Okay, so I bought a new laptop in hopes of helping out my recording situation. The laptop came with Vista. After some research I found out that US-122 and Vista dont mix. Okay so I fixed that problem, I downgraded my laptop to XP Pro, and I am having the same problems. No matter what audio I playback, I get cracks and pops, also the vocals sounds a bit weird. My sound is normal otherwise. Is this a corrupt coundcard issue or a laptop issue? Maybe its just a setting issue, i have no idea at this point, but I am getting really frustrated. Please help me.