asio 2 problems?

[armageddon2k]

I've been recording on my computer for some time now, and last week I bought an ASIO 2.0 card (Terratec DMX 6Fire 24/96), which isn't a very proffesional card, but I needed the MIDI and the ASIO 2.0. I never worked with ASIO before, but when I set it up in Cubase SX 1.06 everything seems to work and recording goes fine. But whenever I try to run an mp3 in WinAmp while Cubase is running I get an DirectSound error saying I don't have a soundcard installed. Is it even possible to use your soundcard for other stuff when Cubase is open with ASIO?

And another problem: I used to make basic MIDI-tracks in Cubase for simple backgroundmusic when I'm recording my guitar, played with Microsoft Midi Mapper (just for temporary background sound), but with ASIO 2.0 enabled there's no way I'm getting sound from Microsoft Midi Mapper or Microsoft GS Wavetable.

I'm pretty new to ASIO 2.0, so I guess I'm missing some things here.
I have WinXP by the way.

[SecondSkin]

Sorry no one has responded sooner...but I don't think there are any easy answers for you.

First of all, terratec's drivers are not multi-client capable, meaning they can only accept audio from one source application at a time (ie either cubase or winamp, not both).

You can't use the asio drivers with the Microsoft GS wavetable either, because asio drivers are specifically designed to bypass the mme driver model for faster response and lower latency. In other words, to get the low latency necessary to play software synths live, asio got rid of microsofts driver obesity.

What you now need is a source of sounds to play in Cubase, playable vst instruments that you can hear through your asio drivers. On good free instrument would be the sfz soundfont player from rgc audio. Download some free soundfonts to play in sfz:here and you will sound much better than that microsoft crap.