There are two methods in Windows for an application to communicate with a sound card (or in our case, a WNIP driver that is emulating a sound card.) WDM means Windows Driver Model. The application talks to Windows and Windows then talks to the driver. Most automation systems such as RCS, ENCO, BSI, Win-OMT, and Wide Orbit use WDM, as do most common audio applications. When using a WDM driver, the playback and record channels will appear in the Windows Control Panel under Sound.

ASIO is a driver type developed by Steinberg that connects the sound card (or virtual WNIP sound card) directly to the application. This reduces latency because it’s not passing through the Windows Sound system (as a result, the driver channels will not appear in the Windows Control Panel under Sound.) If you are using Audio Vault automation or a high-end DAW that does not support WDM, you will use the ASIO driver. (Note that Adobe Audition will use either WDM or ASIO depending upon which media type you choose in Audition’s hardware settings.)

You will need to choose which type to install; you cannot use both WDM and ASIO at the same time.

Note that WheatNet-IP drivers are grouped in stereo pairs, and each stereo pair presents itself to the computer as a separate device. This enables multiple applications to use the same multichannel driver. Steinberg's specification for ASIO does not allow for multiple devices to be combined as one, therefore you cannot set a DAW to record using three devices to record 6 channels of audio in the same session. WDM does allow this, so if you are planning to record a 5.1 session, use WDM.