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USB audio interfaces and Virtual Machines

harmand

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I hope this is the right place where to post my question.

I'd like to know whether it is actually possible to use an USB audio interface as main audio device inside a Windows virtual machine (VirtualBox), so to set up an entire... musical environment inside a dedicated VM, quite easy to be backed up or, in case, restored after some... route accident.

Theoretically it should be feasible without problems, thanks to the now consolidated ability to attach any USB compliant device to a VM, but as far as I know some audio interfaces don't get detected or, even when regularly detected and identified (as external USB audio devices) by the virtual machine, do not allow the following installation of the drivers, or they allow it but then they don't work well (no audio at all or quite disturbed audio, Asio drivers not recognized by the DAW and so on). Maybe because they are not totally compliant to the USB standards or for other reasons. Manufacturers, on their hand, very rarely supply information about this.

So my question is:
is there, amongst the forum users, anyone who has actually succeeded in such a task?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help.
 

Aldoszx

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I don't know about VirtualBox, but in Vmware ESXi you can pass-through USB Controller to a virtual machine.That way, the device connected to that controller will be accessed directly by vm.
I used to have a fire-wire controller used that way with a Mackie mixer without problems.
 

maverickronin

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The VirtualBox Extension Pack allows you to pass through individual USB devices to the VM.

It works just fine for most devices, but I've had issues using it with DACs before. Sometimes the VM just won't detect it, and even when it does there are latency and dropout issues.

That could just be an issue with my CPU and mobo combination though, so you should definitely give it a try and see how it works with your hardware.
 

mansr

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I've had generally poor results connecting audio devices using VirtualBox USB pass-through (Windows guest on Linux host). Although the devices are detected properly, the connection is often unreliable, or the CPU load shoots up to 100%. I suspect it has something to do with how isochronous transfers are handled.
 
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harmand

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Thanks for all replies.
I know that the VBox Extension Pack can provide (and is needed for) efficient USB pass-through, especially with its xHCI USB3 controller, but I also know that sadly this is not enough to guarantee that an USB audio interface can actually work.
Moving to VMware would be a bit of a problem in my case, because I use several VBox VMs.

From a practical point of view, however, my biggest problem lies in the fact that "giving it a try to see how it works" (which is very good advice, technically) necessarily requires that you already have hardware to test with . On the contrary, I do not own any USB audio interface yet; I'd like to buy one and I'm looking for information that could allow me to make a... good choice. :]
 

bennetng

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There's a thing I still don't understand regarding USB. Does it support DMA? At least for example, an audio interface which uses USB 3 and with a dedicated driver? For example in this thread, the top 5 are all PCIe and TB, but in the 6th place it is a USB 3 interface:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/showpost.php?p=14004379&postcount=531
imgext.php
 

mansr

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Thanks. It is a real frustration every time, every year I look at this benchmark. The top two PCIe interfaces occupied the chart for a decade, as well as the old and cheapest RME HDSPe AIO, just hope @MC_RME can revive or renew this series.
What is the measurement for that chart?
 

bennetng

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Sean Olive

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I hope this is the right place where to post my question.

I'd like to know whether it is actually possible to use an USB audio interface as main audio device inside a Windows virtual machine (VirtualBox), so to set up an entire... musical environment inside a dedicated VM, quite easy to be backed up or, in case, restored after some... route accident.

Theoretically it should be feasible without problems, thanks to the now consolidated ability to attach any USB compliant device to a VM, but as far as I know some audio interfaces don't get detected or, even when regularly detected and identified (as external USB audio devices) by the virtual machine, do not allow the following installation of the drivers, or they allow it but then they don't work well (no audio at all or quite disturbed audio, Asio drivers not recognized by the DAW and so on). Maybe because they are not totally compliant to the USB standards or for other reasons. Manufacturers, on their hand, very rarely supply information about this.

So my question is:
is there, amongst the forum users, anyone who has actually succeeded in such a task?

Thanks in advance for any advice or help.
Just ran into this problem myself. Trying to use RME MADI with Windows 10 and VirtualBox. Downloading the VB extensions now.
 
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