cracking sounds in WAV files--HELP

[JimPunkrockford]

hey there kids,
i need some help troubleshooting some intermitant cracking sounds when i record onto my hard disk.

the setup is like this

guitar > effects petels> roland vs840 > audiophile 2496 sound card > to windows pc using acid or sound forge

if i record using the roland it is all clean. if i go digital out of the roland to digital in the sound card it happens or digital out to anolog in or and combination i seem to get crackling noises.

is there a free program i can download that records? so i can record a few tracks and see if it is the software?

any help is greatly appriciated.

p.s. this puter is running windows ME .

 

[Halion]

It's a common problem, it's your sample buffer size. In the control panel of your soundcard there should be a way to change the buffer size. Lower buffer means less latency (the time it takes for the computer to handle the audio) BUT if you got too low, you get crackles (it drops little bits of audio because it can't handle it fast enough). Increase the buffer size a bit to solve the problem.

 

[tourettes5139]

You may also want to check that your clocks are synchronized while transferring digitally.

EDIT: oops. You said you were getting it with analog too. Halion nailed it.