Echo And VST32

[BlindCowboy]

Hey,

I'm new to this forum and would like some advice. I have recently set up my system with the Echo Mia audio card and Cubase VST32. I am running Win 98 and it's a stand alone DAW with no other programs. (email, explorer, etc...)

1. When I go to select the ASIO driver, there's a list of different ones. One from Echo, one multimedia, etc... Which one do I use?

2. If I decrease the buffer to decrease the latency, what is lost in the recording. Am I sacrificing sound quality, or am I sacrificing the number of tracks I can have?

3. What is happening if i'm hearing "popping" in my recording? I am monitoring the input and the audio is clean.


Thanks for any help ya'll can offer..

Blind Cowboy...

 

[toyL]

1) assuming that you're sending audio to the Mia, select the Echo ASIO driver; you may want to go to the Echo website and get the "latest" driver for your Mia
2)I don't believe you'll be limiting the # of active tracks by decreasing the block buffer size; there will be some loss of sound quality, but it will be nominal as long as you don't go overboard; the # of active tracks is a result of your cpu speed and performance.
3) in regards to "popping" during playback--WELCOME to digital audio; a few pops are completely normal; they are an anomoly inherant in the digital reproduction of audio; the most common explanation for these pops is vague at best (at least to me) and states that the "accuracy" of the digital reproduction medium actually induces these pops; they will not, however, be a part of your actual recording; they're only present when playing back in digital; if you get more than the occasional pop, keep tweaking the block buffer size...have fun.

 

[Bass Master "K"]

Driver: what toyL said. You want to use the dedicated driver for your soundcard, your latency will be much better. If you don't have your music computer hooked up to the net (I don't either), get on a computer with net access and go download the latest version of your driver from their website. YOUR DRIVER IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT TO THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE OF YOUR SOUNDCARD.

Latency: Should not affect your "true" sound quality..ie: your sound is not going to be muddy or degraded or anything like that. But setting your latency too low can result in your CPU not keeping up. This can affect the number of tracks your computer handles. If you run into problems raise your latency a bit. Start out with it as low as it can go and only raise it if your having trouble.

Popping: If your hearing popping during screen updates or opening and closing windows during playback, the problem is probably your video card. Go in to your System and pull up your video card and turn it's acceleration way down, or off completely. That solves probably 90% of popping problems, and you don't need it for recording.

Hope this helps you. Let us know if it works.