Seeking help to avoid mistake in buying USB Audio Interface as a first timer

[BBFG#]

I was ready to buy the Steinberg UR and then unexpectedly had ours lives disrupted by fire evacuations. Not to worry, fire line was held five streets south of us. Anyway, I've since had to do some other updates as well, one being the Yamaha driver. And after some frustrating trials found that because it's not digitally signed, Windows 7&10 will not allow it and deletes it immediately after each install/reboot.

So while looking for ways to permanently grant permission for this driver, I've run across many owners complaining they have the very same problem with the Steinberg UR drivers.
The current solution is no solution at all IMO, which is, to disable the signed driver in Windows and install it, EVERYTIME YOU BOOT! And BTW, it still shows as an error in Device Manager.

Wonder why Yamaha/Steinberg is choosing to ignore this...
But it has me completely rethinking this now.

Yeah, drivers!

[chk071]

I have a UR12 and a UR22, and i had the situation one time after the last major update to Windows 10 that i had to re-install the Yamaha USB driver. Works perfectly now.

Just wondering, do you have some kind of securitiy suite software installed, some anti-spyware tool, or similar tuning, or system intrusive tools?

[BBFG#]

I have a UR12 and a UR22, and i had the situation one time after the last major update to Windows 10 that i had to re-install the Yamaha USB driver. Works perfectly now.

Just wondering, do you have some kind of securitiy suite software installed, some anti-spyware tool, or similar tuning, or system intrusive tools?

No. Just Windows. And everything I read on MS support pages states that's the way they designed it and the only solution is to ask [Yamaha/Steinberg] for a digitally signed driver.

[sprnva]

That's crazy. I would have expected it to be signed as that's always been a requirement of 64-bit Windows.

Is there any chance you're trying to install an old version? The current one seems to be V1.10.1.

[BBFG#]

That's crazy. I would have expected it to be signed as that's always been a requirement of 64-bit Windows.

Is there any chance you're trying to install an old version? The current one seems to be V1.10.1.

That's the one! V1.10.1

And it's the same on both systems;
Win7 & Win 10

[sprnva]

That a major (or even minor) company is releasing unsigned Windows drivers in 2018 is just boggling my mind right now.

I wonder if there was some mistake with the latest ones. The previous 1.10.0 ones are here if you feel like trying them out.

[UltimateOutsider]

That a major (or even minor) company is releasing unsigned Windows drivers in 2018 is just boggling my mind right now.

I wonder if there was some mistake with the latest ones. The previous 1.10.0 ones are here if you feel like trying them out.

So, I just downloaded the 1.10.1 driver from here and installed.

The Windows 10 driver (yusb_w10_64.sys) is definitely signed:


@BBFG: Are you running 64-bit Windows 10? (I ask because Win 7 doesn't support SHA256 signatures without a hotfix) Also, you said you were considering buying a UR interface... did you actually buy it? (Or was there another device you already own that also uses the Yamaha driver?)

[BBFG#]

Now I'm really confused. Running 64 bit on both systems. Haven't bought the interface yet after reading It was a problem happening to many across the different forums.

But installing it as recommended for my Montage. And so far, because of this, it won't recognize the Montage.

"Boggle the mind" is an understatement here. More like frustrating as fffk.

By any chance, do you have the hotfix numbers so I check for them?

[sjm]

Not sure if the OP has already made a decision, but I didn't see this mentioned here...

You probably don't need to restrict yourself to an interface with MIDI, as the vast majority of modern HW synths have a USB connection that handles MIDI. And you can pick up a second hand MIDI interface for lunch money. I would worry more about having enough audio inputs to have everything (mic, synths etc.) connected at once.

I have no idea if that makes any difference in the grand scheme of things, just thought it might be worth considering.

[ghettosynth]

Not sure if the OP has already made a decision, but I didn't see this mentioned here...

You probably don't need to restrict yourself to an interface with MIDI, as the vast majority of modern HW synths have a USB connection that handles MIDI. And you can pick up a second hand MIDI interface for lunch money. I would worry more about having enough audio inputs to have everything (mic, synths etc.) connected at once.

I have no idea if that makes any difference in the grand scheme of things, just thought it might be worth considering.

This depends quite a bit on use cases though. I have found that the first interface that I purchased gets a lot of use as a two channel portable interface and having that midi port has become a big deal for me. I'm into vintage synths though, so whatever works.

What I don't want when I'm taking my interface portable, is to take two boxes and two usb cables. YMMV and all that.

I also think that it doesn't matter how many inputs you get on your first interface because you will most likely outgrow it anyway.

[Dee.P.Tree]

Not sure if the OP has already made a decision, but I didn't see this mentioned here...

I have not yet decided. I am not in hurry because I have neither any ongoing project nor hardware synth yet. The ongoing discussion helps me decide a correct one. May be a Steinberg UR 22 mkii... a balance between features and cost.

I got your point about USB midi on almost all hardware now a days. The benefit I may get is one saved usb port, at least.

And... As we go for higher inputs and outputs number, mostly all USB interfaces have at least one MIDI i/o jacks. So, asking for it may not be a very stringent requirement.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Regards,
Dee

[Dee.P.Tree]

Hey everyone, sorry to jump in, I'm also looking for an audio interface to be bus powered, good latency, input/daw balance knob and have separate control for headphones. I was thinking on Steinberg UR22 MKII. Also Audient ID4 got my attention, it's a little bit more expensive, but I've heard that UR22 has better drivers. Zoom U-24 is quite expensive around here, it's more expensive than Audient ID4, which doesn't make it a good deal. Another choice would be Focusrite 2i2 or PreSonus AudioBox USB96/iTwo. For now I'm leaning towards the UR22 MKII but I wanted your opinion on this.

LE: I've picked Steinberg UR22 MkII. Drivers seems to be really stable and they go really low on the latency side. I'm quite pleased with my choice for now, we'll see in time how good it is.

Hi... Congratulations...

Keep us updated with your experience vs expectations at your convenience.

[UltimateOutsider]

By any chance, do you have the hotfix numbers so I check for them?

Okay, I looked into this more just now and if you are running Windows 7 and you have been keeping up with your updates it looks like you should be covered for the new signature types. Here's the most recent KB article I could find: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/securi ... 15/3033929

That supercedes the original articles where you had to download a hotfix to get the SHA256 support (this is included as part of the new SHA-2 package that Win8/Win10 already used and should now be part of a fully-updated Win 7 system).

[BONES]

What I don't want when I'm taking my interface portable, is to take two boxes and two usb cables. YMMV and all that.

If that is important, why take an I/O with you at all? Just use ASIO-4-All. Nothing is more portable than that.

I also think that it doesn't matter how many inputs you get on your first interface because you will most likely outgrow it anyway.

As you said, it depends. I've had close to a dozen I/O devices over the last 15 years or so and the first one I bought, an Edirol UA-20, is still my bandmate's main interface. Our needs in that department really haven't changed much over all those years, we still just need to get sound out of our PC and occasionally record my voice into it. We've never sequenced any of our hardware, it is all there purely for us to play live on stage. We always talk about including hardware in our next album but we always find that there is absolutely no reason to do so, because mostly our softsynths sound way better. Seriously, what hardware synth can compete with DUNE's ability to play hundreds of oscillators simultaneously?

[ghettosynth]

What I don't want when I'm taking my interface portable, is to take two boxes and two usb cables. YMMV and all that.

If that is important, why take an I/O with you at all? Just use ASIO-4-All. Nothing is more portable than that.

If I'm just using a laptop that's fine, but that's not the use cases that I'm talking about. I often need proper connections, e.g., 1/4" or even an XLR mic input.

I often find uses for a two channel interface with midi connectors. Just going over to friends house to jam or write together is enough. I use mine all the time. Just optimizing portability isn't a solution, having that nice balance of portability, proper interfacing, and the minimum of standard connectors is what I'm talking about.

I'm not sure why anyone would argue otherwise other than to be contrarian. Most basic interfaces have midi connectors. I'm just saying don't compromise on that because you might find it handy, as I have, regularly.