Problems with Audigy 2 and SONAR... please help!

[seba]

Hi there,
I really need some help. I have a Pentium III at 1GHz, 256 MB RAM and an old 13 GB Hard Drive running W98 SE. For quite some time, I have used this setup to make home recordings with SONAR 1.31 through a SBLive! soundcard, and everything worked just fine. Never needed to tweak anything or do weird adjustments. I could record, mix and master stuff any way I wanted to.
However, at some point the 24bit/96kHz bug really bited me, and I wanted to jump in, so I bought and installed an Audigy 2 card, which is capable to record audio in that resolution. Here's where my problems started.
For starters, I've had horrible problems trying to playback simple projects with only 4 MIDI tracks and 4 audio tracks with LiveSynth Pro attached to them. It just doesn't playback properly, the audio "jumps" and makes all kind of funny noises. I tried tweaking the audio driver file depth and activating the "MME drivers" option, but this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. None of this happened with my old SBLive!
Another problem came when I tried to record my bass thorugh the soundcard: the noise level in the armed audio track is just unacceptable, even with the volume in my bass set all the way down. Also, it records and plays back the audio with all kinds of "jumps" and noises. Again, none of this happened with my old SBlive!
So I have these questions:
1) What did I do wrong?
2) How can I make my setup work?
3) Is there anyone with a setup similar to mine? And if so, how did you set it up to make it work?
Thanks in advance. Replies are welcome either here or at caffini@hotmail.com

[brzilian]

Originally posted by seba
Hi there,
I really need some help. I have a Pentium III at 1GHz, 256 MB RAM and an old 13 GB Hard Drive running W98 SE. For quite some time, I have used this setup to make home recordings with SONAR 1.31 through a SBLive! soundcard, and everything worked just fine. Never needed to tweak anything or do weird adjustments. I could record, mix and master stuff any way I wanted to.
However, at some point the 24bit/96kHz bug really bited me, and I wanted to jump in, so I bought and installed an Audigy 2 card, which is capable to record audio in that resolution. Here's where my problems started.
For starters, I've had horrible problems trying to playback simple projects with only 4 MIDI tracks and 4 audio tracks with LiveSynth Pro attached to them. It just doesn't playback properly, the audio "jumps" and makes all kind of funny noises. I tried tweaking the audio driver file depth and activating the "MME drivers" option, but this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. None of this happened with my old SBLive!
Another problem came when I tried to record my bass thorugh the soundcard: the noise level in the armed audio track is just unacceptable, even with the volume in my bass set all the way down. Also, it records and plays back the audio with all kinds of "jumps" and noises. Again, none of this happened with my old SBlive!
So I have these questions:
1) What did I do wrong?
2) How can I make my setup work?
3) Is there anyone with a setup similar to mine? And if so, how did you set it up to make it work?
Thanks in advance. Replies are welcome either here or at caffini@hotmail.com

1. You're pushing your system too hard. a P4 and 512Mb of RAM would be my minimum suggestion for working in Sonar with 24bit audio.

3. Get a newer system, more memory and switch to 2000/XP. 98 does not fully support WDM drivers like 2000/XP do. I'd consider dropping the Audigy 2 in favor of something like the M-Audio Audiophile or Echo MiaMIDI - the both have better DACs and more stable WDM/ASIO drivers.

[dachay2tnr]

Originally posted by brzilian
1. You're pushing your system too hard. a P4 and 512Mb of RAM would be my minimum suggestion for working in Sonar with 24bit audio.

Not true. I run 24 bit audio on a PIII 733 MHz (albeit at a 44.1 sample rate, not 96.0).

It really has alot to do with the number of tracks required, and the amount and type of plugins. I can typically get around 20 tracks with a "decent" number of plugins (just so long as one of them isn't Waves RVerb ).

Also, I don't do input monitoring or "live" midi, so I can run with fairly high latency.

[James Argo]

Originally posted by seba
For starters, I've had horrible problems trying to playback simple projects with only 4 MIDI tracks and 4 audio tracks with LiveSynth Pro attached to them. It just doesn't playback properly, the audio "jumps" and makes all kind of funny noises. I tried tweaking the audio driver file depth and activating the "MME drivers" option, but this sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. None of this happened with my old SBLive!

Go Options --> Global --> MIDI tab --> Playback. Set the buffer to higher value (eg. 1000 or 2000). This way has solved many MIDI playback problem with DXi. Use WDM or ASIO is preferable.

Originally posted by seba
Another problem came when I tried to record my bass thorugh the soundcard: the noise level in the armed audio track is just unacceptable, even with the volume in my bass set all the way down

I believe you didn't tweak your Windows recording mixer that much Well, noises come from many factors. It could be your CPU's fan, monitor radiation, etc... etc... But first thing I will do is make sure that I have selected propher recording input (source) in Windows' recording mixer. Plug your bass to your preamp, and line it to Line In of your soundcard. Select Line in from Windows' recording property. Turning off the display monitor (or stay away from it) while recording also can eliminate monitor radiations.

Originally posted by seba
Also, it records and plays back the audio with all kinds of "jumps" and noises. Again, none of this happened with my old SBlive!
So I have these questions:
1) What did I do wrong?
2) How can I make my setup work?
3) Is there anyone with a setup similar to mine? And if so, how did you set it up to make it work?

1. You probably select "What U Hear" in your Windows' recording property. It's common problem. Try not to use this option.
2. Select only Line In on Windows' recording mixer for sure !!!
3. Many folks here I knew have SB Audigy 2 (Where is Pedullist when we need him ? ) And they seem happy at some point of view...

Hope it helps...

Jaymz

ps. ...and don't forget to order Homerecording.Comp CD Vol II !!!
go www.homerecording.com/compcd

[seba]

Wow...! I did not expect such amount and quality of replies!! Thanks!!!!! There's lot's of info and advice here (...and I'm not exactly a computer expert), so I'll take note of everything and try different alternatives. Thanks again!

Sebastián

P.S.: It wold be real nice to hear about this Pedullist guy. Psst! Hey, are you there?

[BluesMeister]

Sebastián,

I'm sorry, but His Royal Dutchness Pedullist is far too busy these days drinking tea than to be bothered with the likes of us mere mortals.

However, I think you may be interested in the following link to this Sound On Sound article on the Creative Audigy sound card.

Creative cards are not really the best option for serious home recording work (or even flippant home recording work) There are too many limitations and compromises with the Creative cards.

You should consider buying something dedicated to this kind of work. Pay particular attention to the last sentence in Martin Walker's final post in the thread.

--
BluesMeister

[Pedullist]

What?

[BluesMeister]

Tea, Pedullist. You know, that beverage that all recently promoted engineering staff get to consume in great quantities as their minions and underlings do the meanial tasks that they themselves once performed.

Wait. Hang on a minute! I'm the engineering manager where I work.

Bugger, time for a cup of tea. Excuse me...

--
BluesMeister