i need so much help

[yesbergerman]

gahhhh.

i've been posting on recordingreview.com and the help has been limitedd so hopefully i could get some good ideas here.

heres the problem. i have a mackie 1640 w/ firewire and a laptop running xp with (currently) a 4pin firewire adapter. i have the mixer going into the computer via a 6to4 pin firewire cable and back out for monitoring (i don't actually monitor while playing). anyways. i'm using sonar, with 44.1khz and 512kb buffer and "safe" buffer speed.

i'm getting this clicking sound that only happens when theres sound.

thats a test of various channells and mics but by listening to the first segment you will hear what i mean. I have tried changing wall outlets, mics, channels n my mixer, and the clicking still persists.

this is SO frustrating ive spent so much time meessing around and ccannot find the source. ould it be the mixer? or my computer? any ideas would help. or anything more i could tell you i would be glad to do

your help is SO GREATLY APPRECIATED. you want a return? sure. i will do the best i can. i'm doing a recording on wednesday for basically a compilation of everything my trio has done and it would be great if I could get a nice clean recording.


thanks so much!!!

 

[PollyWaffle]

i get similar clicks when the latency is too low, try a higher latency

 

[BRIEFCASEMANX]

you said it's never happened in sonar. why not just use that? Could also be a malfunction with your hardware.

 

[MCI2424]

gahhhh.

i've been posting on recordingreview.com and the help has been limitedd so hopefully i could get some good ideas here.

heres the problem. i have a mackie 1640 w/ firewire and a laptop running xp with (currently) a 4pin firewire adapter. i have the mixer going into the computer via a 6to4 pin firewire cable and back out for monitoring (i don't actually monitor while playing). anyways. i'm using sonar, with 44.1khz and 512kb buffer and "safe" buffer speed.

i'm getting this clicking sound that only happens when theres sound.

thats a test of various channells and mics but by listening to the first segment you will hear what i mean. I have tried changing wall outlets, mics, channels n my mixer, and the clicking still persists.

this is SO frustrating ive spent so much time meessing around and ccannot find the source. ould it be the mixer? or my computer? any ideas would help. or anything more i could tell you i would be glad to do

your help is SO GREATLY APPRECIATED. you want a return? sure. i will do the best i can. i'm doing a recording on wednesday for basically a compilation of everything my trio has done and it would be great if I could get a nice clean recording.


thanks so much!!!

Update both Soundcard AND video drivers. Video cards have caused these types of problems. You might want to optimize your computer for sound recording here:
http://www.jakeludington.com/ask_jake/20050225_optimize_your_pc_for_audio_and_video.html

and Here:
http://www.funklogic.com/pcaudio.htm

and Here:
http://www.editthis.info/sonar/Optimizing_Your_DAW

Good Luck.

 

[yesbergerman]

okay

you said it's never happened in sonar. why not just use that? Could also be a malfunction with your hardware.

when did i say it never happened in sonar?

i'll try a higher latency.

and i'll go to those links.

thanks guys. i'll respond after I try all this

 

[yesbergerman]

hmm

well. i ran through all those links, created a dedicated account for recording, and still got the same thing. i tried all sorts of latencys and buffer sizes, and with each one, the popping would change but never dissapear. at .5 ms it would become crazy loud and at 24 it would be about the same (i orignally had it set at 6) i tried other buffer sizes from 512 to 2000 and nothing seemed to help.

one thing that couldve caused a problem is that i couldn't get sonar to recognize the mackie on the new account so i did run as... my othe raccount where the settings were already applied, but still i doubt that would caues this problem.


in the newbie forum someone told me they had the same problem when using a laptop but were just fine with a desktop.



hmm. i really don't want to buy a desktop just for this, I don't really have the money.

Any other ideas? THANKS SO MUCH

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

in the newbie forum someone told me they had the same problem when using a laptop but were just fine with a desktop.

Make sure that you turn off all unnecessary TSRs while working with audio - firewalls, virus checkers, iTunes, etc. This of course would mean it would be a good idea to disconnect from the Internet while working with your audio too.

Also, give your HD a good defragging. If you have too much fragmentation, especially on drives with slower spin rates and seek times, it could be that your HD just cannot keep up with the data stream and your dropping samples.

Third, make sure that you have the sample rate set the same all the way through your chain, in your MOTU and in your software.

Fourth, check the specs on your HD. If you have an older drive that's running at anything less than 7200RPM, it may just not be able to keep up with too many audio streams at once. One check for this (though not a definitive one) is whether the number of tracks you are tyring to simultaneously work with has an effect and the amount of clicks you're geiing. If you're fine with tracking one or two tracks, but the noise increases in frequency as the number of tracks goes up, your HD might just not be up to snuff. If that's the case, upgrading to a desktop should not be necessary, but an external UW SCSI, FireWire or USB hard drive may do the trick. Or even an upgrade of the internal HD itself.

HTH,

G.

 

[yesbergerman]

thanks

not sure what you mean. could you give me the ideal specs tyo set my sonar audio options panel to? i'm still not sure about what all of those mean.

but the clicking occurs every 2 second sexactly which is pretty odd, and i'm recording onto a 7200 rpm harddrive that has very little on it (OS and OS programs as well as Sonar) (most of my data is on my other harddrive at 5400rpm) so i doubt its the harddrive.

my laptop has some respectable specs. and after messing witht eh latency controls (which I ohonestly don't understand) i noticed that the clicking would alter to louder pops or quieter, but i couldn't get it to go away with all that I tried.


if you have any ideas of ways to mess with latency (i think thats the problem) that'd be great. i'm not monitoring what i record. but i do have it set to return to the mixer. maybe that could be the problem. i really don't know.


i'm new to all of this and need some serious help.

thanks man. yeah do you have any of those handy dandy liinks to websites that address latency issues? its odd that this would cause a problem. maybe if i turn off the monitoring in sonar i wont get it. i will try this.

thank.s

 

[yesbergerman]

well

i tried out al that stuff. and something made it all resolve. because the popping is gone.


phew. i should have a nice high quality recording tomorrow.

THANK YOU ALL OF YOU!!!