tips...32.
sound devices and typical hairy computer problems.

i want to cover this topic in some detail as soo many problems
new people seem to have whatever recording software they use.
i dont, because i'm v carefull bout how i set things up.
heres the typical problems you run into.
you copy a piece of audio and then go to paste it..but the
paste is SLOW, or when u apply an effect it seems to take a looong time for
the effect to be processed as u watch the horizontal line
display. other typical problems are freezes on the pc
or pops and cliks on playback or the computer seems sluggish.

firstly , understand plug n play sounds good in THEORY.
and with some sound devices and some pc's install of new sound devices
is a breeze. but on others it isnt.
the problem is there are just sooo many different sound devices and
zillions of different pc configs.

lets say your pc has a sluggish "feel" to it.
answer. this can be a myriad of things.
but typically ive found often this occurs when someone tries to run
ptw on the old family pc that is used for lots of other things.
mebe its a slow old processor, or the drives are poor performers,
slow memory etc. i HAVE run ptw on older pc's.
but one must be carefull. some people try to load xp onto a
one drive older pc with 256 ram. this ive found is askeing for problems.
the ram is too low.
it must be clearly understood the OS (windows) needs ram.
AND the daw software needs ram. thus , if your ram is low youll prolly
have probs , particularly if trying to run XP on an older system.
thus , first step ensure that there is sufficient ram.
try a gig for example and see if that helps.
the other problem is possibly the drives arent set up properly.
or they are clogged up.
for daw audio work its important u check that DMA is checked on the drives.
DMA basically is a method of ensuring drives are transferring data
at an optimum high speed. u can check in control panel that its set for your drives.
the other thing is before useing the old pc as a daw, ensure youve cleaned
up the drives. you might have a lot of cookie build up and temp files
(windows>>>temp)...from previous activities on the pc.
another aspect is a ONE DRIVE SYSTEM.
on modern duual core pc's , you can get away with maybe a one drive system,
cos the drives are so fast. BUT i still dont recommend it.
even more..i definitely dont recommend it on a old clunker pc.
why ?? you ask ??
heres the detailed answer.
the problem is that the win OS is on the SAME DRIVE.
and sometimes it can interrupt the audio process (in this case ptw)..
to do some activity. thus by recording to a seperate drive..this
lets windows OS do its own thing.
if you find you get the odd random clik/pop on an old clunker.
try and see if recording to a second hard drive rather than the C win drive solves the problem.
if youve tried adding more memory and a second hard drive,
and assuming youve cleaned an optimised the old clunker pc,
and you cant get say 25 tracks out of it, then prolly you will need to upgrade to a new pc.
on a old pc u should be able to get 25 tracks outta it if its set up
properly.
before spending lots of money though on an old system ,
i would run a hard drive performance test. on the hard drive.
there are little utilities u can get (if u google..)
that will tell u the performance of the old hard drive.
me personally , i wouldnt use a hard drive in a clunker pc that
wasnt reported as haveing at least a 20 megs per second transfer rate.
its just not worth it when one can get a new one processor system
for say 300 buks that includes a new hi performance drive.

now let me turn to another issue.
another reason for cliks n pops.
or audio interruptions on playback.
these can occur often with particularly pci sound devices.
if this occurs with you, and your running a seperate hard drive to record to.
check what other devices are in pci slots.
ive mentioned this before. if u have other pci devices , because the
pci bus has finite bandwidth , other devices might be locking out
the pci sound device. if u have this situation.
in windows try shutting them down.(eg network card.) before recording.
on any new system i buy , if i'm useing a pci sound device i try n ensure
its the only device in a pci slot.
i put in no other devices.
gradually with newer technology some of these problems are gradually disappearing.
but u can still run into the occasional problem.
for example, you are useing a firewire or usb mixer where the
ADA conversion is built in. and u get a problem occasionally.
if this is your situation...check if another device is useing the firewire or usb bus.
heres a typical example of a potential problem.
lets say your useing a audio mixer with usb built in AND
useing a usb hard drive external to the pc.
think of a bus (pci or usb or firewire..) like this.
ever drive on a road in your town at 3 am ??
noones around ...right ??
all smooth sailing, no traffic snarls etc etc ...right ??
think of a computer bus similarly.
in simple terms a bus is nothing more than a "computer road"
where traffic travels. in this case data traffic.
BUT ..like the road in your town...the computer bus has a limit
to how much traffic it can carry before traffic jams occur.
thus the more devices that are attached to a computer bus...
the more traffic and MORE THE POTENTIAL FOR OVERLOAD and tie ups.
thus in my example, mebe the usb hard drive is punping traffic thru the
usb bus and thus causeing problems for the usb mixer.
THEREFORE...think carefully before willy nilly loading up devices on various buses.
it all comes down to ORGANISATION of your pc.

now i want to touch on firewire.
many people are starting to use firewire sound devices and mixers etc.
once again be carefull bout loading up other devices..
on the firewire bus ....if your useing the FW bus for
say a sound device. on the other hand it might work.
you wont know if till u try. BUT ...if u DO get probs.
unplug the non audio FW devices and see if the probs go away.
this will be your clue that the FW bus is getting overloaded maybe.
in some cases there are no hard n fast rules.
sometimes youll find the FW sound device doesnt get along with
the particular FW chipset in your pc.
in this case youll need to try an add on FW card.
i would recommend one with a TI chipset. but u might luk out ,
and another FW card might work.

in a modern eg dual core pc i would be surprised if u get many probs.
but if u DO..i hope the above helps.

now lets turn to the sound devices themselves.
there are a huge range of PCI, usb and firewire devices, and its all
SO CONFUSEING ...right ??
youve reached the conclusion.correctly..that on board sound chips
even with www.asio4all.com mebe isnt the best solution.
cos on board sound chips are noisy.
i told u earlier bout a test u can do to see in ptw exactly how noisy
in an earlier post. (ie..nothing connected...with win line in fader up..
look at ptw's input vu meter...notice the green led's light up ??).
now i MUST say the on board sound chips ARE gradually improving.
it depends on the pc u buy and its on board sound chip.
but STILL its not an optimal solution.
just try a good pro sound interface and youll hear the difference
good quality ADA can make to your recorded tracks.

if u want a good overview of the various sound devices on the market.
zzounds.com and music123.com have large lists.
(no...i'm in no way affiliated with anyone. in case it crossed your mind..i just find these
sites usefull for keeping abreast of all the sound devices available.)
sound devices can cost under 100 buks right up to hi end convertors costing thousands.
thus it depends on your budget and what you can afford.
one piece of advice is to ensure you can return any sound device u get in case it doesnt work
well with your particular pc. and get a full refund.
in the case of brand new devices on the market....i would give them
a time and peruse recording forums to see if any folks experience
problems.
sometimes a new device might have drivers that need further development for example.
typically the MAJOR problem folks have is finding a suitable device that
works well with their pc.
its very difficult to give specific brand recommendations as the market is moveing so dam fast.
but all i can say is folks seems happy with certain brands.
(for recorded audio trak quality.)
for example at the high end folks seem happy with RME and LYNX
sound devices. for the budget conscious folks seem happy with
audiophile 2496 and also the esi julie.
other folks seem to like the emu range.
but the user really must understand how to use the control panel it has properly.
and this brings me to a POINT !
the biggest problem i'm seeing folks haveing is with setting up
the user dialogs that come with many new sound devices.
and their routing outside ptw.
IF your experiencing problems in ptw....
one possibility is that the sound cards own control user dialog isnt set up properly.
typical reported problem is i cant get audio into ptw.
dont see waveforms etc. so people blame ptw.
it must be clearly understood that the sound card and its control
panel set up is outside PTW.
if u dont set up the sound device control panel correctly to get audio into and out
of ptw , then ptw wont work properly.
ptw has no control over these issues.
for example people also seem to sometimes forget to set up delta sound card
dialogs properly.
in summary , u must set up the sound devices control panel correctly for
ptw to perform correctly.
(even windows own audio controls..if useing on board sound.)
a friend has a new yamaha usb mixer that seems nice and clean on a budget.
roland have lots of audio devices. for example the v cheap edirol ua1ex.
if your pushed for money n want to crank out demos.
ive tried it. pretty ok. positive is a simple user control panel.
to get it working well i just needed to change PTW's trak buffer size.
and this brings me to a point...sometimes to get a device working
properly u must be willing to set ptw's audio preferences properly.
if u notice there are a number of settings.
these were put there obviously to help people with the myriad of sound devices
on the market. make sure u read the HELP, and understand what all the different settings do,
and how to identify to ptw your sound device drivers.

ive mentioned a few popular manufacturers of sound devices.
but..there are lots of others of course.
more and more devices are coming out all the time.
how well they might work with ptw and your specific pc
only u can assess via testing.
i'm in some quandary myself , as i'm looking athi end ADA.
but i'm leery of spending a LOT due to pace of change.


some other points to be aware of in running a recording pc.
firstly make sure you dont have any irq conflicts.
(look in control panel).
musicxp.net has lots of info on "leaning down" windows
n turning off various features.
and there are other sites if u google.
if useing vista , some folks have suggested ways to deal with vista if u google.
like maybe useing it in classic mode.
once again google is your friend as i'm not running vista.

one final point. if your the type of user that neds to run 48 traks
with oodlesof plug ins...i would seriously think about a new quad core
pc. as they can be had for 900 buks.
(more to come.)