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[cborod]

I'll approach this from a different direction.

I originally purchased an M-audio Firewire 410 to produce multi-zone audio from MC with MainLobby.

Since it does not appear to be a supported solution, I am now seeking what JRiver suggests as a supported/recommended multi-zone audio solution.

I understand there are some users who have accomplished this and I appreciate your input including experiences good and bad.

I will also be most interested and appreciative in receiving an official JRiver response!

Thanks in advance for your response and assistance.

[JimH]

Try searching for user Mastiff's posts here.  You'll find him in on most mult-zone discussions.  There is a link to his site in the FAQ on this board.

[cborod]

Thank you for the reply.

I had/have already visited Mastiff's site and found it to be somewhat lacking with respect to what I am seeking.  I've also found most posts regarding either the m-audio products or multi-zone do not include his input.  I had searched the forum quite extensively before starting down this path of bothering you.

Does he speak for JRiver?

From you response, I am guessing there is no officially supported sanctioned or guided multi-zone audio for Media Center. 

It's rather unfortunate because it is a rather robust product, interfaces nicely with the MainLobby product for a consistent look and feel, extends nicely with NetRemote (thanks to the MC posters who nudged me that direction)

Perhaps it is a version thing?  Was there a previous version of MC that did multi-zone audio?  MC 11 definitely does multiple playlists.....and that's fine.....just looking for that last piece of the puzzle.

Is there development toward a future version that has solved this riddle?

Sorry for starting from an adversarial point but after spending the $$ and lots of time I am rather frustrated.

but not giving up

[JimH]

Have you read the many threads on this subject?  Please try a search.

Did you check MC's Help?  Search for "zone".

MC11.1 currently supports multi-zone.  You could set up as many zones as you have sound cards.  If the sound card works with MC, you can use it for a zone.  You can set it up under Player/Playback Options/Zone Manager.

Mastiff speaks for himself, not for JRiver, but he may be the most advanced user of zones that we have.  He knows a lot more about zones than I do. 

[cborod]

I have the multiple playlists working (zones configured)
I can switch between them.
I can see them individually in both MC and Music Lobby

That part works fine.

My challenge is that the audio from zone 1 and 2 and 3 and so on all ends up playing back on the outputs configured for zone 1.  The outputs for zone 2 and 3 are silent. 

There appears to be a parsing error or such in the way MC handles the audio from the windows XP workstation to the M-audio Firewire 410.

It sees each individual channel of the m-audio card
It sees the ASIO breakout a wave breakout and a direct sound breakout.....

just three streams on one zone's output......

[gappie]

how many zones do you want? i use a rme fireface and it is no problem to configure three zones with each zone its own output. also when using asio only on each zone.
just to be sure, you did set the output mode settings for each zone different? so in case you use asio as outputmode for each channel, the channel ofset for each zone should be different.

gab

[Mastiff]

ASIO isn't my strong point, unfortunately. What I do know is that some external multi channel sound cards can be a pain in the ass. I have no idea what's happening inside of them, I only know that internal cards are easier. If you want to do it the easy way, get yourself a couple of Audigy or SB Live! 5.1 and use the kX Drivers. Or use different cards (I have one computer with one SB Live 5.1!, one audigy, one cheap ass USB sound dongle (only one channel, mind you), one C-Media based card and one VIA Envy based card. They play very nice together.

But I would guess that you're more of a hifi freak than me (I use VBR ripped MP3, I assume you use APE or similar lossless format, right? If not I don't think ASIO playback matters much, and you will need a very high quality system to hear any difference - my $ 10 000 home theater system (Onkyo/Mirage) isn't able to discern them, but I do hear the difference when I get anything below 192 kbps), and then those cards doesn't have high enough sound quality. In that case I would rather go for something like an internal M-Audio.

[gappie]

i can not speak for mr cborod, but altough i rip in ape, im far from a hifi freak. most music goes through my 25 year old cheapass sony amp and noname speakers. 
but i can hear diffrences using cans.

i use the fireface for recording, and in the second place for listening to music from others. and i do feel a bit comfortable with asio. so after reading the initial post i wandered what was the problem so i set up three zones one to my stereo, one to my studiomonitors and one to my cans using asio only. worked in 5 minutes. sonical chaos here though.

not to discuss your solution, mr mastiff. im sure that that works great. but to see if it could work with something that looks a bit like the maudio firewire card.

[Mastiff]

Sure, no problem with that. It's just a route I haven't taken. What I meant was that I was unable to hear the difference between ASIO and direct sound when using anything below 192 KBPS. I do hear the difference between the original CD, APE and Lame VBR Extreme, but it's not big enough to warrant close to ten times the extra space. I am a casual listener, not an active listener. Most of my listening actually takes plase in the office (a pair of Magnat monitor speakers that I also use in my work since they have a voice rendering second to very few in their price class (800 dollars, give or take) with an added sub. And another big part of my listening takes place in the car (with a rather sophisticated carputer - three discrete zones of video, navigation ++). And when I use the home theater (Cinema Inferno) it's to watch movies, not listen to music.

[cborod]

Thanks all for the input and suggestions.

No I am not a "purist", but 30 years in broadcasting and 20 in computing does have me choosing "better" than "average" for my listening opportunities.

The idea behind the m-audio unit is excellent quality, multi output (including digital) and a straightforward setup I can leverage as 5.1 for my office and an occasional mixdown.

Guess this venture is no different from others I have taken, definitely not the easy way.

I have configured the ASIO with different offsets (no success).
I have now downloaded the ASIO4all to see if it can bridge between MC and the m-audio unit.....

results as I get them

[gappie]

mmm. i hope it works. i always understood that asio4all is used by people using cards without asio drivers but with wdm drivers, and they want/need asio drivers badly. or by people who want to combine hardware with different asio drivers. the latest not often with succes. but i could be wrong and both scenarios dont append on you. i still wonder why the maudio asio drivers wont work. they are not to bad as far as i heard.

so please keep us updated.

[cborod]

clarification:

The drivers "appear" to work.

I see each set of outputs in windows and MC as well.

I can map the zones to the respective outputs.

I can "switch back and forth"

I just get audio on outputs 1/2 and no audio on any other output.

btw.....when I use pro tools on the same computer I can direct any input to any output just fine.  That leads me to believe the drivers do work....just not with MC.