Back again...with pops & clicks :(

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Editor

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OK, I haven't been around here for a while...I've managed to install Cubase SX 1/01 and a set of KX Project drivers for my Sound Blaster Live! card. (I know, I know...SB sux but it's the best I can afford right now)

I also know that my hardware is pretty much bare minimum for multi-tracking and VST work but, like I said, best I can afford:

XP Professional
emachine etower IS Celeron 600 mhz
40 gb 7200 rpm HD
256 ram (apparently, all I can install in this machine)

So far, I can input my guitar & play along with with other tracks; that took a lot of fiddling with the KX drivers but I've got the latency down to where it is acceptable. But ... now I'm noticing a lot of pops & crackles, even in Fruity Loops, which I used with no trouble on my old SB PC16 card.

The KX drivers lock everything to 48000--Fruity & everything else I come across is looking for 44100. Do you think this could be all/part of the problem?

Anything else to check?
 
You definitely need everything working at the same clock rate first - after that, right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop, click Properties - click on the Advanced tab - in the Performance section, click Settings - in the Visual Effects page, click the box Adjust for best performance - click Apply. Then click the Advanced tab in that window - Under Processor scheduling, change to Background services. Click Apply.

Try your system out in this configuration, see if the pops and clicks go away (they might have gone already if you managed to get all apps to work at the same clock rate, either 44k or 48 k)

One more thing that can improve performance is to set your swap file (paging file) to a fixed size so it doesn't contribute to fragmentation of your hard drive as much -

To do that, right-click on the "My Computer" icon on the desktop, click Properties - click on the Advanced tab - in the Performance section, click Settings - click Advanced - in the Virtual memory area, click Change - choose Custom size, and set both Initial size and Maximum size to the SAME size - 600 or 700 MB for both should work OK, but they both MUST be the SAME. Click Set, then click all the OK buttons to back out.

That's about all you need to do in XP for an audio machine, unless you have specific hardware problems... Steve
 
Oh, if that's a machine that has internet access you might be well advised to create a separate Hardware Profile for doing music - open your help files, in the search box type in "hardware profile", and it will tell you the steps necessary to do this. You will need to be logged on as System Administrator in order to do this.

Once you've done that, rename the Copy of your original hardware profile to "Music Monster", or something you'll remember - each time you start the machine, it will ask you which profile you want to use.

In your Music profile, disable your modem, network interface cards if they exist (you do this in System Properties - right click the My Computer icon, then click Hardware, then in the device manager section click Device Manager, from there go into each device that isn't necessary for music (Modem and NIC for sure) - at the bottom of the box, there will be a statement "Use this device", and a drop-down list. choose "Do not use this device", and click OK to back out. (This only applies to the Music Profile you're creating) , kill any screen savers (choose NONE ) - on the desktop, re-name "My computer" to "Music Monster", or something that will tell you at a glance which profile you're working under. This isn't mandatory, just helpful.

Another glitch cause is your CD or DVD drive(s) - Double click My Computer icon, right click each removable media drive, and in each one you need to disable Auto play for each type of file. This is much more involved than the old Auto Insert disable, but needs to be done to minimise hiccups because the OS is constantly checking to see if you've inserted a disk, and all these interruptions are bad for audio continuity.

Another thing - Right click on a blank place on the desktop, then click Properties - click Settings, Advanced, and see if there's a way to change your color settings to 256 color. That's all the colors you need for music software, and it lessens the load on resources. If your machine uses "shared memory" for video, this could be a big change.

If you're not clear on any of this, do NOT do it. Post back for more help. All these things can improve performance by letting the computer do only what's necessary, so it isn't so bogged down.

Hope that helped... Steve
 
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Great! Yeah, I understand most of what you said..I've even done a couple of those things already.

Are you familiar with the KX drivers? I haven't been able to find any asio drivers for the Live! card so they seemed like a good bet. From the reading I have done, the only drawback (?) is that they only operate at 48000. Apparently, some VST effects don't like that?


Anyway, thanks for all the suggestions Steve :-)

Chris
 
I'm not familiar with those drivers - and no matter how good they are, if they won't play well with your other stuff they're kinda useless. Your sample rates MUST be the same, also clock needs to be common for all digital devices. Sometimes this means running a SP/DIF cable between digital connections and spec'ing that input as clock source.

Have you checked Emu's site for their latest drivers for that card? That's usually the first place I look when things don't play nice, is newest drivers for EVERYTHING... Steve
 
knightfly said:
Your sample rates MUST be the same, also clock needs to be common for all digital devices.
Click to expand...
Well yes, the clock rates are the same but my question was more to do with changing the settings in projects (Fruity Loops, Cubase, exc.) before starting work on them. Sometimes I get warnings to the effect that "...some VST plugins may perform erratically at 48000...". I was told by one source that VST objects perform better at 48000, hence my confusion.

I suspected the KX drivers (http://kxproject.lugosoft.com/index.php?skip=1) because they are locked at 48000. Would old Fruity Loops files (recorded at 44100) develop pops & clicks because of this?

While I haven't had time to test the changes you guys suggested, I suspect that my upgrade from ME to XP has put an additional load on my little processor and that this would contribute to some noise.
Have you checked Emu's site for their latest drivers for that card?
Click to expand...
Do you mean the Creative Labs site? If so, I haven't been able to find any ASIO drivers for the Live! card there or anywhere else.

Chris
 
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