I'm about to give up!

[Le_Batard]

Hello everyone,

I recently purchased a new PC - hp pavillion a1250n, amd Athlon 64 x2 with integrated ati xpress 200, 1. gb ram - and on top, since I purchased the logitech z530 5.1 speakers, got a new soundblaster card x-fi extreme music. I mostly use it for gaming and for my kids in the living room.

I have a strong musical background and many different instruments (trained trumpetist at the conservatory but have not played for years, play piano, guitar, etc...). But anyway, I thought I would marry my love for music with my interest in computers and I purchased music maker for $25.

Everything worked okay but I learned about MIDI and what it can do so I purchased a keyboard but noticed I didn't have a plugin adapter for midi. Went to a music store and recommended getting the us122 to get me started, which is bundled with cubase LE and GigaStudio LE. I tried to installed but things are getting complicated, couldn't figure out to use both sound cards so I said screw that I will dedicate my old computer just for music (oh yes btw the living room was too noisy to do any recording). I also add that the driver us122WDM.sys is not digitally signed and windows doesn't like that.

My old comp is now upstairs in my own room and have "carte blanche" on the setup. The pc is a compaq presario 5002us with amd duron 800mhz, 192 mb rams, integrated card via, and I know it is not powerful but...

I completely reformatted the HD and put win xp on it and tried to reinstall the software from us122, but I still get that @$#$@ digitally signed driver crap from xp. Besides the fact that cubase and gstudio are over my head, somehow it says that it does have not an input (I try to listen to sound through the output of the us122). I can see when I speak through the mic, or play the keyboard) but cannot record or hear it in my headphones.

Granted I learned a lot about comps, I am tired of not being able to do anything. I thought the us 122 woul act as a sound card through the usb. What is going on? I am ready to give up all together but I thought I'd give a try to your forum and see where I went wrong.

Sorry for the long note but I wanted to give you a good overview (although I am sure I didn't zero in on the right info).

Thanks in advance.

Christophe

 

[Creamyapples1]

When the popup appears saying that the driver is not digitally signed, do you continue anyway or cancel the installation?

Also, within the software documentation it should have a list of the recommended PC specs for it to function properly, compare those to what you have. First, noticeable problem I could forsee is your ram is not sufficient, but the documentation should give you a better idea. As for the midi subject I'm afraid I can offer little help there.



EDIT - Judging by your system specs, I would have to assume the PC is utilizing USB1.0, and I would also assume that if you bought a newer USB Midi interface, that it is designed around USB2.0. Just a thought and worth looking into.

 

[Le_Batard]

Thank you for the reply. I'll look inot the rams but I think of maybe get a new motherboard and processor altogether. What I don't understand though is that I meet the specs of the Tascam. One other thing, the manual doesn't mention what type of USB port is required and I am pretty sure I have 1.0.

My audio card should be disabled, right?

Christophe

 

[Creamyapples1]

Most likely. Most PCs won't recognize an add-on soundcard if the onboard or previous installation is still active. These days, you can build a decent computer for a fraction of the price for something similar in build from an actual manufacturer. If you live in the US, check out www.newegg.com they have some of the best prices around.

 

[XLR]

My post assumes that you went ahead and completed installation despite the "not digitally signed" pop-up. That pop-up isn't uncommon with music software, and isn't a problem.

Cubase is a complicated app to learn on. I'd suggest downloading the freeware multitrack app Kristal. It makes it very easy to select the input device. You can have an internal soundcard and USB interface on the same computer without problem, you just select the one you want the software to use as its current device. Of course Cubase does this also, but everything in Cubase is more complex.

As far as monitoring, if your headphones are plugged into the US122's headphone jack, you should be able to hear anything coming into the 122 from its mic/line inputs if you've got the Direct Monitor volume knob adjusted, with the Direct switch turned on, and the Phones volume knob turned up. That's assuming the input selector is set to the correct incoming source and the input gain knob is set to get an audible signal.

My experience with the US122 is that particular drivers will work only with particular systems and rec apps, and you just have to experiment there. Same is true with buffer settings. Just takes some trial and error to find the right combination for a particular system.

Good luck with it. The interface does sound good when you get it up and running, and is pretty trouble free. Kristal also has a pretty good manual that comes with it and it'll record in 24 or 16 bits just like the 122.

Tim

 

[Le_Batard]

It is working!

First of all, thank you for your comments.

The US122 doesn't require a USB 2.0 so my hardware was fine. However, I looked more into it and found that USB streaming required audio/video features from the newer version of Windows Messenger, and my version of XP is about 3 years old. I never thought of checking but easy enough, it now works. You would think that windows updates would pick this up since they take the liberty to embed themselves in everything.

Anyway, I was ecstatic to hear my voice from the mic into the headphones plugged into... yes ... the US122. I even got the midi to make sound!! Gotta work the kinks on the delay but I'm sure I'll learn, maybe not from Cubase to start.

Also, I checked out the newegg.com site and you are right, phenomenal deals!

A small step for mankind, but a giant step for me.

Thanks again,

Christophe

 

[Creamyapples1]

woot! good to hear, good luck! I'm a PC nerd (outside of recording) if you need some help lemme know.

 

[Le_Batard]

Thanks Cream,

I finely did it, and went and got a new motherboard, a PEtium 4 2.66 GHz processor, and 1 GB of memory, all right around $300. I went to Microcenter on an impulse. I just realized though that there are only 2 memory slots (got two 512 mb ram) and I need a new power supply becuase the chip needs its own 12V power supply.

Do you think I could have done better for the $$? If so, what, where,...? Also, the motherboard comes with SATA support and cable: Is this for newer CD-ROM's? inwhich case I cannot as of yet.

I appreciate the help.

Thanks,

Christophe

 

[Creamyapples1]

Sweet, doesn't sound too bad. Next time you want some upgrade parts, check out www.newegg.com

The SATA is for SATA harddrives, unless you know someone that already knows about them, or unless someone here can explain it really well, stay away from it. IDE drives are good enough, and CDroms still use IDE cable as well.

 

[Le_Batard]

Thanks again,

I actually learned the hard way that I shoul have prepared my HD for the chance of ,otherboard and memory. It BIOS were preinstalled and it never recognized it until I saw on the box that the connection was LBA and the auto didn't pick this up. I am reformatting again now but it seems okay. I can't wait to get a sound from it soon.

By the way, I've had enough with Norton internet security (talking about the other PC). It'll block pretty much any connection unless I permit it every time. In gaming it sucks. The thing is that they make you feel (with thei threat alerts, or worm protection popups) that if I don't have it I will be doomed. I heard ewido does a good job, or AVG, or MS MAlware. Do you recommend a good non-intrusive spyware/virus/spam bundle? OR what do you think I need?

Thank youso much again, I promise to pass on myknowledge once I have some.

Christophe

 

[Creamyapples1]

I use Antivir Personal for virus protection and ZoneAlarm firewall, both are free downloads, just google them. They both work great, they update regularly and work pretty seemlessly.