New N-track install crashes after 3-4 tracks

[nwduffer]

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster....

My new registered install of n-Track seems to be crashing from time to time, after about 3 or 4 tracks, and particularly when I'm adding an effect to the track. My most recent crash was while adding a Blueline compressor to a guitar track.

My system info is as follows. PIII 500mhz, 13gb 7200rpm drive, 256mb ram, SBLive card, Win98 (latest edition and drivers). It seems as though this should be robust enough to handle at least a handful of tracks, with effects, but I've had this happen at least four or five times now in less than a weeks time.

Is there some sort of setting that I need to be changing? I thought I had read once about virtual memory management, but I can't seem to find it via a search. Any help is appreciated. Thanks for all the info in the past, I look forward to contributing where I can, and sharing what I come up with.

paul

 

[Cooperman]

Were you adding the the plugin while the track was playing... I've had a few crashes when I've done this... so now I always add plugins while the track isn't playing and it's helped a bit.

I don't have a particularly great system, but I can run a fair few tracks with at least 1 plugin on most tracks but for some reason I always have some problems the Blueline compression and reverb plugins... I don't know if it is my computer or something to do with the plugin/n-Track interface.

I think turning off your VU meters also might help as this is suppose to reduce the load on your CPU... I've haven't had to do it yet so I can't be entirely sure... but try it, see if it works.

If you can't get any help here, I'd suggest asking at the FaSoft discdussion forum.

[This message has been edited by Cooperman (edited 03-23-2000).]

 

[bobbo]

Hello nwduffer,
I had many stops of ntracks of some earlier versions, I have a similar setup as yours. I guess all I can think of is to make sure you aren't recording too many stereo tracks. I can only record and playback about 3 stereo tracks, and after that it really gets bogged down. So I record maybe one stereo track for my drum machine, and the rest mono tracks. Also, it helps to playback in mono, which you can choose in file/preferences. I keep playing back in mono most of the time until I want to mix it down later. And then, theres the buffer part. I guess by fooling around with changing the buffers can help find where your system works best. I keep my playback buffers between 6 and 8 with my version and the recording buffers at the default. But it seems that every system is different. Also make sure you are playing back and recording in the same bit rate, and that your soundcard is the same rate too. These are just some of the ways I am tweeking ntracks. I don't know if I would change any of your computer settings though, like I have read on some other sites. I did that once and screwed up my machine, but then, I am pretty unknowledgable at computers. Hope you can get it working good.
bobbo

[This message has been edited by bobbo (edited 03-23-2000).]

 

[gaffa]

I've had a heap of dramas with the shareware versions of the Blueline plugins - so many I've given up on them. Everything else seems to run OK though. With the specs you've got, you shouldn't have any problems recording a few tracks.

The virtual memory is also known as the pagefile, and is found in (I think - I'm doing this from memory) Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> System. There's a tab that lets you modify the pagefile size (I think the default is ~50Mb. You can increase this happily, but you'll have to reboot. I was testing n-Track the other night on an NT box, and with four full 4 minute tracks, and about 12 little small tracks of about 12 seconds scattered throughout, I was only using 48Mb memory (n-Tracks) and a system total of ~91Mb, so your 256Mb should be able to do that happily. The machine specs were similar (500Mhz, 128 RAM, slower hard disk).

If you can though, get NT or 2000 - everything runs a whole lot better due to better memory management, and the OS is far more stable, so you get less crashes

- gaffa

 

[nwduffer]

Thanks all for the input on the n-Tracks situation. It seems as though Blueline, particularly on the Compressor and Reverb, has also given others problems in other message boards as well.

Another comment was to be careful when adding or removing effects during playback, which caused some problems for some folks....and that may have been when I noticed it on my end too.

As for the OS, I have copies of both NT and 2K, so perhaps I'll give that a shot too...just hate to rebuild the machine again, but such is the life of a tinkerer....

Thanks again guys for all the help, I look forward to posting some samples soon.

Paul

 

[nwduffer]

Yeah, really good response both here and there. That's one of the things I love about the internet community...find the right place, and you can find tons of information that is extremely helpful.

I'm going to be honest here though, I'm having a hard time breaking away from the Cool Edit Pro program that I've been trying out. Aside from the lack of "live effects" I find it easier to edit wavs and what-not. I'm running both and trying to give them their fair shake out. Any one use both of them and go with n-Track for a particular reason over CEP? I'd love to hear the input.

Paul

 

[Cooperman]

From what I've heard it is REALLY worth running NT...

I saw you got quite a response at the FaSoft discussion board - that's the really great thing about n-Track... not only is it well worth the money but the support you can get is awesome. Post a problem either here or at the FaSoft board and you usually get the answer pretty snappy...



[This message has been edited by Cooperman (edited 03-24-2000).]

 

[Cooperman]

It doesn't have to be one or the other... use both. Use n-Track as your multitracker and running effects, and then use Cool Edit for editing. In n-Track just set your wave editor as Cool Edit and you get the best of both worlds.

 

[ME]

You can find out much info on this subject at the FAsoft discussion forum. Two things could be the culprit in your situation;
1) Many people have had crash problems while using Blue Line and B-Track...This could be due to a video problem. I think that those who have success with Blue Line have reset their resolution.
2) I have noticed that different versions of N-Track act different to machine configurations. I am running v2.09 with no problems. It looks like v2.1 is crashing and locking up on a lot of folks, but the new beta version is running better. Keep checking back at www.FAsoft.com for the latest versions, they usually fix the previous problems fast!