Hi Ramses

That was a quick response, thank you!
In addition it seems to be simple , so let me please recap and support with my own configuration. Thank you also for the provided "Routing Primer" link ... tried to follow as closely as I could, and updated my initial configuration with another "ADAT 9+10" device for the hardware phones output, as described. My current setup described below (still no PC speaker / monitor sound, yet, that is ).

How can I provide pictures?
Unfortunately, I would not know how to upload pictures without hosting them (I see the  tags, but these only work in conjunction with a supplied URL, that image hoster that I do not have on hand). Pictures would indeed explain my setup much better.

I see the differentiation between ASIO / non-ASIO aware applications.
Audacity, indeed, was meant as a simple initial test, I do intend to use Reaper DAW with the card. This DAW should be ASIO-aware, but also same result there, no sound through the assigned PC speaker monitors ... but let's stick with audacity for a moment ...

OS audio device configuration (playback):
I have defined the "default playback device" in my Win7 (64bit) system -  the onboard Realtek soundcard (driver 6.0.1.70.40, using DirectX 11.0). This device is shown as a speaker symbol in the OS mixer (systray, right click on the speaker symbol, "playback devices" --> a device info window opens, where all playback devices are listed). Currently I have 5 devices listed there - all of these have speaker symbols (the new addition, following the "Routing Primer" link, is "ADAT 9/10 (WDM speakers)"):
- "Speakers": Realtek High Definition Audio (default device --> green checkmark visible in the speaker symbol)
- "ADAT 1+2": RME HDSP9652
- "ADAT 3+4": RME HDSP9652
- "ADAT 5+6": RME HDSP9652
- "ADAT 9+10 (WDM speakers)": RME HDSP9652
The quoted names  are just that, they can be changed to anything. I used TotalMix to identify them, and to label them accordingly. Initially, they were called something like "Speakers HDSP9652", without knowing which is which. So I gave them their names "ADAT 1+2", etc.

OS audio device configuration (recording):
In the same OS mixer dialog, one can select "Recording devices" (systray, right click on the speaker symbol, "recording devices"). I went ahead and configured them there. All of the are now being "listened to", and playback is routed to the "default device" (which is the Realtek HD Audio, as described before). I also made sure, according to the instructions, that none of the RME devices are standard devices (neither for recording, nor for communication). I also made sure that the "use exclusively" checkmark is NOT checked. Actually, this setting does not (yet) seem to make a difference, in my little testbed setup ... .

In audacity:
I now can see a dropdown list of these four selectable audio devices. Playback of the mp3 file into the "default device" works just fine, PC speakers jump off the table ... . All the other 3 RME devices, selected for "playback" in audacity ... well ... no sound out of the PC speakers. They obviously survived the jumping, but they do not seem to get any RME signals ... .

In TotalMix:
When selecting any of the RME playback devices (ADAT 1+2, ADAT 3+4, ADAT 5+6, ADAT 9+10 [WDM speakers]) , I can see signals coming in, and this is confirmed by TotalMix metering, and via DigiCheck. However, no sound out of PC speakers, as described in the paragraph above.

RME HDSP configuration utility:
As you might have guessed, as a prerequisite to all of this, in the "Hammerfall DSP settings", I have configured the following
- Buffer size: starting from 64, ..., 1024 (no difference at this point, but will later, when I might have sound )
- WDM devices, hit "configure" and had selected (checkmarked) three audio devices (out of 26 available, I guess). In the "Speaker" tab of this RME configuration dialog, I checkmarked them all as "speakers". Hence they show up with their speaker symbol in the all above OS mixer dialog. If unchecked there, these devices show up as a symbolized tape deck, or similar, but not as that speaker symbol ... .

So, in conclusion, I might already pretty much have the settings you have described. I just added the hardware speaker output "ADAT 9+10 WDM". Apart from that, all is the same as described in my opening post. No sound there, yet .  Any suggestions what to change?

I'd also like to attach images, really.
Again, thanks a bunch for your effort and time, figuring this out with me

Regards,
RavenHeart

Why are you using the HDSP 9652? This card will not directly connect to your PC speakers, much less through the outputs used by your Realtek device. The card requires external DA conversion.... Why did you choose it in the first place?

If you want to use the speakers for playback, use the Realtek device. There is no point trying to go through the HDSP 9652 here.

Going through external DA conversion and back into the internal card's input also makes no sense, really. Get an external converter and some (active) speakers to connect to it directly.

Regards
Daniel Fuchs
RME

Hello there,

thanks for these many replies, and clarification questions (while I have been busy to set up my file hosting service - DB has removed their public folders in 2016/18, I believe, so it was about time to move on - Ramses' reply just nudged me there, thanks for the wake-up call )

Here's the image folder with some pictures, including my HDSP settings. Cannot share images as my pCloud seems to not keep the ".png" ending: https://my.pcloud.com/publink/show?code … o8JRCCHUIk.

Current folder inventory:
(1) The first image is a snippet from RME's HDSP9652 installation instructions
(2/3) 2 images using the audacity setup (no sound on PC speakers with that indicated settings)
(4) finally, going directly out of Reaper into the Realtek onboard soundcard (which is totally working, but skipping TotalMix now)

Following Daniel's suggestion, I would now have sound finally available on PC speakers, but I would be skipping the HDSP card, thereby losing the much desired TotalMix submix functionality. So indeed, it seems that I'll have to go the DA route, adding some external AD/DA preamp hardware behind the HDSP 9652 card.

@Daniel: Why the HDSP 9652 card? That's a longer story .
Basically, I intend to avoid a bunch of wild cables flying around on the floor, or even a thick heavy multicore cable, just for routing 8 analog channels + 8 MIDI channels from one side of the room to the other. Now I use "ADAT + MIDI over ethernet", which means one convenient Cat-6 cable pinned into the corners, instead of that bulky, heavy multicore, in my room. I have seen a similar setup at a distant friend's house, and I had a lucky strike with the RME HDSP 9652 card, so that's all of that, in a nutshell.

So, the HDSP9652 will serve multi-purpose in my setup:
- as an ADAT receiver from my "ADAT + MIDI over Cat-6"
- as a proper audio interface (intending to replace my previously used Steinberg - mint condition, anyone in need of one )?
- as a totally awesome, 0-latency, non-CPU-loading, space-saving, super flexible mixing desk (just beginning to grasp TotalMix here, really)

Based on both your feedback, and backed by the results using my intended DAW solution (the 4th picture in the folder), I honestly do think about adding another multiport ADAT device behind the HDSP 9652 card, some sort of AD/DA converter with additional analog/digital inputs.
This for either setting up a proper monitoring (as I would agree, PC speakers are merely a joke for this task), and as another analog input source, from yet another corner in that room - seems like I am surrounded by a few Keyboards, which I would condsider a good thing, actually . Now, I am new to the HDSP9652 card, and hence really do like to explore what is possible and what is not.

Thanks a lot, Daniel / Ramses, for your patiently shared knowledge. Kudos!

Regards,
RavenHeart

Hi Ramses,

first and foremost, many thanks for your quick and concise reply, your support is very much appreciated!

My apologies for seemingly not being active over the weekend ... I was thinking about your (very well made point here), that one should try to make things work in the final desired application environment (which will be the Reaper DAW), not only and just in the temporary testbed (which I have chosen audacity for, mainly to get a feel for the system settings overall).

With your feedback I went ahead and did a quick feasibility check, based on all the input and based on current hardware that I had at hand ... so I got myself a few cables:

- 1x ADAT lightpipe (for setting up a digital return path)
- 2x balanced XLR-out to 1/4" TSR-in (for connecting a speaker/monitoring setup, and/or some headphones)

My plan was to receive a DA-converted signal from the already existing preamp module (a Behringer ADA8200 in my case). I used channels 7/8 for the digital (ADAT) signal return path (HDSP --> preamp). The available analog signal should appear on the preamp's rear XLR output.
And what should I say, lo and behold, after all was connected, and after cutting back on the earlier definition of some unnecessary WDM devices (thanks for your notification with that - now I only have one WDM output left, which I may or may not use in the future, don't know yet), I actually was surprised how well everything worked! Everything was simply working flawlessly, really quite impressive!

I even was able to create two different submixes - different mixes for speakers/monitors, and for the headphones. TotalMix seems to be a blast, and I merely am just starting to grasp RME's concept at this point ... with every output potentially being addressed from any input ... how insane is that, how versatile, how cool? I am fully taken afloat by such genius concept. Simply great!

In terms of "what would have been a better choice?", based on my current knowledge, I would not yet be able to provide a conclusive answer. I am just quite happy now that everything seems to work fine. Which is thanks to your support here on the forum!

To your second question (ADAT/MIDI over ethernet). Unfortunately, that functionality is not available, to my current knowledge, on the market yet. I do however realize a fundamental mistake in one of my previous posts - I meant achieving 8x stereo digital audio (ADAT) channels and 1x digital MIDI channel (= 8x MIDI sub channels), send and return, over the same Cat-6 cable. Hope this clarifies a little?

In terms of "how many channels do you require?" I would rather want to reply a diplomatic answer.
Once you find out that you run out of available channels, things tend to get awkward - your intended workflow is suddenly impaired, and eventually, you might end up changing hardware. This situation I'd like to avoid, even in a hobbyist kind of situation. I change my interface card now, and don't intend to switch over any time soon in the future, provided that everything is of good build quality and does have an active support - hence my choice of RME equipment in the first place.

In summary, thanks again for your thoughtful and humble advice, and your patient explanations.
Very much appreciated!

Kind regards, RavenHeart