I'm New -- And I Have a Problem..

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bbjack

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I recorded years ago using cubase le or se, can't remember, along with reason 3.0. I used a firewire interface.

I just bought some new gear and I'm just now getting back into it and have to relearn some of the ropes. A big problem that I discovered tonight is if I have more than 4 or 5 tracks in cubase, the sounds gets REALLY fuzzy and drags. This is a huge issue! I'll need a lot more tracks than that..

I'm using the focusrite scarlett 2i2 USB interface with Cubase 5 and Reason 5. They're both 32bit versions but my machine is 64bit. Is that the issue? I have no other programs running on my machine. It even happened when I closed reason and only had cubase open.

I'm running: Windows 8 (64bit)
Pentium Dual Core processor CPU E6600 @3.06 GHz, 3.0GB RAM, Intel G41 Express Chipset

Is this common with USB interfaces? Or is my machine just not powerful enough?
 
Do you have any effects put on sounds (I mean in Cubase?)
Do you have only audio tracks or you are using virtual instruments?

Both effects and virtual instruments can be resource hogs.
 
All the tracks were my guitar plugged into the interface with amplitube fender running on each track. You're right there. I started disabling amplitube on some of the tracks and I was able to add more and more tracks without the popping and crackling. If I turn amplitube back on, it pops and crackles and gets worse the more tracks that have the effect.

What's the solution without giving up my guitar amp modeler and effects? More RAM?
 
After opening task manager, I'm seeing that "system interrupts" is using a lot of the CPU (around 50%! Sometimes a little less, sometimes more) but it only happens when Cubase is running. And that was just with 5 tracks running. Once I close cubase, "system interrupts" falls to 0% and goes away. I'm not sure what the deal is on that. I woud be golden if that didn't happen.

EDIT:
I just downloaded asio4all and set that up instead of using the focusrite audio driver. That helped a lot. System interrupts is down to around 15 or 20% with 11 audio tracks in cubase all with amplitube on them just to see if it could handle it. If you guys know of any other tips that would help me to keep the system resources down (like asio4all settings or settings in cubase) and take away any amount of slight crackling, that would help too! I really appreciate it. A lot!
 
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With that amount of ram (a bit small), amp sims like those can really suck up the juice I'm afraid. You might need to look into some less CPU hungry plugs for modeling.. There are a ton of (decent?) free ones. Check out KVR.

Also, are you using ASIO4ALL? You can increase the buffer size to full and that will reduce the strain. But there's a catch... If you increase it too much, you'll notice a lag between striking the string and hearing the result. You need to find the lowest setting that allows for the least amount of lag. After you've recorded and start mixing or fiddling around, drag that sucker to full and it will help a ton.
I'm running only 2 gigs of RAM and that solves my problem for mix time, although I do sometimes have to sacrifice some nicer plugins for a more stock selection.

Also, more ram can help, but for me the best option was to do away with that type of amp sim. I liked one called Juicy77, and the maker has some other freebies that weren't too bad as well.
 
Once you have recorded the track, stem render it (now sure what that may be called in Cubase) - basically making a copy of the audio track with the plugin on it. Then mute the original track and disable the plugin (Reaper does this automatically when you stem-render a track.)
 
Might be a W8/driver issue? Go talk to the guys at soundonsound.com especially Martin Walker, he will know.

3gig is low for W7/64 never mind W8! I recently bought 2x4G Kingston (from a computer shop!) for £66.0 so it is not that expensive to upgrade.

Don't know why you need ASIO4all? Is the 2i2 not an ASIO device? (an NI Komplete Audio 6 would not faff so, betcha, betcha..)

Then there is Cubase. It is very posessive and likes the PC all to itself and make ddamn sure you do NOT have the box ticked "Release Drivers in Backgound". That way madness lies.

Lastly, I would give Reaper a spin and reserve Cubase for the (few) things Reaper cannot do!

Dave.
 
Thanks for the help so far guys. It looks like my machine is upgradeable up to 4 gigs. Right now, there's 2 sticks in there, 1GB and a 2GB. So I'll probably just buy a 2GB stick and replace the 1GB that's in there, giving me 4 gigs. I think that'll be enough for what I'm doing.

ecc83 - I had read somewhere about the ASIO4all solving someone's problem. So I decided to donwload that and use it instead of the one that came with my scarlett 2i2. It helped a TON with whatever was causing the insane amount of CPU usage that system interrupt was using. I can more than double the amount of tracks all with effects and system interrupt was cut in half, PLUS some.
 
ASIO4all only finds a workaround for true ASIO drivers that are not written well. Typically, this is only for really old interfaces.

W8 is new, and I haven't seen any steps for performance for audio as of yet. I also have not played with W8 myself, but you should hopefully be able to do some of the same things as you would with W7. Google 'Optimize Windows 7 for audio performance', and see if that helps you at all.

Sorry, I can't be of more help. :(
 
So, should I not use ASIO4all? Should I use something else?

Here's a screenshot:

szaglf.webp

The ASIO4all is the only one that's clear when recording and playing back.

ASIO DirectX is REALLY bad and fuzzy. So is the Focusrite 2.0 USB driver

Generic Low Latency is a little cracky and poppy, but not as bad as the DirectX and Focusrite. But sounds a lot worse when playing my guitar through it.

Sorry for sounding like a noob.
 
No sorry stuff around here. Yer good.

First, have you checked that you have the latest driver from Focusrite? HERE

Also, after having the FR driver selected, have you adjusted the buffer size? After selected, proceed to it's 'control panel' and raise the buffer size.

Larger buffer size, gives your computer time to process. Lower buffer size, allows for less latency while recording. You computers performance ability will decide what is possible.
 
Yup, stay with teh focusrite asio driver and not asio4all. As Jimmy said, check your buffers, sample rates, etc.

But from a quick read-through, I'd say it's the number of amplitude instances you've got going. As others have said, it'll eat up cpu resources quickly. Reverb is very cpu intensive also. MJB suggested to render to a new track. In cubase, it's called freezing a track. It will create an audio track with your amplitude effect so you don't have to use the plug anymore. Once you freeze a track, remove the plug so the cpu isn't working so hard.
 
Ah yes the buffer size was all the way down on 1 ms for the Focusrite! No wonder the fuzz. The best I can do without noticeable popping is at about 4 or 5 ms. Is that around average and what is to be expected?

Btw, yea I installed the new driver from the focusrite website last week when I got the interface, so it's up to date!
 
Usually, any latency under 10ms or so, is not that noticeable. As low as you can go, without your PC having hiccups, is what you want.

After recording/tracking is done, throw that buffer/latency setting to it's highest level. Then you can get the most out of your CPU for adding more plugins.
 
bbjack said:
The best I can do without noticeable popping is at about 4 or 5 ms. Is that around average and what is to be expected?
Click to expand...

If you're listening to the direct monitor on the 2i2, you can set your buffers/latency very high and ease the load on the cpu. With the 2i2 (I have one also), there is no mix knob between playback and recorded channel. It's either Direct Monitor On or Direct Monitor Off, so settings levels between what you're hearing and what you're recording is a little tricky. If you can find a nice balance in your headphones as you're recording and listening with direct monitor on, then you can set the latency high and not worry about it. If you can't find a good balance, then you'll have to turn Direct Monitor off and listen to your recorded channel after it's gone through Cubase. Which means latency and more work for your cpu.

As Jimmy said, 10ms or so isn't noticeable. If you can dial that in and not get glitches, you're doing okay.

Sorry, if this doesn't make sense. Hard to explain, ya know... If it doesn't, please say so and maybe someone else can do a better job than me!!!
 
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