Cablemodem/recording problems:Solutions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter declanj
  • Start date Start date
D

declanj

New member
I recently added a new (long awaited) cable modem to my PIII550 with 160mb RAM. I have been very happily using the aardvark pro and getting great results. Now, there is a basic instability in the recording with 1 sec lapses which is extremely aggravating! Does wonders for my timing grr. I would gladly add more memory if I believed that would solve the problem, but I am not sure it would. Any experience with this? Solutions?]
declanj
 
i don't have a cable modem, but i doubt more ram would help this situation. sounds like it is a driver problem or that a systems file got corrupted. for starters, you might want to confirm that you have the latest aardvark drivers for your card. these have been updated a couple times since release. one significant problem with the original drivers is that they wouldn't record in sonic foundry's acid properly....you might want to check the system's device manager to see if there are any new sound drivers since installing the modem...you can disable anything you aren't using...maybe it's an irq conflict, which i know very little about , cause i haven't had one yet..........hope this helps. if it's something beyond my knowledge, i'm sure there are others who would have a better idea.
 
I got a cable modem...

I don't think it should affect you in anyway besides faster internet speed etc. It probably messed up you settings when you installed it or something, I dought it's the cable. I hope this doesn't happen to me, I'm thinking of getting the Arrdvark. You got anything to say about it, problems ect...?
 
The problem lies more probably with your network card (assuming that's how you connect with the cable modem) as opposed to the modem itself. If you have a cheap network card, old drivers, etc., that could be the problem. I have used 3com and SMC cards and have had no problems with recording. Also, it may be that windows or your bios has assigned the same IRQ to both your sound card and your network card. In that case, it would be best to try and change that in either the bios setup or in windows device manager. If neither of these work, sometimes just trying a different PCI slot will give you a different IRQ. Also, if your cable company supports it, you might try setting up your connection to use a static IP as opposed to DHCP.
 
If you want to keep your computer stable for recording, set it up for audio and little else (no modems, ethernet cards, etc)....
 
Hi I appreciate all your responses. I followed what sounded like a good suggestion and updated the Aardvark drivers. I am using a USB connection for the modem so there is no network card conflict or other sound device or IRQ conflict. I checked all these. The problem still remains. A dedicated recording computer sounds effective but drastic. I have other computers in operation and really do not wish to mess with more.
Assuming I get the problems worked out, I have found the Aardvark a great sound card for someone new to home recording. Very worth the $ with a good mike. Even if the folks at Aardvark did rather snottily tell me that I would be a lot smarter to buy a Pentium when I greatly prefer AMD’s and think they are generally superior. Apparently at the time, most of the AMD motherboards did not do well with music hardware.
A note: I used to get the same 1 sec glitches while playing a midi file and being online with my 56k, and only while online! And with a cable you are always online. Will this always be an issue. There are no other conflicts I can observe and I return to wondering about RAM. Any other thoughts?
 
Im on a computer right now with a cable modem with 64mb ram and I can playback midi and audio fine, as well as record midi and audio while playing back midi and audio.....with 64 mb.....its not the ram.....
 
I am using a DFI motherboard with a VIA VT82C693 Apollo Pro plus chipset.
 
you might want to think about getting something with an intel chipset, like an asus cusl2 series......however, there may be a way to fix this with your current configuration...i don't know....

if i had your problem i'd write aardvark and the dfi guys about this..though i don't know if you will get a response from the latter.

i'm pretty sure that the aardvark would work fine with my system and a cable modem, though i haven't tried it yet.

i'm assuming you didn't have identical problems, but similar problems before and after the cable modem was installed. it would be nice if you had another sound card you could install and test with.....you could also try reinstalling the aardvark....

if someone else can't help you fix this,, i think the worst case scenario would be getting a new motherboard...and they aren't too expensive..otherwise you could try another sound card..

good luck
 
How about you just yank the USB cable out when you're recording? A little primitive and inconvenient, but if it works its worth it.
 
So, let me see if I have this. I can get a new motherboard, (building from a barebones is the extent of my experience) which should be a Pentium. Of course, I already did that last year and somewhat against my better judgement as I think the Pentium is a big hoax on American stupidity. I can pull the plug which makes some sense but then would require also uninstalling all the software because it still tries to run. I can use 2 computers. Ummm, is anyone running an Aardvark 24/96 with an Athlon processor with any degree of success??? AMD now has a list of compatible motherboards also mentioned on the Aardvark site. To date I have found them a little snotty so I do not have a lot of faith in tech support.
 
tech support being snotty is not a good reason to distrust them....

if you think troubleshooting this problem just won't work, then it's probably your motherboard that is the problem....i think you have a nice processor, you need a motherboard with an intel chipset...i don't know if the 550 is socket 370, but if it is, the cusl2 is a good board with the option of a 1ghz....

however, i really think that you may be able to solve this problem without replacing any hardware...there are certain aspects of your system that i don't have any experience with.....and i'm assuming all along that you don't have any programs running besides the aark control panel and your recording software, and explorer of course....have you done a search for reviews of your motherboard? or for the chipset?

but this is probably pointless, cause DFI motherboard is probably crap as is the chipset...if you get an asus that can fit your form factor , then you can get everything working for a hundred or so...but go amd if ya wanna, i''m not........not yet anyway
 
Since you say you did not have the problem before you got your cable modem, the FIRST thing I would try is disconnecting the cable modem while recording.

Yours is the first cable modem I have ever heard of using USB rather than a network card. I know that Cakewalk advises disabling a network card if you begin having distortion or pauses in digital audio. Therefore you might consider making a second "hardware profile" in Windows that has your USB ports disabled. Its a quick thing to try....

Also, did you install any new software at the time you installed your cable modem? Try to think back ... if your system worked fine before, there is probably a software / hardware incompatibilty with something new going on.
 
stupid techs

I seem to recall my uncle had/still has a Dell PII 450, and when he got a cable modem, he got a USB ethernet abapter, and the tech was so incompetent that he, (my uncle that is) had to have me come over, and do a clean reinstall. I did replace the UBD ethernet with a PCI one.

My current system uses a cable modem via a linksys BB router. I never actually record on it (via DIGI001) at home, but it does play back fine while connected to Net (Via Netgear 10/100 card)

A clean reinstall may be in order. I would highly reccommend that you get a HW NIC.

(bear with me here, I know more about troubleshooting PC's in general than I know about recording...)
 
Back
Top