8pre windows 7 output issues

[jiri92]

Hi guys.

I've got an 8pre which is connected to my windows 7 laptop via a mini firewire port on my laptop. First the 8pre didnt work at all, so i contacted motu tech support and they told me to upgrade an IEE something, so i did. And now it works, well, not entirely.

i use Ableton Live as my DAW, and want to perform live using the 8pre to put some effects on vocals that my mc sings live. If i use my normal laptop soundcard I can only select 2 inputs (1-2 or 3-4 etc.) and i get a little bit of latency. Bringing the audio and input buffers all the way down it still is ~30ms latency, which is hearable when singing.

If i select the ASIO from motu, i can use all 8 preamps, however, the output goes through my 8pre. But i can't connect my headphones or anything to it, because ill only hear white noise, and in some settings nothing at all. (but i am getting input (i can see the bars move in ableton live)

So my question is:

is it possible, that while the ASIO is selected i can still get the sound to come out of my laptop speakers or any audio interface i connect to it. And if not, is there any way i can fix this white noise if i use my asio driver and the Outputs (main outputs 1-2, phones).

Because i want to use my 8pre just for getting vocals in ableton (when playing live) so i can send my house mix (so the rest of the tracks with kickdrum etc) seperately from my vocal mix.

And if somethings wrong with my computer; is there any way i can reduce the latency if i use my onboard soundcard (i only need 2 mics live anyway). if i have to