What is the problem?? Need Help!!

[evadbowl]

Yeah im pretty new to the recording world so let me explain what im working with first.

Dell Dimension 8100 (8 years old)
Upgraded Ram, added 512mb
Running Reaper (was running cakewalk studio 9 up until last week)
Behringer 1204 mixer straight into Turtel Beach Sound Card
Recording Audio and Midi

Everything was running great up until a couple weeks ago. All of a sudden the midi would not run very well and audio wanted to start lagging a bit. When I played back the audio and midi and the same time it was a mess. They would not sync. Keep in mind no settings were messed with. So, I decided to install Reaper to see if it might be Cakewalk screwing up. I love Reaper and more than likely make the switch. Cakewalk Studio 9 is OUTDATED. Recording has improved but the midi is still not 100%. Audio is fine. When I use quantize it just does not work correctly. Not sure why. When I have quantize off it works fine, and so does the audio. Another question I have is the ASIO. I dont understand what this is but from what I have read its supposed to be faster with low latency? Maybe thats my whole problem? In Reaper when I select ASIO in drivers it says none are found. Do I need to download a ASIO driver or do I need a Audio Interface? Thanks for reading all of this and hope someone can help me out. Thanks!

 

[darrin_h2000]

You might consider just getting a new computer...I have this place here where they sell redone computers that buisnesses trade when they get new stuff...I just bought one for $100 and its a 2.8ghz Pent4 with 1 gig of ram...its running my media center right now.

 

[kcearl]

You might consider just getting a new computer...I have this place here where they sell redone computers that buisnesses trade when they get new stuff...I just bought one for $100 and its a 2.8ghz Pent4 with 1 gig of ram...its running my media center right now.

Yup I got a IBM P4 3Ghz cpu with 1 gig of ram just for surfing the net...cost $99, stuck another three gigs of ram in it and a soundcard..runs fine, could record on it if I needed to...

 

[gecko zzed]

Getting a new computer is certainly a step in the right direction.

However, it doesn't explain why the existing one, which worked fine, now doesn't.

If I were the OP, I would try a system restore to a point some time before it started to go off. I would also do a rigorous check for viruses, malware etc. These are frequent causes of degraded performances.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Id shudder to think that anyone here would be using thier DAW on the web...bad idea.

Its 8 yo...computers dont stay good forever...it might not be up to the task of running a powerful DAW program.

 

[gecko zzed]

Id shudder to think that anyone here would be using thier DAW on the web...bad idea.

ha . . . I remember the days of running Logic in Windows 98 on a 500 mhz machine with 128k of ram. It worked . . . but it took some careful nursing along the way, including keeping it well away from the web and its threats.

These days it is nowhere nearly as critical, and I've been running Logic or Reaper alongside web applications with impunity.

 

[legionserial]

Reinstall windows. While you're at it, partition your hard drive, set up a dual boot, and keep the windows install you use for a DAW off the interrnet.