Crackly sound after a few minutes of use???

[DE9]

Hey there, just getting into cubase. I'm using SX 2.2 and one of the major stumbling blocks I've found so far is that after a few minutes of use the output starts crackling and its gets worse and worse. If I reset the controls in the device setup it sorts it out but after another few minutes of use it begins the crackle again.

I've tried playing with all the setup options I can think of but to no avail, I have a growing suspicion its a sound card problem. I'm planning to upgrade my soundcard in the near future anyway, but as I'm sure you can imagine its making the program almost unusable at the moment. Any ideas?


My setup is:
Cubase SX 2.2, Win XP
Creative Extigy (hmmm), Athlon 2200+, 768 RAM.

[warble]

You'd be better off using ASIO drivers with a soundcard/interface. I'm not 100% positive the Extigy has these. Also, the Extigy is USB correct? How many track are you trying to record / playback?

[DE9]

It happens with just one MIDI track!!

[manning1]

my advise. get a decent pci sound card.
also list what you have in your pci slots. very important.
peace.
ps...search under my name. lots of tips posted in past few months on setting up a pc as a daw.

[DE9]

I'm using a laptop so PCI isnt an option unfortunatley.

[manning1]

de. you have a powerfull athlon. if your laptop drive is 7200 rpm your in good shape if not get an upgrade if your laptop willm accept it.
if you download diskbench from prorec.com it will report stats on your system to help me help you. i'll interpret the results for you.
but really consider another interface. your processor is not the problem.

[DE9]

By way of a bit of an experiment I unplugged my sound blaster and used my laptop sound to see what that was like.

Interestingly, theres no hint of the problem at all with the onboard Sony sound infact, the audio is arguable improved without the Extigy, man Creative should be shot!! All the Extigy is in essense is extra S/PDIF, Jack and Optical connections for the £100.

I think an external M-Audio Audiophile card is top of my christmas list !!!

[manning1]

glad you sorted it out. its a good idea to check with the manufacturer of the sound interface you are considering as to whether there are potential issues with your particular laptop before you buy it. just tell the manufacturer your laptop configuration if possible.
there are many firewire sound solutions coming to market all the time.
so you might want to investigate that option. but make sure that once again any option you are thinking about is compatible with your laptop.

[DE9]

Cheers for the advice dude.

I would love to go down the firewire route but alas my PC is equiped with a S400 Firewire port, the 4 pin version used for connecting video cameras and suchlike. Now I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it needs to be the six pin S800 type for connecting things like audio interfaces and external system hardware.

[manning1]

you might want to check with some firewire sound solution manufacturers like RME and others and see if there is a fix for that problem. maybe a
special connector to interface or use google to search. rme is pricey, but a fine reputation with studios.
i dont know if this 6 pin to 4 pin cable will help.
check it out.....
http://sewelldirect.com/FireWireCable4P.asp

[manning1]

also - i dont KNOW how well this works but at zzounds.com they have
maudio firewire audio interfaces. you might want to contact maudio as well and enquire re... S400 connectors.
also beware...there have been issues regarding hotplugging some
firewire interfaces that can cause problems.
peace.

[crankz1]

Yeah you can use a 4 pin to 6 pin cable .... you just won't be able to power an interface off of the FireWire port.
The main thing to check with your FireWire controller is the chipset it uses.
You can find this in the Device Manager under IEEE 1394 bus host controllers.
If you find that it is a Texas Instruments based controller .... your in luck. They seem to be the most compatible.
USB 2.0 is also an option if your laptop is so equipped, but I'd still go the FireWire route for an interface and save USB 2.0 for an external hard drive.
Like you have already seen, you've had issues with USB already. It may not be the Soundblaster's fault. It could very well be the fault of your USB controller. Hence even more reason to lean toward FireWire.

[DE9]

IEEE 1394 OHCI Compliant Host Controller.

Any ideas?

[crankz1]

Double click it .... it should show the manufacturer.

[Mr Nice]

Did you try upgrading the drivers? If they are already updated then you should get another soundcard. I use the Echo Gina/24 with cubase and it has extremely low noise, latency and it doesnt give me stability problems.

Hope this helps.