enough's enough

  • Thread starter Thread starter dobro
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dobro

dobro

Well-known member
I had this problem a year ago, couldn't solve it, and gave up for a while. Okay, I'm going to solve this problem now, or I'm going to sell some gear and replace it with something that works.

I can't get my Gadgetlabs spdif add-on card to work. Gadgetlabs no longer exists, of course, so I can't contact them. I want spdif so I can process my CEP tracks with my Lexicon reverb unit. The Lexicon unit works (I took it back to the shop and had them test it in front of me). Cool Edit works. It's the Gadgetlabs soundcard spdif add-on card that's the problem.

Here's what I've tried. I did a loop test (spdif soundcard out to spdif soundcard in). I can get Cool Edit to record a new track from an existing track, but the new track has loads of clicks and pops. Each click occupies either the top or the bottom half of the onscreen waveform, but not both. Plus, this only works with the soundcard clock set as master, never as slave. Finally, and interestingly, if I switch the clock setting, I get a CEP error message that says the format I'm using is unsupported and I should convert the sample type to something compatible with the soundcard. If I switch the clock back to where it was, I get the same error message. Reloading the session doesn't change things. Reloading CEP doesn't change things either - I have to reboot the computer, then I can get it to work, although still with the clicks and pops. This suggests to me that it's definitely the soundcard. When I try using my Lexicon unit, I only get the error message, nothing else.

If somebody can help me with this, I can continue to use the Gadgetlabs soundcard, and save myself a lot of money. Otherwise, I'm going to have to ditch the Gadgetlabs card and replace it, or ditch the Lexicon and go with plugins.
 
Another thought occurs: this wouldn't arise out of meagre system resources, would it? I've got an old Pentium 233 with 32MB RAM.

I could, of course, buy a new computer and see if that fixed it, but it would be a sorta expensive experiment... :D
 
dobro said:
I've got an old Pentium 233 with 32MB RAM.
Click to expand...

with MMX technology? can you run directX 8 on this machine?

but , seriously, this is a joke, right?
 
Thank you for your tender consideration.

What's MMX technology?

What's directX 8?
 
please excuse my impertinence.....

i'm not familiar with your card, nor do i use s/pdif. i wouldn't think that your system resources is the problem. you are more likely to run into problems with software on your machine..as i'm sure you know, there are programs out there that won't even run on a pentium 233....however, i don't see why s/pdif would require any more resources than what you have if your card is working without s/pdif....what are the minimum system requirements for your card? you are using the latest drivers that are available?

is there any way you can test the card and the s/pdif on a different PC without buying a new one? your chipset or something in your system other than the processor or memory could be the problem.

sorry i can't be of more help.....good luck!
 
I think MMX stands for Marvel Mystery Extrapolative Technology.:D

DirectX is an optional quadruple bypass method.

Go buy a real comuter!:D
 
Yes, I understand the laughter, but I'm still not convinced that it's the smallness/slowness of the computer that's causing the problem with the soundcard not talking to the reverb unit.
 
the real joke is that there is no more driver support for your soundcard................:)
 
I don't think the slow computer is the problem for the s/pdif not working.

It might be a routing configuration thats not right.

Dobro, that comp might be worth something, antique? :D

You were kidding bout the DX8 and MMX thing ..right?
 
j: yeah 16/44.1 - the bit and sample rates are compatible. It's something else.

brokenwindow: I've been learning all this on a need-to-know basis. I haven't come across the terms MMX and DX-8 yet - I don't know what it means.

And although this computer is really small and slow, it does everything I need it to do - track live to two and handle the mixes. I don't see the point in spending the money on a new one until I have to.

I think j's come up with the best idea - test the card and the Lexicon on another system to see if they work there. Now, who do I know who'll trust me to take the lid off their puter and start rummaging around...?
 
MMXandDX8..???

I'm not the computor whiz-kid that some of the members here are, but.....

MMX means: Multi Media extentions, and is basically just a set of instructions so the CPU can understand how to process information sent by video, audio players, or software.....

The first release of Intel Pentium 233MGHZ processors did not have these instructions, so could not do any of the things asked by hardware,software relating to video,or audio .....

If your CPU does not have these instruction sets, it will not work with some types of audio, or video software.... especially if it is more up to date stuff than your machine....

Direct X 8, is another type of multi-media extentions(hence the X) and is even more up to date than MMX.I believe the '8' refers to 8 bit processing.,although I'm not positive about that.

Hope this helps..!!

I'm sure you can get a much newer machine without too much money being spent, Check some of the auction sites, E-bay has very inexpensive machines, and the site I bought from has them as well, U-bid.com

You should be able to get a much more up to date machine for under $400. At least a pentium II if not a slower PIII, or even a Celeron(not my personal choice), any of which would be much more capable of handling audio processing than a 233 pentium.

And the problems with your external hardware would most likely disappear altho this may or may not be true..... but the new machine definately would be able to handle the information easier.

Upstate
 
MMX is the marketing name for a group of instructions that were added to the Pentium instruction set at one point. The core set of instructions on a Pentium are the 80x86-compatible instructions. These more or less have stayed the same since the 80386 in order to maintain software compatibility. But Intel decided to add features at one point, I assume to improve sales. So they added these additional MMX instructions. These instructions are useful, as Upstate said, for the types of calculations found in games, multimedia. You can do the same things with the core instructions, but MMX does them faster. Software written for MMX instructions will normally check to see if the CPU supports MMX, and if so it will use them. If not, it will instead execute code using the core instructions.

DirectX is a software component of Windows. DirectX came about, at least in part, because game companies were not writing games to run on Windows. Windows did not allow direct access to the video card hardware, and so games on Windows ran way too slow to be practical. In an effort to get game companies to write games for Windows, Microsoft developed DirectX. This allowed much faster access to the screen.
DirectX now includes many more features for games. It also includes support for sound, game controllers, networked games, and video.
 
Just to mention...

"8" stands for the version. Directx 8.0

I believe 8.1 is the newest version.
 
have you tried anything besides 16/44.1? what is the lexicon capable of for digital out ? have you tried 16/48?
 
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