weird problem with Cubase LE...

[guitarheel]

I have a strange issue that I'm hoping someone can help me with. I recently upgraded hardware to include a dual core processor(AMD), so I had to reinstall Windows along with Cubase LE, which came bundled with my EMU 1616m PCI interface.

Earlier today I was working on a project when all of a sudden, the audio level indicator in Cubase maxed out, and I lost sound. After this, I restarted, and proceded to open up the project again. This time, the audio was very laggy and garbled, much like when you don't have your latency buffers set correctly. However, the garbles and pops correspond to my HDD activity. I also noticed that whenever the hard drive is active, the CPU usage meter spikes, and it is at that point I get that weird "digitized" garbled sound.

I tried disabling all VST plug-ins that I had running. Whenever I clicked the power button to turn off these effects, I got a pop, and sometimes the audio level meter would return to normal, and sometimes it would not. I also tested other audio programs to make sure that it wasn't my soundcard. Reason 4.0 still runs fine, as well as basic MP3 playback, etc. I also tried opening different projects in Cubase to see if it was limited to just the project. It is not.

I have an error message which was generated by Cubase at one point, and ever since then it has been acting as described above. If this error message would be of help, let me know and I will post it.

It's strange to me because one second, I'm working on the song, the next second, this. Another thing that baffles me is that I can record NEW tracks all day long, and they play back fine. However, this could only be because I didn't bother to use VST when I tested it.

Also - after I reinstalled Cubase, I was prompted to re-register another Bundled VST plugin that I use called T-Racks EQ(IKMultimedia). At first I thought it had something to do with the registration window popping up in the VST area. But now I'm not sure.

I have checked my HDD and it is free of errors. My hardware is as follows:

AMD X2 3600
2gb RAM
EMU 1616m PCI Audio Interface
Cubase LE
Reason 4.0
Guitar Rig 2.0

I have built many machines in the past and I'm very familiar with computers and recording hardware. But this one has me stumped. This is NOT the common "buffer settings" issue. I'm aware of that problem and as I said above, this computer ran FLAWLESSLY before this issue began - and I have changed no settings at all since it last ran properly.

[NYMorningstar]

Originally Posted by guitarheel

I have an error message which was generated by Cubase at one point, and ever since then it has been acting as described above. If this error message would be of help, let me know and I will post it.

That would make sense and also did you re-register T-racks?

[guitarheel]

Yep. I thought maybe there was some sort of protection system in place that would cause that problem until T-Racks was registered. But this problem persisted even AFTER I re-registered it. I also disabled T-Racks all together(uninstall and at the application level) and still nothing.

Thx for the speedy reply....went to steinbergusers.com first, and after over 50 views, no reply. I'll be frequenting here more often!

As for the error message - I'm currently away from my machine, but I will post it as soon as I get home tonight.

[ivantsy]

I have same problem. Everything was working Ok with E-MU 1616 on my T60p laptop, but after Cubase had crashed, I had terrible noise when playing back music (even in WMP!).
After several reinstallations of everything related to E-MU, I thought, it should be sound card and I bought NI AK 1 USB-sound card.
I do not have noice in WMP, but i still cannot use Cubase 5. I uninstall everything possible - no or very small result.
Now I think, that my E-MU may be Ok. I plan even to reinstall Windows, but I do not know for now, what will happens with dongle key (activation/registration)?
It would be good, if somebody knows what is going on and to restore normal work.
Problem briefly: worked normal; after Cubase crash - noice, nothing help to restore normal operation.

[Waffleness]

If you want to reinstall everything from the start, simply hanging onto your dongle, serial code, registration details (username, password) and original installation CD's should be enough to get up and running again.

Did you remember to switch to the new sound card drivers when you changed the cards over?

[ivantsy]

Thank you! Yes I switch to a new driver after I uninstalled E-MU drivers (but later I found some pieces of E-MU, with CC registry Cleaner.
I am a little bit confused, when "Steinberg" said, that serial number already uploaded to the key after activation.
But you said, if I have everything with me, it should not be a problem to install everything. I will try. Tank you!

[ivantsy]

Yes, problem is very strange. Trying to fix it, I uninstalled lot of software, shuted down many services, disabled many devices - it improved situation, but not much. E-MU 1616 card was unacceptably noisy even with WMP 11 (I thought, that card was gone).
NI AK1 card was a little bit better, but noise was also unacceptable.
Than I decided to restore (almost) original hard drive state from backup (fortunately I have it) - everything start work like on new computer (T60p notebook).
Of course, I need to ugrade CB4 to CB5 and install some other software, but for now it is clear, that problem was somewere in the system.
It would be very nice to have a procedure to fix such problems, but for now I have no idea what was that.
Thank you everybody for the help. Good luck!