No Sound With Working Soundcard

[miroslav]

You can have a multi-purpose computer...lots of people do it...I'm just saying that having a single purpose system, off the Internet will certainly minimize the amount of potential computer drama.


Now...AFA portablity....have you considered laptops?
There's a lot of audio guys doing pro tracking sessions, and they have a small portable rig....converteres, preamp, whatever...all house in a road case, and you can take it anywhere and be set up for tracking in no time.
Not sure how involved you would need it to be, but even at the minimum level, a laptop with a combo-converter would be no more/less cumbersome than a standalone rig...unles you are talking about small, handheld recorders.

[Doctor Varney]

Now...AFA portablity....have you considered laptops?

Feel inclined against. Okay, maybe it works for some people - and for DJs I imagine it would be a necessity. But Laptops... well, due to my experience, they raise a few concerns for me. Do you not think perhaps, far too much, crammed into too tight a space... far too many moving parts to go wrong and a direct invitation to over heating issues, leading eventually to break downs - and expensive repair bills? I'm not saying there are no good laptops, but at my price point, I worry I might be wasting my money, when I could get a dedicated, cool running piece of professionally rated, solid state hardware for... maybe half the price?

But that's just my initial gut reaction, based on advice I've been given, experience so far and instinct.

Regards

Dr. V

[ecc83]

Dr V. Re the original problem, the card seemingly "forgeting" its drivers:
I have 2 M-A 2496 cards, one in each of 2 desktops ( one P4 XP. One AMD dcore 2.7G W7/64). The card in the W7machine has just once gone AWOL for no apparent reason after 2 yrs faultless service. I downloaded fresh (but same version) drivers from M's and voila! Problem solved. That was nearly a year ago, been G as G ever since. The P4's card has never so much as blinked in 5 years.
*it'appen.

Dave.

[Doctor Varney]

Dr V. Re the original problem, the card seemingly "forgeting" its drivers:
I have 2 M-A 2496 cards, one in each of 2 desktops ( one P4 XP. One AMD dcore 2.7G W7/64). The card in the W7machine has just once gone AWOL for no apparent reason after 2 yrs faultless service. I downloaded fresh (but same version) drivers from M's and voila! Problem solved. That was nearly a year ago, been G as G ever since. The P4's card has never so much as blinked in 5 years.
*it'appen.

Dave.

Nice to know I'm not the only one! Well, not glad that you had a problem... but you know...

[Chili]

I have the same EMU0 404 pci card. Never a problem even when using the Win7-64 bit beta driver. There's a good chance your card wasn't seated properly in the PCI slot. That might have happened when you plugged the break-out adaptors in the back. The clue to not being seated properly is it loaded the drivers again. I'd expect that after reseating a card.

Also, I use the same computer for everything. A little pre-planning for catastrophies can go a long way. Image your c: drive and back up all the others routinely. Check out your computer after every Windows updates. Stay off the gaming sites and free download sites.

[Doctor Varney]

There's a good chance your card wasn't seated properly in the PCI slot.

You'd think so... but I checked that. Not sure how more far seated it needs to be than it was... like, fully in all the way. As said, nothing happened since installation to dislodge it.... unless the elves came in while I was asleep.

That might have happened when you plugged the break-out adaptors in the back. The clue to not being seated properly is it loaded the drivers again. I'd expect that after reseating a card.

Erm... yeah, it can. That happened with another computer where I had this flimsy case and the thing kept popping out when I drove in the retainer screw. Thankfully, that problem ceased when I upgraded to a far more solid case. It's very nice, actually.

Stay off the gaming sites and free download sites.

Oh yes! I don't game and never use torrent sites. Or anything like that. Nuthin' there to interest me, really.

Regards

Dr. V

[Bobbsy]

Thanks for the tip. I will remember that. Now, perhaps more people will see see what I was getting at, when I said: "Computers go wrong in many interesting and colourful ways". I'm not sure how I would go about predicting this sort of error or safe-gaurding against potential future surprises. This has sealed my decision to get a hardware layer, expressly for recording.

Thanks for your time, Bobbsy. This has been a valuable lesson for me.

Regards

Dr. V

I think the valuable lesson from this one isn't that computers go wrong. It's more that, even if they appear to be changing their ways, one should never, ever get involved with bloody Creative Labs because they'll come back and bite you in the posterior.

The move to a hardware recorder is, of course, your choice. However, don't assume that these are without their own problems. I recall spending a lot of online time a while back trying to help somebody with a particular model of Tascam recorder--it was noisy and low level when he plugged in a mic. It turned out that the Tascam was built to expect a non-standard input impedance and level.

I only mention this to show that a hardware recorder is NOT a magic fix, especially as you've mentioned that you need to use a computer for editing and mastering anyway.

[miroslav]

The other thing to remember with standalone digital recorders is that if they crap out/die....you can just toss it in the garbage and then start all over with a new device.
With a computer (laptop or desktop)....your actual DAW software is *portable*...so if the computer dies, you don't completely lose the DAW apps you purchased, you just reinstall them on a new computer.

[ecc83]

The other thing to remember with standalone digital recorders is that if they crap out/die....you can just toss it in the garbage and then start all over with a new device.
With a computer (laptop or desktop)....your actual DAW software is *portable*...so if the computer dies, you don't completely lose the DAW apps you purchased, you just reinstall them on a new computer.

Unless of course the software is Steinberg's or Magix in which case you will be judged a thieving illegitimate out to score a free go!

Or am I just a cynical, BOF?

Dave.

[Chili]

The other thing to remember with standalone digital recorders is that if they crap out/die....you can just toss it in the garbage and then start all over with a new device.

Start all over as in re-record whatever song you had on the standalone. What a pain that is. I had a portastudio when I first started out. Could never figure the thing out. Eventually tossed it out of frustration. The good thing was all the songs I had were horrible and I gladly threw them away never to listen to them again!!!