ASIO drivers and Windows 7

They don't work together. At all. Not for me at least. From what I can see, using ASIO4All in Windows 7 is hit or miss. I've scoured the internet, checked manuals, etc. for a solution, but so far, everyone's said the same thing: ASIO drivers have had issues with Windows 7 since it was released and we need to just wait for a patch. Well, there isn't a patch, or a solution as far as I have seen. And I doubt there will be a patch anytime soon.

The issue in-depth:

I've upgraded from the ancient and MIDI-ineffective ProTools LE 7.4 to the new version of REAPER. I made the switch to get away from latency, etc. I also upgraded my machine. Specs: Intel i5 quad-core 3.2 ghz, 6gb of RAM, 1TB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Professional 64-bit. Basically, when I run REAPER with the ASIO driver, I can see audio running through the tracks, but nothing comes out of my speakers. This is even more frustrating because it initially worked. Some minor tweaking of VSTi's later (nothing serious) and it quits. I've looked through the Cockos forums, gearslutz, google, etc. but no one has a solution. Any thoughts?

I saw this thread several days ago and didn't want to replay, now looks nobody wants to get into this mess...
Asio2all does work in Win7 because I have it, but since microsoft removed "nobody know exactly" what in WinVista and Win7 all these problems began.
I have windows 7 ultimate 64bits, but the other versions like home premium might be even more problematic, I say you have to check every single thing in the reaper settings because your audio is being sent to a wrong output of the sound card, mostly if you have 5.1 or 7.1 outputs in your sound card double check the name of the port your speakers are connected and set that one in reaper outputs.
I can't help you more because I don't use reaper i'm just assuming is similar to cubase.

I use ASIO4ALL with REAPER on Windows 7 32-bit. It works for me mostly without issue, but one thing that comes up for me now and again is the issue of multiple applications accessing the sound device at once. I forget if this is an issue specific to ASIO4ALL or what (after all, it doesn't do this for me with audio card-specific ASIO drivers), but ASIO4ALL doesn't like that all, and it will then produce results just like you said (i.e. I can see the VU meters active in REAPER, but I hear nothing).

So, maybe double-check that REAPER is the only program that's trying to access your sound card. I've had this problem even when another program is merely open but not playing any sound--sometimes just having a paused YouTube video open in a browser will be enough to cause it. You might try looking at the Windows volume mixer to see if there're any apps listed there aside from, e.g., "System sounds". (After quitting other apps, you may need to restart REAPER or change its current driver to something else then back again.)

But it seems like you said this happens after tweaking VSTis? Does audio work if you don't use them? What VSTis are they?

Thanks for the replies, guys.

@Icelizarrd: I've checked those things you recommended, and none of them worked unfortunately. :/ And it's now permanent, I'm afraid. Whether I'm tweaking VSTi's or not. (I have EWQL Symphonic Orchestra Gold, by the way.)

SYS: Your suggestion sounds very helpful, but I really don't know how to go about messing with the sound cards and stuff. Could you enlighten me on how to do what you've instructed? If you could, that'd be a big help. Thanks!

Well, set the first two on the list, my cubase only says "HD Audio Output 1" and "HD Audio Output 2" (with another 6 more "HD Audio Output") sometimes appear as "Front Speakers (Green)"...
I found this pic, does your Reason looks like that ? (I have no Reason)

Does ASIO4ALL, when you've opened it, have the inputs and outputs all enabled, or do they say 'in use by other application'? Mine tends to change at various times during the day, depending on what I'm doing.

I know it sounds like a simple question, but it's almost so simple that people look past it.

Also, in Cubase there are VST Connections, Input Connections and so on, that do the final connecting between ASIO4ALL and the sound instructions.

i think there are some matter with your hardware, this driver is work only in 32bit
Here is link to download new version: http://www.usb-audio.com/usb_asio.zip
Hope you solve it soon