so what we are looking for are a simple free asio driver
Nope... totally different discussion... let's not confuse the thread in case this is for reference.
The Cubase TDM discussion is NOT about ASIO drivers at all. ASIO drivers DO NOT utilize and cannot access the on-board processing (DSP) of expensive Pro Tools PCI cards that support many plugin chains without taxing the computer's CPU.
Your picture shows the "Cubase VST 4" CD and auth disk. There is NO Cubase Audio (with a Steinberg DAE Digidesign Audio Engine) on that CD. It is the
VST version
CuBase VST 4 CD contained 2 products...
1) Cubase 4 VST/24 (24 bit max bit depth audio recording)
2) Cubase 4 score (music notation capable)
CuBase VST 5 CDs contained 3 products...
1) Cubase 5 VST/24 (24 bit max bit depth audio recording)
2) Cubase 5 VST/32 (32 Bit or "floating Point" or "True tape" max bit depth audio recording)
3) Cubase 5 score (music notation capable)
All Cubase VST 4 and 5 versions accepted audio interface drivers made to the ASIO 1 and ASIO 2 specifications.
The ASIO programming parameters were developed by Steinberg and each audio interface hardware manufacturer would write an "ASIO" driver for their interface.
The whole reason of using using an ASIO driver and not using a Windows system driver or Mac extension was the ability of the driver to operate at a much lower level, having direct access to the hardware (without the operation system API), and thus greatly reducing latency inherent in recording MIDI and audio. It was quite a break thru at the time... DieHard's interpretationSo, if you had a Digi001 or 002 and you were into Trance music, you may have relied heavily on sequencing and MIDI, so you chose to Use CuBase VST (NOT ProTools LE), and use the ASIO driver. Many of the Big dogs, with Pro Tools Core/Mix/Farm cards had seriously large studios with 32 channels or more going into a large analog console that would use Pro Tools as a 24-Track tape machine and outboard gear; they would not need an ASIO driver at all, the ASIO driver was intended for the project/Home studio market.
OK, let's get to the point already... Cubase VST and the audio plugins were "Native" and ate up the CPU processing power like candy. The VST (Virtual Studio Technology) acronym meant you don't have the money or the room for the "real" studio, so you can have a virtual one. Yes, if you had a Pro Tools LE system the same could be said about the LE version of Pro Tools. But what it you had an expensive Pro Tools system with Core cards and Farm cards that had their own processors right on the card, then running CuBase VST in it's "Native" mode sucked ass, so...
So here is were the elusive Cubase Audio (or TDM or non-VST) version comes in... Get all the great features with automation, MIDI transforms, and MIDI sequencing and still use your expensive DSP Pro Tools cards and Mix interfaces. This very special version of Cubase would give you all the functionality of the Cubase interface with the ability to load TDM plugins. These plugins would run in real time and put almost no strain on the computer's CPU at all ! These little golden insert "slots" on your virtual mixer can load TDM plugins and not crash your project. Lush reverbs, cool delays, compressors, EQs, can load in the "special" version of Cubase and use up almost no CPU real estate, so you can put the CPU to things like automation, meters, etc.
In the end, Steinberg focused exclusively on the VST product and stopped development on the DAE engine. Their VST audio engine would become the standard for home/project studios that were on a limited budget where the computer was the biggest purchase. It made sense to go forward and market the masses, and it worked. Besides, why put money into a TDM product for guys that are going to most likely just use the DAW that shipped with the expensive hardware (Pro Tools).
I am sure Digidesign was bummed when Steinberg dropped Cubase TDM; Digi would have surely benefited from hardware sales of more expensive Cards supported TDM plugins if Steinberg carried the DAE torch... instead, many like myself chose a "hybrid" environment, use Cubase VST as the center and utilize hardware DSP on UAD-1 Cards and PCI PowerCore cards; this filled a market need and was the true VST nightmare for those at Digidesign.
