lag after new install

[RetroMan]

My computer was getting a bit cluttered with stuff, so I did a full reformat and fresh install. Now when i'm working with Cubase there is a little bit of 'play on' when I hit the stop button - eg one half to a second - it doesn't stop instantly like it did before. It's not fatal or anything, it's just a little bit annoying when i'm going over parts.
What could be causing this? could it be the soundcard drivers? I installed ASIO 4 All but that didn't seem to fix it

I am using Cubase SX3 with XP on a 2.8Ghz machine with 1Gb ram

Cheers

 

[wim van p]

What kind of audio card do you use?

Cheers

Wim

 

[RetroMan]

What kind of audio card do you use?

Creative Audigy 2 ZS with the breakout box.

I think this is the cause of the problem because the interface screen with all the Audigy sound levels and stuff doesn't look the same as it did before (graphically)

I just had a look at the 'device manager' and it says there is a conflict with "Multi Media Device Controller" I thought I installed the latest drivers for the Audigy?! is this perhaps be referring to the onboard sound (if i has it) on the motherboard and it's clashing with my soundcard? I noticed one time when I booted up it said that it 'found new hardware' and I clicked on ignore because the sound was working (supposedly through the Audigy)

 

[legionserial]

I have the same card. I don't use it for recording but I can say that the latest Audigy drivers suck. I went back to the previous ones.

If you have onboard sound, disable it in BIOS.

 

[RetroMan]

I have the same card. I don't use it for recording but I can say that the latest Audigy drivers suck. I went back to the previous ones.

Aha! I have used the latest drivers like I have been led to believe is the right thing to do! did you use the drivers that are shipped with your card or just a previous version of sorts. Are you able to give me a build number?

If you have onboard sound, disable it in BIOS.

Will do, nice work Legion thanks for that

 

[legionserial]

Aha! I have used the latest drivers like I have been led to believe is the right thing to do! did you use the drivers that are shipped with your card or just a previous version of sorts. Are you able to give me a build number?

I didn't use the original ones that the card shipped with, they're years old. I can't remember the number off the top of my head. I'm at work at the moment so I can't look. Basically if you go to the creative website and look for the drivers, it's the one before the most recent. The new ones have bits missing for some reason.

As I recall, I had to install the original ones on the disc that came with it first, and then install the new ones from the web afterwards, otherwise I didn't have the THX console and surround controls etc.

On a side note though, if you can afford it at some point, it might be worth looking into finding a more audio production geared card than the Audigy. They can be found for a lot cheaper. I switched some years ago, and there was a massive improvement.

 

[RetroMan]

Hey thanks for all the help Legion, I really appreciate it. I went into the BIOS and disabled the onboard sound then reinstalled the suite that came with my card and downloaded the drivers you mentioned, but unfortunately it hasn't made a difference. I'll just keep trying different stuff and drivers - I'm sure I can nut it out. I can't understand what the problem is - it worked like a dream before the reformat. Maybe I should bung in some more RAM?

On a side note though, if you can afford it at some point, it might be worth looking into finding a more audio production geared card than the Audigy. They can be found for a lot cheaper. I switched some years ago, and there was a massive improvement.

This is something to think about what card did you end up purchasing?
It's interesting though that I bought this Audigy card with my computer some years ago because it had emphasis on it being a really good performer for digital home recording?! that was the manifacturer's sales pitch obviously.

 

[legionserial]

Hey thanks for all the help Legion, I really appreciate it. I went into the BIOS and disabled the onboard sound then reinstalled the suite that came with my card and downloaded the drivers you mentioned, but unfortunately it hasn't made a difference. I'll just keep trying different stuff and drivers - I'm sure I can nut it out. I can't understand what the problem is - it worked like a dream before the reformat. Maybe I should bung in some more RAM?

The other thing you could do is check your buffer settings. I can't remember exactly how to do that with the audigy as it's been a while, but I think you can get to it through the device setup in Cubase. It maybe that you need to decrease your buffer a bit. Not too much though as you'll end up with pops and clicks. This should decrease your latency a bit, but Audigys aren't really known for their low latency anyway.

This is something to think about what card did you end up purchasing?
It's interesting though that I bought this Audigy card with my computer some years ago because it had emphasis on it being a really good performer for digital home recording?! that was the manifacturer's sales pitch obviously.

That card is an excellent card for watching movies and playing games on, but the recording side they talk about is really just marketing. The A/D converters are part of the software as far as I'm aware, and as such aren't going to be as good as the hardware converters you'd get in more specifically geared audio cards. In effect it's not going to be a whole lot better for recording than your average soundcard, it's just that it has more inputs. It's not true 24bit either really, but I'm not going to go into that.

I went for the M-Audio Delta 44 in the end, and I've never looked back. the converters are great. The improvement in my recorded sound was immmensly better than what I experienced with the Audigy. 4 inputs, 4 outputs, and it only cost me £90 (I'm not sure what the is in dollars these days), whereas the Audigy cost me about £200. I would highly recommend the Delta 44 as reasonably priced cards go. If you want to spend even less you could go for the M-Audio 2496.

No, I don't work for M-Audio. I just like their stuff. It's treated me well.

 

[wim van p]

The modern way of recording is with an audio interface, which is an external audio card specially for recording.

Your Creative Audigy does not fall into this category and does not support Asio drivers, which are needed to run modern DAW's.

Creative has another brand for this called E-MU.

Have a look at there site.

Cheers

Wim

 

[RetroMan]

I fixed it - it was all down to the ruddy ASIO drivers - all I had to do was go into Cubase and select which driver I wanted to use from the drop down list. The ASIO4ALL driver was the best as expected.

So it's all working as it did previously, but I'm going to start looking at a purpose built card - it's high time I got one of those. I had a look at the Delta 44 and it's pretty awesome for the price

Your Creative Audigy does not fall into this category and does not support Asio drivers, which are needed to run modern DAW's.

This is the weird part, it obviously doesn't, but they talk about how it uses ASIO2.0 in the documentation and it's even got the logo printed on the top of the breakout box!!?

 

[legionserial]

This is the weird part, it obviously doesn't, but they talk about how it uses ASIO2.0 in the documentation and it's even got the logo printed on the top of the breakout box!!?

They do support ASIO. I used the creative ASIO that's part of the drivers when I was using that card until I discovered ASIO4all.

It's just that even with ASIO drivers the latency isn't great.