Blackmagic Forum

We have been unable to find a pro quality audio interface that works with Resolve 16 [and now on 17 as well] on Windows. Note that Fairlight hardware is overkill for us, and UltraStudio is not sufficient for our audio needs does not record audio input only.

The Resolve manual says:

The audio processing throughout DaVinci Resolve, including on the Fairlight page and
audio processing using FairlightFX plug-ins, is equally compatible with all platforms
that DaVinci Resolve runs on, including macOS, Windows, and Linux. In particular,
DaVinci Resolve supports audio monitoring and audio input using (i) the audio of a
supported Blackmagic Design I/O device such as an UltraStudio or Decklink,
(ii) your macOS, Windows, or Linux workstation’s on-board audio, (iii) any Core Audio
compatible, Windows compatible, or Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
(ALSA)-supported third-party audio interface.

Yet this is not true. We have tried a bunch of different WDM devices, and Resolve does not see them as valid inputs in the Patch panel, even when they work in every other DAW and app on the system, all without ASIO.

When we tried a Universal Audio device and showed an engineer that Resolve could not see it, he said, "It's like you cannot wear Nike shoes!" since UA is so widespread in the market.

When we reported this, Blackmagic told us:

"DaVinci Resolve does not support ASIO. For third party devices on Windows only WDM is supported."

As you will see below, we are using a WDM device, but Resolve does not see it.

In our search for a functioning interface, we have been emailing our vendor along with tech support at Apogee, Universal Audio, and others, all of whom are perplexed by Resolve's inability to recognize basic audio inputs from the major interfaces.

One engineer at Apogee wrote to us:

Symphony Desktop will work perfectly with WDM. The ASIO driver is an optional additional thing, if a specific DAW needs it, but won't negatively affect your use WDM if you don't use it.

But then he tested it with Resolve, and it didnt work. He then said:

I have my Symphony Desktop working here with all other programs on the computer, which use WDM, like basic recorders, but Resolve doesn't even seen inputs available. It also doesn't have any area in the Preferences to even select your overall input device, only output.

Based on the BlackMagic Forum Thread I linked above looks like they also have issues with Audio Input in the MacOS version. So again, not an issue of WDM here, but an issue about their software addressing an input device at all, even a WDM device.

So I think you should really contact BlackMagic support about DaVinci Resolve using other brand audio interfaces. I believe they have a software issue that needs to be addressed to use basic audio cards.

I cannot even put into words how bizarre this is,* but ultimately, we just need a solution that works. Can anyone confirm full functionality of pro quality (~$500-1000 US) audio interface?

* EDIT: OK, here are the words: I am glad for the Fairlight functionality added to Resolve, but how can we use it if Resolve cannot use mainstream pro interfaces? This seems contradictory. Currently the only way we can use a quality audio interface is to record audio (VO for instance) in a separate DAW, which seems absurd given that Fairlight should be able to do everything we need.

I can relate my experience with this.
I have a Behringer 1204 usb mixer with its WDM driver installed on the PC.
On the Fairlight page click on Input on the mixer fader and select Input. You will get the Patch Input/Output screen. The external interface should appear in the Line In boxes. Patch them to the Track Input and it should work as it does in my Resolve, which you can see on the track meter.
The Behringer is also set up under Windows Sound for Recording and Playback.
If you want to playback through your external device you can set that up in Preferences.

Hello,
Yes you can wire any WDM audio interface to Resolve in Windows, but only two channels.
On macos, thanks to coreAudio, you can reach any input/output on your interface.
I need multiple in/out because I work for theater and I need to mix for 4 to 6 loudspeakers and sometime i need to record more than 2 input whith actor voices for voice over.
PLEASE!!! (its not the first time I ask for that), give us ASIO for Resolve. For the moment I have to go back to Resolve on macOs to do that easely.
Jacques

As the engineer from Apogee pointed out, Resolve is not seeing devices that are using WDM, and he suspects an issue in Resolve. It appears to me that there are some consumer grade devices it can see for input, but I have found only one decent quality device it can see, Sound Devices MixPre-3, but it makes a poor studio interface (no monitor controls, annoying menus, etc).

Latest from Apogee engineer:

I can hear from Resolve through the Symphony Desktop outputs. I just cannot see any available inputs, as you described. Clearly it can address the WDM driver, since it can play output, just isn't offering a Input path, so problem with this software.

Here are some screenshots with my Symphony Desktop in use.

No inputs shown:

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unnamed.png (249.69 KiB) Viewed 12272 times

Output working:

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unnamed (1).png (255.02 KiB) Viewed 12272 times

All I can say is that when I connect a Behringer UMC404HD to my Windows Resolve, I see all 4 input channels.

That would seem to make Jacques statement that only 2 input channels are supported on Windows inaccurate.


That's the only non-BMD audio I/F device I have locally to test with.

Hi Dwayne,

Can we get you in touch with the Apogee engineer?

Thanks,

Matt

I don't know for the Behringer but here is my experience:
- on Windows
old M-Audio ProFire 2626 (Firewire via Thunderbolt 3):
26 in/out in Ableton Live (ASIO driver), 2 in/out in daVinciResolve
Motu UltraLite mk3 (USB)
10 in/out in Ableton Live (ASIO driver), 0 in/out in daVinciResolve

- on macOs
M-Audio not working since El Capitan (no driver available)
Motu UltralIte mk3 (USB)
10 in/out in Ableton Live, 10 in/out in daVinci Resolve

Looking deeper, I don't even have any Behringer drivers installed on this PC.

Windows is handling it all with its usbaudio2.sys driver, according to the Device Manager Driver details.

The Behringer is an entry-level device. We need higher quality conversion. We asked BM for recommendations but received none, so we are testing what we can get our hands on. Results so far:

Sound Devices MixPre3: this is a field recorder, but Resolve sees both input and output. However, this is not a good studio interface since it has no monitor output or control.

Universal Audio Apollo: Resolve sees no inputs, but sees the monitor outputs: ie. the WDM drivers work, but Resolve does not see the inputs.

Apogee Symphony Desktop: Resolve sees no inputs, but sees the monitor outputs: ie. the WDM drivers work, but Resolve does not see the inputs.

Just as a sanity check, on the devices where you say Resolve sees no inputs, go to the Fairlight page, select ADR, then select the ADR Setup tab.

Select a Record track.

Then look in the Record Source dropdown. Nothing there?

With regard to the Apollo Solo, the only device appearing in the Record Source is "Decklink," but we only have a MiniMonitor installed.

I will forward the sanity check to Apogee to see what they find on their system.

What happens if you unselect the Decklink in Preferences (select None for "For capture and playback use" and for "For Resolve Live use", then save the prefs and restart Resolve? Does that allow the Solo to show up in the ADR Record Source list?

Apollo Solo: Record Source: None. (no further options listed)

The Apogee engineer testing Symphony Desktop also reported no sources listed in ADR Setup.

OK, then I'm out of ideas. I'll let it to someone from the dev team to comment.

Thanks Dwayne, I look forward to helping out in whatever way I can.

Dwayne, Kaz at apogee has offered to help: Support@ApogeeDigital.com

Have a look at RME interfaces.
https://www.rme-audio.de/home.html

They've been on our list, too, but it appears this is a bug in Resolve rather than incompatible audio interfaces. Hopefully, BM will get it sorted so each of us can use whichever interface we want.

Just tried my Zoom L12 mixer and Fairlight can't see it. Actually plugging in the L12 kills the laptops own mic inputs. (not that you would use those for anything other than a guide track.)

Though Fairlight does recognize my Focusrite 2i2 (both channels) and Podcaster mic. I will dig out the Zoom F4 tomorrow and try that.

Audacity can see all 12 of the Zoom L12 inputs. It is using Windows WASAPI if that helps.

I too am having a hard time understanding why such a well developed audio suite can't utilize the inputs of my antelope audio zen tour interface via windows USB. This may very well be a deciding factor in if I continue to use davinchi resolve. Use asio. and support 96k 32 bit float.

This problem still exists and is unchanged in Resolve 17.

For what it is worth, we are using an Apogee Symphony Desktop. As their engineers told us, it uses WDM but Resolve still does not see it for input.

Aside from not being able to use it in Resolve, the Symphony Desktop is very impressive.

DaVinci Resolve 17 Public Beta 3 still does not recognize our audio interface.

DaVinci Resolve 17 Public Beta 4 (Windows) does not recognize our WDM audio interface.

Hey Matt, I know it doesn't help your present situation but a Sound Devices MixPre6II here works fine with Fairlight for WDM 2in 2out, no 32bit float of course, that's only available with ASIO but a very high quality solution for VO and ADR. I have a a ESI Moco volume control and A/B between it and the Ultrastudio 4K Mini. I think BMD should harmonise the Audio sub-system across Resolve pages - on the media and edit page the Ultrastudio is still live and in Fairlight only the selected device in preferences.

Hi Steve,

We may have to resort to that sort of setup. It just seems absurd that Resolve cannot see so many good interfaces. Thanks!

DaVinci Resolve 17 Public Beta 5 (Windows) does not recognize our WDM audio interface.

Sorry for jumping in.
I had exactly same problem. I have Apollo Twin USB which I wanted to use in DaVinci Resolve.
I knew Apollo Twin has some WDM compatibility issue. So, I thought it was Universal Audio side issue.
That's why I purchased Apogee Symphony Desktop which should have better WDM support.
(Because I also have Apogee One which works perfectly well on DaVinci Resolve)
Unfortunately, Apogee Symphony Desktop is not working on the latest DaVinci Resolve 17 beta.
No input device is listing.
I'm very disappointed then I found this thread.
But I'm very glad to hear Apogee Symphony Desktop support WDM as official.
I hope Blackmagic resolve this issue ASAP.

Seems to me we have to keep asking BM to fix it. Based on what I have learned from BM, Apogee, and other engineers, the lack of support for these WDM devices appears to simply be a bug. I know they have a lot on their hands with 17, but this seems pretty fundamental.

Dwaine Maggart wrote:OK, then I'm out of ideas. I'll let it to someone from the dev team to comment.

Hi Dwaine, did this get forwarded to the dev team?

I'm 100% agreed with Matt.
I noticed tons of features improvement in 17 especially Fairlight.
But better WDM support is more fundamental.
I hope DR also support ASIO in the future but at least WDM bug need to be fix asap.
I also wonder if this request is correctly delivered to the dev team.

Hey Matt.

I have checked with 3 pro interfaces now, and they all work. I imagine you have, but just to be certain; you have gone into device manager, disabled any onboard audio, then gone to windows audio settings and chosen your interface as the input device? When I connect any of mine (RME Fireface, X32 Mixer or Presonus), the Windows audio device output will default to whatever interface is connected, but I had to initially configure the input device manually. It defaults to 'none'. Once configured, the inputs showed up in DVR.

Hi Bruce, thanks for trying to help out. Our settings are as you described, and the interfaces we tried worked in all the other DAWs and apps we opened, just not Resolve. The engineer from Apogee had the same experience.

At this point, we are using Cubase for all of our audio work. Maybe someday in the future if Fairlight becomes stable and friendly with audio hardware, we will switch.

I figured you would have Matt, but worth a try. Resolve desperately needs asio support. The fairlight page is wasted without it.

I was a product manager of few leading brands in pro audio, and actually Resolve is the only DAW I know (probably the last one) that consequetly refuses to worh with ASIO. BM - it is unrealistic, to think that everyone will buy your audio hardware. Not these days, when pro audio studios have their own systems yet, project studios have their well functioning and good sounding interfaces. Such thinking is totally obsolete.

Please think that out. Go with multichannel ASIO on PC, because this will not cause financial loss, but open for thousands of new users. It is a MUST this days.

By the way: Fairlight is the best sounding DAW I experienced. Very good mixing engine.

It is a pain for me to export tracks and switch to other DAW for mixing.
In my work I used Myteks 8x192 and lately- Antelope 32HD gen.3. I always try to mix in analogue domain when I can, using external summing box / console and analogue processors. Many users have their favouite equipment, too, and they should be able to integrate them into Resolve workflow as external plugins.

All the best, and hope you will stop resisting and take into account the needs of users.
You do fantastic work on so many things. This is the last thing to be completed.

Totally agree with this.

All of the gear in my studio works together - except Resolve, and only because of the audio.

My hope is that BM intends to have Resolve capable of working how we want to use it, with the gear we prefer to use or already own, and that this issue is just a remnant of Fairlight being integrated in.

DaVinci Resolve 17 Public Beta 9 (Windows) does not recognize inputs from our WDM audio interface: Apogee Symphony Desktop. As mentioned previously, Apogee engineers are available to correspond with BM about this.

The Patch panel has no inputs available, nor does the ADR Setup.

This post is really disheartening. I REALLY am trying to love Resolve, and have abandoned Adobe (haven't moved past CS6), but it isn't easy. I used the free version to learn, but after running into a need that wasn't included, I purchased Studio and a Speed Editor. It was worth the money, I thought.

I was fine until I upgraded to DR 17, which would no longer run on Win 7, so I was forced to do an unnecessary (for me) upgrade just to run DR, but I've also just discovered that BMD thinks it's OK to not support ASIO. It turns out DR doesn't really support WDM either.

Although I successfully created a complete 5.1 movie soundtrack in Audition CS6 (ca. 2012) four years ago on Win 7, my brand new 2021 DR 17 on Win 10 won't recognize any more than two output channels at a time from my MOTU Ultralite mk3 Hybrid Audio device (which supports ASIO and WDM out of the box). So, I guess that impressive Fairlight Audio System is really just a Stereo mixer (unless you buy BMD's $50,000 console - which I won't). Perhaps I'm not a customer BMD wants.

Suddenly, that $99/per-year-for-everything-Adobe-makes isn't sounding too bad. Here's hoping BMD fixes WDM and adds ASIO support. They should have the time now that 17 is out. All the new features in the world mean little if you can't use them. In the mean time, I'll waste more time Googling in search of a solution.

It is disheartening.

It appears that Resolve has an issue with multitrack WDM devices, but we have not heard anything from BM engineers about it.

Our solution is to do all of our audio in a separate DAW, but even then Resolve 17 is unreliable. There are strange audio problems even if we don't touch Fairlight. Just yesterday we were editing a very minimal project with a single wav file, and intermittently heard a subframe "echo" that is not in the track. There is a clear drum beat that was doubled, but only intermittently.

Well, that's disturbing... I hope they don't lose their focus on stability like Adobe did with CC. What a frickin' nightmare that is. Every release is just a batch of new bugs to waste time "working around". You have to hand it to these guys though. Resolve has come a LONG way since v12.

Have you logged this issue with support directly? This is a user-to-user forum and I don't know how much time they spend reading it. I just logged one with them on my particular issue, so we'll see where that goes.

We already spent too much time trying to get support on these audio issues, with no results.

Sadly, we just have to find other ways to get jobs done.

Matt White wrote:We already spent too much time trying to get support on these audio issues, with no results.

Sadly, we just have to find other ways to get jobs done.

Sorry to hear that, Matt. I'll have to keep this in mind when considering future needs. Support and responsiveness to customers are important. Right now I'm only $295 invested (including my free Speed Editor), although I've been considering the Keyboard and one of the smaller panels. Perhaps I'll just wait on those, especially if I'm forced to replace my functional audio interface for one that will (hopefully) work with DR because BMD chooses not to support ASIO.

GrizzlyAK wrote:Suddenly, that $99/per-year-for-everything-Adobe-makes isn't sounding too bad.

Wow! It's AUD$871 (about US$669) per year in Australia.

Mike Warren wrote:Wow! It's AUD$871 (about US$669) per year in Australia.

Sorry! I was wrong. I never really bothered looking at the price, since it was never something I considered. I just looked. It's $52.99/mo in the US, or $599.88/yr. Just after CC came out, I upgraded to the Master Collection CS6, which is what I still use - until I find replacements.

The thing about subscription plans is that once you commit, you are pretty much committing to paying it forever if you ever want to access/modify your projects ever again - or start over. It's great for companies, since they have a predictable income stream with which to plan and spend on development. Shareholders love it too. It's too bad Adobe lost its drive for innovation with the advent of CC. Comparing DR V12 to V17 to CC during that same time, and the difference in innovation is clear. Adobe got lazy with that comfortable flow of cash. That's why I'll always opt for perpetual license choices.

I hope things are well with you down under. Cheers from Alaska.

17.1 does not see inputs from our WDM audio interface.

Matt White wrote:17.1 does not see inputs from our WDM audio interface.

Matt, please see my last post here https://forum.blackmagicdesign.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=87082&p=736457#p736457. It may help. I have been able to get 5.1 out of Resolve 17 to my MOTU Ultralite mk3 Hybrid using a third party interface/driver called VoiceMeeter. It turns out that it is well known in gaming/discord/streaming circles for managing audio among many different devices/apps. I was able to get latency down to acceptable levels so that sync was as good as going directly from Resolve to a stereo pair output via Windows (by testing with Stereo). Visually, sync is the same for a 5.1 DCP I produced as well.

I posited the question as to what prosumer interface BMD could recommend for Resolve on Windows for 5.1/7.1 sound output and received the following response (after getting thoroughly admonished for suggesting that BMD doesn't think ASIO is important enough to include support for it):

But indeed, as mentioned, currently there is no ASIO support in Resolve.

At this time the only reliable way of achieving 6 or 8 channel output from Resolve is to use either a Decklink or UltraStudio IO hardware (HDMI or SDI output will carry 8 or 16 channels of LPCM audio assignable) feeding a compatible AV receiver (like consumer or pro models of Denon, for example) or an HDMI or SDI audio de-embedder. Please note that this would be not a Dolby encoded signal.

A less budget-friendly option would be using a Blackmagic Design Audio Accelerator card in conjunction with a MADI Audio Interface (third party or Blackmagic Design)

Clearly, by giving away their SW, BMD expects to make their return on their HW. I get that. If they make it too easy for prosumers to use their existing $200 USB audio interface for sound, that's not a good business model. As you said in your first post, it is contradictory to include Fairlight features in free SW only to require expensive HW to make it work. Perhaps these are all things BMD is still trying to iron out after the MASSIVE additions that have come since DR 12. We can hope so. But then, we "prosumers" should beware of the affliction that IMO is sinking Adobe's products: too focused on dumbing things down to the lowest common denominator so that it is unfit for pros. Hopefully our friends down under can find that happy balance and keep MOST of us happy.

In the meantime, I'm having a ball in Studio with my new Speed Editor. Quality kit! Cheers.

I saw that post and tried it. I was able to get sound out but not in to Resolve. VoiceMeeter had an error trying to acquire the audio from the Apogee Symphony Desktop, so I am following up on that. I am not expecting much to come of it.

Even if it works, it sure seems like a nutty solution: free software to make $1000's of dollars of gear send one mono signal into Resolve.

Ah, Input. Sorry, I missed that part. Looking at DR's preferences, it looks like it's either their HW or MADI. I don't think VM will work with that without some additional HW, which isn't cheap, assuming you had recording gear that connected to it. Several Google searches don't turn up any obvious options for a tool similar to VM that would take an ASIO input from your external interface and present it as MADI to DR (if that's even a thing). I've been more concerned about output. I've typically used Adobe's Audition for my audio to date, as their recording functionality is superb (and easy to connect), and the Waveform Editor is undeniably a necessity for any serious detailed sound work. ASIO sure would be nice, wouldn't it? Good luck.

We love the Apogee Symphony Desktop, but since Resolve doesnt see it we purchased and tested the Black Lion Revolution 2x2 audio interface. Looks like a great interface, perfect for our needs.

We got it unpacked and installed, and to our dismay found that it only uses ASIO and not WDM. It appears that the manufacturer — being a boutique audio outfit — assumes that everything on Windows works with ASIO, so they don't mention that anywhere in the product listings or on their website. We wrote to them to explain that Resolve does not use ASIO and requires WDM. Their response:

That is INSANE.

Yep.