Important Hints for Clara E driver version 4.54 for Windows™

1. System Requirements
2. Installation
3. Uninstallation
4. What's new?
5. Samplerate Considerations

1. System Requirements

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

2. Installation

Unpack the driver package for Windows 10/11 "mabs_w10_4540.zip" with the contained subdirectories into any folder.
Run the installation program "setup.exe" in the installation directory and follow the instructions and recommendations of the installation program.

Clara E/Emin only: If the firmware of your hardware is not compatible with the current driver, you will receive a corresponding message after installation. Perform the firmware update via Audinate's Firmware Updater as described in "Firmware-Update-Clara-E-xxxxxx_EN.pdf".

All products except Clara E/Emin: If the firmware of the card needs to be updated, you will receive a corresponding message. Then carry out the update and ensure that this process is not interrupted.

Immediately after installation, Windows performs extensive audio tests with each individual audio device/channel pair of the audio interface. During this time, Windows blocks most audio functions. We therefore recommend that you only use the audio interface and all associated software once these tests have been completed. This may take 1-2 minutes. You can track the progress of these tests in the driver settings | WDM Audio. This process only takes place once directly after installing the driver or once after you have selected the audio device in the driver settings | WDM Audio to assign a new sample format to the audio devices.

3. Uninstallation

Uninstalling the driver software is not normally necessary as the driver software installation program automatically uninstalls other driver versions. If uninstallation is nevertheless necessary, run the installation program "setup.exe" in the installation directory of the driver software. Under "Details | Options" activate the option "Only remove the driver software" and start the uninstallation process with "Proceed".

4. What's new?

Version 4.54:

ASIO: improved startup time
ASIO: When an application does not determines a samplerate, the current one is used for this application. Solves some samplerate isses with certain applications.
Silence is streamed to the outputs in some additional situations. This avoids "beeps" at the outputs, if such situations occur.

Version 4.53:

New: supports "Clara Emin"
ASIO engine optimized to handle 32-Sample-ASIO buffers @48 kHz with 128 I/O channels. That equals to a latency of 666µs. Stable with high-end, optimized Windows systems.
ASIO Setup Dialog can be opened just once.

Version 4.43:

Support for firmware revision 7 ("clara_e_rev07_build04221902.dnt") which comes with a highly optimized DMA machine with great latency and stability effects to ASIO.

Version 4.42:

Support for firmware revision 6 which comes with an optimized DMA machine.

Version 4.41:

The driver package comes with firmware version Rev 5.
Fixed issues:
- Dante Core doesn't start at some systems.
- Unable to activate redundancy at secondary port.
GUI: New firmware page in driver settings. Follow the steps described there to install the new firmware..
Settings | WDM Audio: number of maximum Windows Wave Devices increased to 256 stereo inputs and 256 stereo outputs.
Attention: Windows is quite busy during registration/deregistration of such an amount of Wave Devices. And also with changes of the sample format. Please wait with the start of any audio application until the WDM Audio Page of Driver Settings signals, that all changes are commited to the Windows Audio System. Alternativly you may restart Windows after you made huge changes at the Wdm Audio Configuraton. Your changes are processed during the next start of Windows. Also this takes some time and may lead in a delayed start of the Windows Audio Service. Stay patient ...
Settings | Performance | DMA Buffersize: the red area to be avoided is now outside 0.5-50ms.
Settings | Performance | DMA Buffersize: the maximum value can now be changed. This makes it easier to set buffer sizes in the lower range.
Settings | WDM Audio: After making changes to the settings, the settings page waits until your changes have reached the Windows audio system. Further changes are only possible afterwards. Depending on the number of Windows Wave Devices used, this process can take up to several minutes.
ASIO: Stopping/discarding an ASIO instance by an ASIO application is now synchronized with the execution of the ASIO processing of the ASIO application. This prevents a possible crash of some ASIO applications.
Kernel WDM Audio: Optimizations for Windows Wave Devices registration/unregistration.
The driver package and its installation now follows Microsoft's Driver Encapsulation Policy. The driver package now consists of two parts. The base package and the software component package. The base package provides only the audio functionality (ASIO, WDM audio). The software component package provides all other part (service, manager application, firmware, documentations).
This does not change the installation process.
In the Windows Device Manager you will also find the entry "MARIAN Clara E Control Software" under "Software Components". This stands for the components of the software component package.
If, for example, you only want to install the basic package for server installations, please contact support@marian.de, who will provide you with the basic package.
The driver package files are installed by Windows in the following locations:
Base package: \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\mabase.inf_[amd64|x86]_xxxxxxxxxxxx
Software package: \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\mabase_comp.inf_[amd64|x86]_xxxxxxxxxxxx

Version 4.39:

First official release for Clara E - the PCIe Audio Interface for Dante™ Networks.

5. 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!