What is Core Audio? What is ASIO?

Core Audio is a low-level programming interface that deals with audio in Apple computers and devices. Core Audio drivers are high-performance and low-latency, which makes them perfect to work with if you’re a professional music producer or audio engineer.

Contrary to Apple devices, Windows PCs have different built-in audio drivers, such as MME, WASAPI, and WDM. But if you’re aiming to work on recording and music production, the equivalent for Windows to Apple’s Core Audio is ASIO. 

Short for Audio Stream Input/Output, ASIO is a Windows-specific technology developed by Steinberg. It works by bypassing Windows Audio and allows the computer to communicate directly with external hardware devices, like audio interfaces. ASIO provides minimum latency because of this direct line of communication between hardware and software. 

Normally, if you buy a soundcard, you’ll get a supported ASIO driver that you’ll need to install on your computer. But in case you don’t have an external audio interface but still want the advantages ASIO provides, you can use a third-party application called ASIO4ALL.

ASIO4ALL is a free universal audio driver for Windows systems that allows you to connect your PC’s audio interface directly to your DAW. It basically does the same as ASIO, in the sense that it bypasses Windows Audio to create a direct line of communication between your computer’s built-in soundcard and your music production software.

You can download ASIO4ALL here.