Using ASIO Link Pro - one program can't be controlled by Windows volume control. Ideas?

[Dallas_Cashin]

Hello!

In a bit of a frustrating situation and thought I'd solicit ideas from others who might have been in my position at one time.

I'm using a DAW which routes its audio through ASIO. I'm using ASIO Link Pro to deal with ASIO, because it's the only solution I've found that won't "monopolize" Windows audio when in use. I tend to bounce back and forth from my DAW to other stuff, and having to close it down just to hear audio in other programs is a bit of a chore.

After a bit of headache getting everything set up, I'm basically functional. However, my DAW levels are no longer controllable through Windows audio mixer - volume control and media keyboard quick-mute do absolutely nothing.

My full setup:

Windows 7-64

"Main" Asio Link Pro routed to Asio4all, which in turn is routed to the Behringer UMC controller.

"Client" Asio Link Pro used by DAW, routed to Asio Link Pro Multiclient.

Default sound device in Windows Audio Control Panel is ASIO Link Pro Speakers 1.

The only way I've found to control the levels in my DAW (other than its own volume mixer, which is not ideal, because this also doubles as the "record level" - so if I were to record something with the levels all the way down in the DAW, the resulting file would be silence) is to go into the Behringer UMC Control Panel and change the levels there.

I would appreciate any ideas anyone can come up with, and will be happy to try pretty much anything you can think of. All I want is for volume up/volume down/mute to affect the levels coming out of my DAW

[BertKoor]

ASIO bypasses the Windows mixer and its volume controls, so what you want is not possible alas.

You can add a small (hardware/analog) mixer or a monitoring volume knob if you want, costs around $100.

[Dallas_Cashin]

ASIO bypasses the Windows mixer and its volume controls, so what you want is not possible alas.

You can add a small (hardware/analog) mixer or a monitoring volume knob if you want, costs around $100.

My understanding (and please, seriously do correct me if I'm wrong) of ASIO Link Pro is that it basically acts as a pseudo-ASIO, eventually passing everything through WDM (which is why it's possible to run multiple ASIO-using DAWs at once with it). Right now I have it running with ASIO4All output, playing music in foobar, with levels showing in both the "Speakers In" and "Driver Out" racks, and everything is perfectly responsive to mixer controls - for whatever that's worth.

I already have an external mixer, the Behringer UMC204. Unfortunately, I'm far too lazy to be constantly fiddling with the volume knob, and often I just need to quickly mute - "did the phone ring?" sort of stuff.