Is my processor really that weak?

[zed32]

ok this is really getting on my nerves. i'm running a Firepod and Cubase LE, and i can't get rid of the stupid crackling on playback! even when i'm only playing back one stereo track with minimal plugs (cpu usage below 10%), it still crackles. it pisses me off so bad i just want to smash stuff. i turned the latency on the firepod to 25ms and it helps, but the crackling is still there. i shut down every single other thing going on in my computer (wireless internet, virus blockers, etc) and i have it 'optimized' for music according to that one website that shows you how to set up windows for recording. what the hell man? i guess my CPU is just a piece of crap or something. its an AMD Sempron 2600+ at 1.83Ghz, and i'm also using 1GB of RAM. my old processor didnt really have any problems, it was an Athlon XP which was also 1.8Ghz, but i think it was more powerful overall until it died. so what can i do? do i just have to buy another processor now to get this fixed? i'm still saving up to get a whole new overbuilt recording PC. any suggestions for the time being?

it doesn't seem to be a problem during recording, just during playback. and if i export the wave and play it in another program, i have no problems whatsoever with crackling or unwanted noises. its just within Cubase.

[fraserhutch]

Sounds like a driver configuration issue in Cubase.

[travelin travis]

http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthr...ht=pci+latency

that thread may help.

[NYMorningstar]

You computer may be loaded with spyware stealing your processing power. You might also consider getting an additional harddrive for your recording.

[altitude909]

You should be turning the buffers up, not down. Try running a longer latency

[Reggie]

Could be a hard drive issue. I about flipped out when I first started recording on my computer using a multiface and a 2nd 120GB audio hard drive. Kept getting skips and stuff on playback. Turned out the hard drive was in PIO mode instead of DMA Mode 5. The support guy at Syntax had no idea why I was having trouble, I just happened to find out on my own.

[LemonTree]

what MOBO do you have? I'm guessing it has a VIA chipset

[zed32]

i actually have a separate hard drive for recording, which is a 80GB WD 7200rpm drive. the latency is maxed out at 25ms, and the buffer size has also been increased to the maximum that cubase will let me use. the chipset on my mobo i think is SiS? i forget. oh and i also check it for spyware regularly with 3 different programs so it's pretty clean in that regard.

i just DL'ed the latest driver from presonus last night, but i havent really had a chance to test it out yet, so i'll see if that helped with my problem. thanks for the suggestions guys.

[Chang]

I was having the same problem (see http://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=193611 ). I changed my buffer size and the crackling went away.

Chang