"I think that when one or more of these background processes start up, which they do automatically from time to time, and access the hard drive (I have two 500 Gb drives in a backup-RAID configuration), the piano sound of my FATAR 88-key keyboard controller (which has NO local sound and is connected to the MIDI In port of the I/O module of the Elite Pro card) becomes "quavery." I can reset the piano sound to "true" by restarting the computer, but that lasts only for a while. The quavery sound occurs when I am using the Creative SoundFont Bank Manager (set to "Piano I"). It also occurs when I am using the eMedia "Piano and Keyboard Method" software . I haven't tested it out in BIAB yet, but it appears that it is not caused by any particular software."

Got nothing for you on the undesired vibrato/trem/whatever. You may want to get with the various hardware mfrs. First thing that occurs to ask, though, is whether you have enough RAM. Not suggesting you don't, just ruling it out. As I'm sure you know, more is always better in this case.

The RAID shouldn't do it, if configured properly. A friend of mine is doing this in a high-end home studio without issues. However, he is running 10,000 RPM drives and a machine with dual processors and 4 Gb of RAM. May make a difference. <Geek smiles>

"I don't want to "End Task" in the Task Manager, because I don't know what I am doing ending tasks that are background programs. I'm afraid of losing something permanently that the XP system needs. Is there a "safe" way to end these background processes temporarily so that I can eventually discover what is causing the quavery sound?"

Accepted technique here is to disable services one at a time--I can't stress that enough--and restart your machine. If it still works, you're OK. Go on to the next. Take notes as you do this so you will know exactly what you have done and can reverse it if necessary. But, so as not to work blind, get a good reference on your OS. There are many to choose from. Look under headings such as "optimizing", "performance", and anything else you can think of. For some reason, everybody seems to use a different term for the same process.

"I need to "stop" functions like Napster, AT&T Yahoo! Music Jukebox, my Logitech QuickCam, iPod.exe, etc."

Most of these have an option to disable themselves in their own Preferences menu. It's not always easy to find or implement, though, and they don't always stop all all modules of a program. Download a free program called Spybot S & D. I'm not recommending it here because of its spyware-removing properties, although it excels at that. Under its "Tools" heading is a "System Startup" listing. Here you will find programs which are not listed in Windows' equivalent. Simply uncheck them, restart Windows, and they are gone from your startup routine. (Recheck, though; some programs are quite persistent. I had a hard time getting QuickTime not to start with Windows, but Persistence Paid Off.)

I don't have an answer for you yet on the programs which all start (or don't) when you turn them off or on with Windows. You're supposed to be able to set up each profile to come up completely independent of the others. However, the same thing happens to me with my security programs. And even when I turn off AVG antivirus, something stays resident and won't let me turn it off. But at least it's not scanning everything going in and out of my PC.

I'm still checking this out, as well as the issue of background services. Unfortunately my XP machine is down and I'm using Win2K right now. But follow the link in "Optimizing XP and 2000 for Audio Production" if you haven't already. There's a lot there which should measurably speed up yur PC and reduce glitches.

Hope this helps,
-R.

"My primary musical instrument is the personal computer."