Uninstall; if available also activate "including driver software"
- Close the Computer Management
- Delete the old Coinstaller DLL "sphad8ci.dll" in the folder "c:\windows\system32"
- Perhaps in the directory "c:\windows\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository" you can find another folder called "seraphad8.inf_<xxx>". (<xxx> means: any characters) Please delete this folder if it exists.
- Restart Windows™ 8 and start the installation of the new driver software like described above.

## 6. What's new?

### 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 Seraph AD8 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 internal use at MARIAN

## 7. Operation in Windows™ Vista / Windows™ 7 / Windows™ 8.x / Windows™ 10

On Windows™ Vista / Windows™ 7 / Windows™ 8.x / Windows™ 10 audio applications, who do not use ASIO or WASAPI in exclusive mode, are not able to set a certain samplerate or sample format. Instead, sample rate and sample format is set in the advanced settings of an audio device in the Windows™ control panel or in the driver settings "WDM Audio". This leads to the following:

- If the desired samplerate of an audio application is not equal to the current set samplerate, a samplerate conversion with possibly an audible loss of quality will be the result!

## 8. 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. If playback takes place with different samplerate, the Microsoft Kernel Mixer converts the samplerate of the playback streams to the highest samperate required.
  Hint: You can improve the quality of this conversion! (See Control Panel | Sounds and Audio Devices | Audio | Sound Playback | Advanced | System Performance)
- The described simultaneous playback of different applications fails, if the output device is already in use by ASIO or direct WDM-Audio.
- The number of the available recording and playback devices is limited. With Windows™ XP/Vista/7 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.

(c) MARIAN GmbH Digital Audio Electronics, Leipzig 11/21/2019