Track Lag

[Gidge]

I've tried recording some tracks using Digital Orchestartor Plus, N-Track, Cool Edit Pro,Power Tracks, Goldwave and i get track lag between the first track i record and the next. I know my K-6 200mhz is not capable of much, but i would hope i could get a few in. Its a pretty cheap sound card that ive added, and the onboard sound is disables in the BIOS. Any suggestions on what causes this and can eliminate it would help. Ive tried adjusting buffers but im lost there. On N-track ive tried using the compensation function but that didnt help. Any suggestions?

[Grizzly]

Well you are wrong about the K6 200
Most of the problem is cause by program that run in the back ground of Windows. Disable the system agent and as many of the other programs that you can before you start to record or edit. All of these little programs take time for the processor to execute. This could accoount for the problem you discribe. It did on mine.

[Gidge]

Thanks for the confidence boost on the K6. As for background programs, i close out everything with the close program box except explorer and systray.

[Grizzly]

You also need to close those programs. You have to make the computer concentrate on the recording and playback

[Teddie]

Gidge,

What soundcard are you using? Are you using "on-the-board" sound hardware that came with your motherboard?

Teddie

[Teddie]

Gidge,

I'm sorry, I read your post, got sidetracked and then asked you a question that you had already answered in your original post. (embarrassed).

Are you recording MIDI or Audio? Also, what drivers have you chosen for recording and playback within Powertracks? (Powertracks is the only one I have experience with).

Teddie

[Slackmaster2K]

Whoa, you're not going to get very far if you try to close Explorer and Systray

Let's start a fight. The AMD K6 processor is not going to perform well. If you think it does perform well, then you haven't had it side by side with a cheapo Intel processor....or you're not using too many DX effects (esp. reverb). You might be able to upgrade to a K6-2 depending on your mobo. It'd be cheap and would provide a bit more performance. Unfortunately that's your only option without replacing the mobo.

BUT, you should be getting more than one track!

There is a lot more to your computer than the processor. First and foremost, your hard drive and memory. The hard drive will really make a BIG difference. If your hard drive is pre-UDMA/33 then good luck. You'll also need enough memory to keep windows and your application happy and minimize swapping, though the multitracking program you are using might write directly to the disk (e.g. overkill on the memory won't help). I've found 32MB to be fine, and going to 64 helped...but more than 64 didn't seem to help much.

BUT, you should STILL be getting more than one track.

Check and recheck all of your drivers. Make sure they are up to date...especially if you have a cheap soundcard.

Finally, how old is your windows installation and what version of Windows are you using? It may sound ridiculous, but Windows95/98 loves to be reinstalled. I used to use Windows98 for recording and over time it started getting slower...and slower...until I was only getting 4 tracks or something. I said screw it, installed NT4 and everything has been peachy since.

Here's a groovy trick to free up some memory. Open up \Windows\system.ini and edit the line:

shell=Explorer.exe

to read

shell=Progman.exe

Remember Windows3.1? Have fun.

Slackmaster 2000