Soundcard
The soundcard’s software driver passes digitized data to the software program that is managing the recording digital audio. Some cards are DMA compliant which allows the transfer of data directly from memory to the soundcard, thus bypassing the computers processor. The information is temporarily stored in soundcard or computer RAM. It is then saved in a temporary or specified file of the computer’s hard drive even while the recording process continues (in a WAV or AIFF format depending on which system you have).
Some soundcard software is capable of adding effects (actually mathematical manipulation of the data) during the transfer to the soundcard driver but prior to transfer to the DAC. This is accomplished with the inclusion of a DSP microchip to the soundcard, with the DSP programmed with sophisticated algorithm specifically written to process digital audio data. With this software you can add reverb, panning, chorus, delay, etc., that will be applied during playback or saving the file to hard disk.
ASIO drivers work with PCI-based soundcards.