No 24 bit operation with windows XP Pro

Uladine

New member
I am awaiting the arrival of Sonar 3 Producer Edition in the mail, and since it requires windows 2000 or XP, I went ahead and upgraded to Windows XP Pro.

I installed the new XP drivers for my ST Audio C-port sound card from the ST-audio website and figured everything would be fine, but I kept getting crazy distorted, slow playback from Sonar 1.31. I raised the Latency slider all the way to the "safe" side but it did not help.

I figured maybe it had to do with the upgrade of XP so I re-installed XP to overwrite the first installation but it did not help either. I uninstalled and then reinstalled Sonar but it did not help either.

The only thing that allows normal playback is lowering the bit rate in Sonar to 16 bit. What gives? I thought XP was supposed to provide better performance than 98.

While in 16 bit mode I can lower the Latency to like 5 milliseconds with no problems. Even at 96khz with 20 audio tracks and several plugins. As soon as I switch to 24 bit its over. 24 bit used to be no problem with 98. I used to operate at 24 bit / 44.1 khz, but now it's seems impossible. By the way, yes my soundcard is set to 24 bit.

As soon as Sonar 3 arrives my band is supposed to start recording a new project and we have a limited time to complete it so I need to get this figured out ASAP.

Maybe it has something to do with the WDM drivers? Would reformating my hard drive help or would that be a waste of time? Perhaps Sonar 3 will work at 24 bit? Any help is greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get to reliable 24 bit / 48 khz operation.
 
I'm not sure about "better performance" as such. It's going to be highly dependent on what hardware you have. What CPU? How much RAM?

Windows XP likes to have more RAM (especially for a DAW) than Win98 can even utilize. Perhaps you're running a little low?

Just a thought, but please post the specs of your system so we can help you a little better.
 
My system:

AMD Athlon xp1600 (1.4 ghz)

Cant remember the motherboard although know its an ASUS

512 MB sdram (my mobo allows me to switch to up to 512 MB ddr ram, but I haven't got around to upgrading yet. Would that help?)

2 Maxtor 40 GB 7200 rpm hard drives (one dedicated to OS and programs, the other for audio)

ST Audio DSP 2000 Cport


I just think its kind of weird that I can get such good performance at 16 bit / 96khz, but 24 bit is impossible regardless of the khz setting. I'd be happy with 24/44.1.
 
Back
Top