Apple vs. PC when using Logic Audio Platinum w/ Delta 66 Sound Card

pisces7378

New member
Ok,

I have had about all I can stand. I called e-magic and they sent me a pre-fabricated e-mail responce with trouble shooting for Windows shit. Nothing worked. I have pumped the internet for about all it can give, and I still can not figure out why I can not record more than 3 tracks of audio before my 933MHz Pent III PC running Logic Audio Platinum says "ASIO overload. Could not process audio fast enough " blah blah blah. Now I know that there has been the age old war amungst home recording engineers over which is a better system... PC or Apple. Now I am not jumping ship at the first sign of struggle. However I am on a fixed budget for my project(s) and I am at the cross roads where I have to decide of I should save up for a pro studio mic ($2000) and a new guitar, opr if my system if flawed because of so many incompatabilities and sharing of interupts, mixed with opperating system problems, seasoned with faulty BIOS settings.

Now I am in no way a "computer minded guy". I know a little bit about how things work. And I have installed a few cards and a few things like that. However I know enough to know that I AM BECOMING LESS AND LESS A FAN OF PCs. I mean they seem to be great for small businesses, networking, internet research and surfing, and things of a mass market daily life type task stuff. However, them seem to be WAY too loose and lets face it... Unreliable

Anyway, my question is this.... I have been looking into this new dual processor (800 MHz x 2) power Mac. It is supposed to be something like 83% faster and more stable than a PC. Now I know there is some controvercy as to how these stats were founded. (Something to do with Photoshop gearing it's SOFTWARE to work perfectly on this system) and I am sure that this machine is not 83% better than PC on all programs. However..... can someone please drill into my head why 2
800 MHz processors running the most stable machine on earth is not a better system then my current 933 MHz Pent III that can't seem to chug out more than 3 tracks of synced audio before it spikes the audio driver?

Bill gates is loosing the battle in my house.

Mike
 
There are a lot of other components in your PC that are important factors in the chain. If you don't have a lot of memory or if your hard drive is too slow that error will turn up. If you have a PIII 933 then I'm guessing you also have plenty of RAM, too. But what kind of hard drive do you have? You should have a 7200rpm UDMA66 or higher drive or that's where your problem almost certainly lies. The operating system is an issue, too. I have one Logic project that won't even play back under Win2k, I get the same error you described (I think it was around 28 tracks, lots of effects) but it's just fine under WinME. (I've seen benchmarks that show hard drive performance under Win2k being significantly behind the same drive's performance in 98 and ME.)
 
PC Specs

I am using Windows ME. I only have 128 MB of RAM and I am planning on buying 128 more as soon as I get paid. But I can not believe that this is my problem. If I were getting 6 tracks of audio to work fine before the problems then I would agree, but friggin' 3 tracks??? And if I use the FatEQ, and Platinum Verb effects plug ins on these 3 then it collapses at only 3. When I click on the SYSTEM PERFORMANCE option and get the two guages that show my I/O and AUDIO performance, then the I/O is barely regestering (great) but the AUDIO guage is almost to its peak the whole time. I also am only using the basic 5600 rpm HDD that came with the computer and I was planning on getting the whopper 7200 rpm dedicated audio driver as soon as I get paid as well. But like I said, if it were 6 tracks, and then the malfunction I could see this being the source or at least part of the source of all my problems. But with only 3 TRACKS??? There is no way that this super HDD could solve such a dismal problem, since this program is boasting being capable of dealing with so many tracks.

Any other suggestions?
And how SERIOUS are you talking when you say that these 2 (RAM and High end hard drive) devices will make the difference?

Mike
 
RAM & a fast HD will make a profound difference. At least 7200, although a HD @ 1000rpm is a really good idea. I would get another 125mbs of ram as well. It will really help.

Make sure that you are working of of a relatively stripped-down computer. My computer P3 800 only runs explorer & systray in the background, so system resources can be saved for recording as opposed to being used for programs such as anti-virus, IM, etc.

Frequent defrags are important as well. I defrag at least 1x a week. Get rid of temp files on a regular basis.

If I was to suggest an order of things to do, I would first clean up my system, then buy ram, then purchase a new HD. The first 2 steps should help considerably.
 
With this further information, my money is on the hard drive - it's definitely the bottleneck in your system right now. nattn is right about cleaning up your system and keeping it lean, but I disagree about buying memory first. Speaking from personal experience with Logic on systems with slower hard drives and less RAM, I've found the hard drive speed to be much more important than memory if you already have at least 128MB (your mileage may vary, this is just what I saw). If you can afford to upgrade both, that's even better.
 
Well, You should know by now where I stand. Regardless your problem is probably your harddrive. Anyway, I don't think you need the dual 800 Mhz. Get a good soundcard and the 733Mhz G4 should work fine right out of the box. Once I got my 7200 RPM harddrive and enough RAM I haven't had a problem. I use logic platinum 4.7 on a Powermac 7500 Upgraded to a Sonnett G3 400Mhz.

Welcome to the big time,
T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
I dunno- I run a P3 800 256 ram 40 gig HD@5600 rpm. I had a similar prob with CPU overload. I upgraded to 256 mb of ram cleaned the puter, & almost eliminated CPU overload & latency. I have recorded as many as 16 tracks (both audio & midi) @ 24/44 so far with numerous FX, & very few probs. RAM I suggest purchasing first, cos it is a low-cost inevitable upgrade.

Of course I'm not using logic--I dunno how intensive that prog is. I'm using cubase 5.0

In closing, go for the cheap upgrade first, see how it goes. It may give you some time before you feel you need to upgrade the HD.
 
Is the computer you said you use, after the upgrade. It kinda seemed like you said you upgraded from 256Megs of Ram to 256 megs of Ram. I think I understand what you meant though. No problems with the 5400 RPM drive? That's kind of unusual don't you think ? Cool though.

T.:cool:
 
hey T.J.Hooker ,


Yeah, 128 to 256. & no, I really don't have too many probs at 5600 rpm. I will be soon be adding a 38 gig HD @ 1000 rpm, but that is just cos I like to spend $$$.

I never have problems when I record, of course I only record 1 track at a time. I have even recorded at 96khz w/ no probs. I sometimes have problems with stuttering playback, but I just stop the mix, press play again & it's ok.
 
1000 RPM?

Why would you want a 1000 rpm HDD? I thought the idea was the more the better. Why have a 5600 rpm and be looking to get a 1000 rpm'er? Just curious.

Mike
 
That has to be the first 5600 RPM harddrive I've ever heard of. I do however think you mean to say "5400 RPM". The same way you meant to say "10,000 RPM". And also my friend, the stuttering is due to the "FIFTY-FOUR HUNDRED RPM" harddrive.

Have Fun dude,
T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
Yes i meant 10,000 rpm. Yes I meant 5,400 rpm, but for some crazy reason I figure that everyone already knew that.

I do realize that the stuttering is from the slower HD. The bottom line though is that it does not happen during recording but during playback, that it occurs infrequently, & is easily rectified w/o ever leaving the project. It is a small problem that I can live with until I can afford the larger faster drive.
 
Mis understanding

Man, my bad,

I didn't even know that a 10,000 rpm HDD existed yet. I thought for some retarded reason that you were talking about some super HDD that revolved at 1,000 rpm but was still fasterr than a 7200 rpm. I have been perplexed with numbering ever since someone tried to explain to me how a 733 MHz Mac processor is faster than a 1000MHz Pentium 4. Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut and knod. :)

Peace,
Mike
 
Yeah!fishman(pisces)Did we give up on the logic forum for a little while ? I'm still with ya on that bro. Anyway, they also make a 15,000 RPM HD. They are pretty loud though, as are the 10,000RPM. The 733Mhz being faster is a pipeline thing. It's like two runners doin the hurdles. One has 15 hurdles, and one has 20 hurdles. Naturally the one with only 15 is gonna get there quicker. Hey nattn! If you thought everybody knew what you meant, than what's the problem with typin' it. I mean why create more confusion than there is already? Don't get me wrong. I'm just askin'.:confused:


Peace dudes,
T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
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