Noise when I do anything in Sonar during playback

[Scottgman]

Hi all,

Man I wish I had found these message boards a year ago-- it would have saved me a ton of confusion. I just got finished building a 2.4GHZ pentium system and bought an Audiophile 2496. My harddrive is 7200RPM but I skimped on the RAM (only 256MB, which I think might be my problem). Anyway, here's the deal...

I recorded some acoustic guitar tracks last night and everything was going good. However, today when I was listening to those tracks, I noticed anytime I clicked a menu or scroll bar, the audio would distort horribly. I don't know if this is something that needs to be changed in the Audiophile settings or Cakewalk settings. I messed around with the buffer sizes and sampling rates in Cakewalk but nothing seemed to help (did I mention I'm a complete newbie to PC recording?).

Thanks in advance!

 

[moskus]

However, today when I was listening to those tracks, I noticed anytime I clicked a menu or scroll bar, the audio would distort horribly.

Sounds to me like it's a videocard issue. Try to turn off all visual effects in Windows (I'm guessing you're uisng WinXP, since your computer is so new), Right-click on My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced -> Performance Settings -> select "Adjust for best performance" and hit OK.

And if you're using WinXP, there's a nice web-page helping you tweaqing your PC: www.musicxp.com

 

[Scottgman]

Thanks for reply

Thanks for the help. I tried your suggestion and it didn't work. I even tried disabling the hardware acceleration in addition to your suggestion... no luck. (Voodoo 3 card, by the way)

This is getting frustrating. I literally can't do anything while the tracks are playing (minimize/maximize, type, click anything) or they get distorted. Here I thought I was finally going to be able to lay-down some decent sounding tracks. Sheesh, I'm about to say screw-it and pull the old 4-track out the closet... at least I EXPECT that to sound like ass.

 

[moskus]

I really sounds like you need a new AGP4 videocard...

 

[Scottgman]

Can I pull out my hair now?

Heh, thanks for the excuse to buy more toys (I'm always looking for excuses to buy stuff).

I've been messing around some more and have discovered new problems. Right after I installed Sonar, I listened to a couple of sample files including the "Don't Matter Audio and MIDI DEMO" and I distinctly remember that it sounded great. Now when I try to play that demo, the bass and guitar are way back in the mix (you can barely hear them) and the horns are way up front in the mix.

I've uninstalled and reinstalled Sonar 3 times now to no avail. Now, not only can I not get decent playback on my recordings, but I can't decent playback on the sample files!

I really wish I owned a gun (maybe that should be my next purchase).

 

[Scottgman]

Problem sort of solved

After some more messing around I decided to just record some new stuff. This time it seems to playback OK. I saved the file (2 acoustic guitar tracks) then played it back. It seemed to work fine. Crazy stuff. I'll cross my fingers and hope for the best.

Let me ask you this... what should the sampling rate, file bit depth, and audio driver bit depth be set at? Mine seem to default to 44100hz, 16, and 16 (respectively). Is this good/bad for recording? Can I bump it up to 96000hz and 24bit?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[moskus]

If you can hear the differense with 24/96, then you should consider it. I can hear a difference between 16/44 and 24/96, but my equipment is not good enough to justify the expense of buying a new card that supports it... (I have a 8in/8out audiocard with no 24/96 support).

I would go with 24/44 if I were you. The difference between 16 bit and 24 bit is much greater than 44 kHz and 96 kHz...

 

[James Argo]

You know what...

Noises sometimes occur if you "enable" all audio input in your multimedia mixer (Windows kernell mixer... you know... the yellow speaker beside the taskbar clock ) Open it, and dissable ALL playback source except Wave / Audio and MIDI /Synth (if you use internal synth) when you do audio work. Sometimes the noises comes from CD, Microphone, CD Digital, etc...

I would go with 24/44 if I were you. The difference between 16 bit and 24 bit is much greater than 44 kHz and 96 kHz...

Moskus is deffinitelly right. If you can Hear the differences, then you better use 24/44.


Jaymz