Can anyone help me....?

[WATYF]

O.K... I heard about N-track and how great it is for the price and all... so now i have it and I'm trying to do my first recording using N-track... well... here's the deal... every once in a while... and by once in a while I mean "way to frickin' often", N-track just locks up.. and I don't mean it freezes and I have to kill the app... I mean,... total freeze... no controls... no nothin'... I have to hit reset just to get back into my computer... and THREE times since I've started this one stupid song, I've have a blue screen of death fatal error that was followed by a complete memory dump... now... I would like to know why this software is so darn unstable, because as far as usability, I have found it to be pretty good,... but I can't handle the constant crashing and loss of work... can anyone help me out here..?

I was previously using Cool Edit 2000 just for starters and had no such troubles with that... my specs are..

PIII 866MHZ
Gigabyte MB w/Via Appollo Pro 133A Chipset
320 MB RAM
Onboard 3D sound
Windows 2000 Pro

Now,... I'm still new to this stuff,... which is why I haven't gone out and blown 6 million dollars on a real sound card... actually, what I get through this cheap onboard sound is good enough for what I need right now... so I see no need to waste the cash... anywho... anyone got any ideas as to why this is bombing so much? Let me know...

WATYF

P.S. Is it still taboo to use Athlon processors for DAW's?? When I first started out I wanted an Athlon because,.. well.. because everyone knows they're faster.. then I looked into info on DAW's (mainly on this website) and everyone and their mother said to run screaming from AMD CPU's... so are they still the scourge of the earth...? or can I finally upgrade to a REAL CPU?

 

[Gidge]

Is it at any particular time that it freezes, or just randomly.....for instance, when using plug-ins?...

 

[WATYF]

Well....

The stack dumps have always happened when recording... (I'm pretty sure)... but the lock ups happen all sorts of times... when recording... (or when I hit stop when I'm finished recording rather), and when I'm selecting VST plugins... when I turn the "Live" function on or off... when I set the monitors from Stereo to Mono or change from 16 to 24 bit... etc. etc. etc.

WATYF

 

[Tom Hicks]

I suspect driver issues with W2K.Go to your soundcards website and download the latest drivers.

Tom

 

[zoetrope]

I use N-track on a system with about 1/8th the power of yours, and have very few problems. I'm using Win 98 and a Sound blaster Live card. I'm guessing it's the operating system or drivers as suggested by Tom. You definitely have more than enough computer to run this program.

 

[WATYF]

well....

I wouldn't doubt if it's compatibility... I've had nothing but problems with this VIA chipset board I've got, no matter how often I update all the drivers... probs with Audio and Video apps... I'm seriously considering going to a new system... which leads me to repeat my previous question... since I don't want to shell out the bucks for a P4 with Rambus memory that might be obsolete in a year (or sooner),... should I consider an Athlon.. maybe a 1.2+GHZ...???? I know it'd run my gaming apps faster as well as my office apps... the only reason I don’t already have an Athlon is cause of the dire warning I received about running DAW’s with AMD processors from this website... so has the mood changed any since then...???

If not.. then what would be the best alternative...? If I went to a new system, should I stick with P3 and get a different mobo and chipset or try the P4? (I’ve heard that they’re not selling so well because of the goofy RAM that they force you to use)... so what’s the verdict here... I need input...

WATYF

 

[Gidge]

how can it be compatability if its onboard sound n video....N-Track is definitely compatable.....I run a Celeron 500mhz with no problems with a crappy HP Pavillion motherboard.....

how many tracks are you dealing with?
how many DX effects are you using
do u have the latest version of DirectX?
what is the speed of your hard drive?

 

[WATYF]

Well.. again...

Well... the last time it happened I had 5 tracks active, and they each had about three effects on em.. all VST plug-ins.. but before it's happened when there were as little as two tracks going... I have 8.1a DX (I'll have 9 as soon as it hits the fan, if it hasn't already) and my hard drive is an IBM 7200RPM...

I was acutally implying nothing about N-track, but rather my displeasure with VIA chipsets... I've had nothing but trouble with this one. The onboard audio on this is VIA's, so I wouldn't be surprised if it just plain couldn't handle the app.. anywhoo... my question still stands... should I go Athlon..? I really, really,... really want to...

WATYF

 

[Tom Hicks]

misc...
the new AMD supposedly outperforms the intel chipsets for DAW.The latest direct-x is reported to be problematic(n-track vst performance is superior anyway.The famous freeverb plugin uses the same basic code in both versions but uses less cpu in vst).
It sounds like you suspect hardware bugaboo.This software actually works pretty good across a wide range of pc and driver variations.Good luck getting going.

Tom

 

[getuhgrip]

I've never had any success with on-board sound chips. If you check their web site and find that 133A is viable (no pun intended), I'd try a cheapie PCI soundcard just to eliminate the on-board as a suspect.

Good luck.

 

[Sangram]

I use n-track on a machine that's at least three generations older than yours:

AMD K6-2 400, not OC'd
128 MB RAM
8 Gb Seagate 5400 RPM UDMA 33
Cheapo Yamaha 724 s/card (Just bought a Creative Vibra 128, but that's a real lemon of a card)
16 MB SiS AGP

I can't use too many effects and DSP, CPU util goes upto 90/95% on a bad day, but still no freeze or hang. Check with Flavio and see if he can help. I would think it's the onboard sound that's giving you the problem. Try selecting the Wave Mapper instead of the DX-accelarated sound in Preferences -> Wave devices. Also try a re-install of n-Track to check if it helps. Lastly, try running it on Win98SE or ME (Which I'm on). Win2K has major compatibility issues for most hardware.

Right now, I'm planning to move to the AMD Duron 750 with the A7V mobo, gives me a lot of flexibility to move to the T'bird later. I would recommend Athlon over Pentium, but I guess that's personal taste. I like the low redundancy of AMD systems, can't keep up with Intel.

 

[WATYF]

mmmMMMUUUAAHAHAHAHAaaa!!!!

Well.. my problems are soon to be "NO MORE"!!!! Yaaahooo!!! I am going to be the proud new daddy of a blazing fast Athlon 1.4GHZ DDR puter.. Man,... I'm gettin' all giddy just thinkin' aboot it... anywho... this one's gonna have the new SiS735 chipset... (i know, you think SiS sucks, but their newest chipset blows away even the AMD 760's.. go figure) so I won't have to deal with VIA issues anymore... I also might take your advice and just get a cheapie sound card just so I don't have to deal with on-board anymore... but it's been fine as far as quality so far so I saw no reason to replace it up till now... anywhoo.. thanks for the help guys... I'm off to get my smokin' fast machine now...

WATYF

 

[zoetrope]

Stat!

Give us all the stats on your new machine. HD, RAM, etc.

 

[WATYF]

Here it is....

Behold.. the power... (ooooooohhh....aaaaaaahhhh...)

AMD Athlon T-Bird 1.4 GHZ, 266Mhz FSB
ECS K7S5A, Socket A, DDR & SDRAM Mobo
256Mb DDR PC-2100
IBM 40GB 7200RPM HDD
Pioneer 16x DVD-ROM
LiteOn 16x10x40 CDRW
On Board Sound (again.. )

(those are just the specs that pertain to sound)

Just in case anyone's interested,... These new SiS735 chipsets are the bomb.. so to speak... If any of you are thinkin' of going AMD then seriously consider pickin' one up... they're literally half as much (sometimes less than half as much) as the mobos with the AMD 761 or VIA KT226 chipsets in em, yet they smoke both of em... I can't wait to try this thing out.

Here's what I use to record.

Behringer Eurorack MX 602A Mixer
Shure SM-58
Taylor 414CE (My baby)

So far I've gotten a pretty decent sound out of it. But now I'm sure I won't have to deal with any performance issues... Now, if you'll excuse me,... I have to go wipe up the drool off my keyboard...

WATYF

 

[Gidge]

That Taylor 414CE is a mighty fine instrument....are u recording it with the sm58 thru the Behringer?.....

 

[WATYF]

Yes... indeed it is...

Yeah... what I do is blend it by running the pezio pick-up through one channel, and then the SM58 through another and mix em till it sounds just right... it's actually pretty good for what I have to work with... I've let people listen to it and told em it was recorded with just a mixer and on-board sound and they were amazed... heck.. I don't even have it running on stereo inputs yet.. This is sort of just me playin' around for now.. when I have to do some serious recording, obviously I'll upgrade.

WATYF

 

[WATYF]

Well..

I got another stack dump again today...

FYI... when it's dumping the entirety of my system memory, as I stare at the blue screen of death, it shows me the file that caused the interrupt.. and every time it's been "viaaudio.sys"... I know as soon as I get this new 'puter I won't have to deal with it any more.. thank God.

WATYF

 

[Sangram]

Definitely the onboard sound

Gee, that wuz zee problem. viaaudio.sys sounds like, well, let's see, it wouldn't have something to do with audio from a company called Via, which makes the KT 133, which is an AMD Athlon/Duron chipset...

Look no further. Use external sound card. When your new machine comes, don't use the onboard sound.

Sang