PHONIC HELIX 24 (Mk 1) - Firewire - Best Settings?

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NZK

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I just got a Phonic Helix Board 24 (Mk1) and it seems to be all systems go - computer recognising it, new drivers fully installed etc and saying it all works fine...
However, the best audio I can get on playback (when the audio works at all) is very low quality full of crackle and pops - when I adjust the buffer settings it either doesnt do anything to fix it or makes the audio stop working at all.

The Phonic Control Panel settings are:
Stream Buffer DEpth
ASIO Buffer Depth
WDM Sound Buffer DEpth

Truth be told I don't really know what each of them are or do - I do know higher buffer settings are supposed to increase latency but decrease CPU load - am I right? Then again even on high settings it doesnt fix it?

PLEASE HELP!!! :facepalm:
 
These types of problems are not always the interface drivers' fault. Your computer may not be up to the task. But, you can set the Stream and ASIO setting to max then use the direct monitor function from the mixer for your foldback channel when recording. Do not use the monitor from your DAW to hear what you are recording. Not sure I'm explaining that good enough. In otherwords, plug your headphones into the mixer and listen to yourself through the mixer's audio channel when you're singing and not through the latency-ridden foldback monitoring of the DAW.

What software are you using to record with?
Be sure you hve the Phonic ASIO driver selected and not the WDM driver (or any windows driver).
 
Thanks for your reply.
I have used this laptop before with a Presonus Firebox and it worked fine - although its not new its reasonably decent and I believe up to the task.

Mmm interesting regarding the ASIO/WDM - how do I select one or the other? Both are in the Phonic control panel and there's no option to disable either?

I havent even got to recording yet I'm just playing music back off of Media player and/ or Itunes etc just to start using it as a soundcard and yeah, as mentioned, CRAP SOUND!?

Oh yeah, I use Presonus Studio One as my DAW
 
What operating system do you have? And do you have the right driver?

I ask because I had to stop using my old Helix firewire mixer when I switched to Win7. Phonic did not write a driver for 64bit for my particular model. :mad: It wouldn't work properly in Win7 and I finally gave up trying. So be sure you're driver is correct for your o/s.
 
Ah yeah, I just noticed you have a MkI which is what I had. It won't work with Win7.
 
I run Vista Business - mmm maybe the driver isnt right - how do I know for sure?. The driver download didn't really say exactly which operating systems it was good for...
 
Ohhh, well Vista on a laptop might be your problem. But, you said you ran the Presonus with no problems.... Hmmm...

IDK, try THIS but reading the comments it seems to be hit or miss.

Edit: I changed the link.
 
Hey thanks alot, I might just be getting somewhere with this!
I installed the driver you directed me to and it's far better than before - now there's no hiss and the music/sound is much improved - it is still crackly though and I've got the Streaming buffer and ASIO buffer depths on maximum. The WDM is on minimum - should the WDM even be enabled? If not, how do I turn it off?
 
I'm not sure. Maybe set the WDM to max if you are using windows media player. I believe that is what WDM is for. When you start to record, you won't want to use the WDM driver in your DAW program. Definitely use the ASIO.

good luck,
 
Thanks for all the suggestions - Ive got it going pretty well now, still a little crackle with buffers on max but at least its functioning as it should. Now my new problem is random Firewire dropouts!!! Ya can't win! I've read on a few posts that the Helixboards are prone to it though, maybe a design fault?
 
Mine ran real smooth when I used it with WinXP. Never had a problem and I liked that I could add reverb to my monitor channel without it going to the computer.

I don't have any other suggestions for you and not many people here used the Phonic stuff. Maybe someone else will chime in, but otherwise, good luck.

be sure to post up some tunes when you get something recorded.
 
I have a Phonic Helix 18 that ran like a champ on a Sony Vaio laptop with vista (since back-graded to XP due to the annoying permission authorizations vista kept popping up in other matters not related to audio). You asked about driver selection, and that isn't done in the phonic driver ap, but in your recording software. And yes, ASIO is the way to go.
 
So last night after alot of mucking about and rebooting both laptop and mixer etc I got it all working sweet -no crackle on both playback and recording, mint! Thought I was home free but alas, switched it on today and the crackle is back ! with no changes to anything or any other use of the laptop at all - WTF!?!?
Gutted!
Back to the drawing board...
 
Well, there could be other things going on besides the mixer and driver. Look at other programs running in the background. Anti-virus, etc...

Be sure you're trying it with a proper DAW program like Cubase and not just through Windows Media player.
 
Yip have made sure nothing going on behind the scene and I'm playing through a range of programs - my main DAW is Presonus Studio One but I'm also playing back through Serato and Itunes just to check (I avoid Windows Media player anyway).
Something strange going on since its proven to work fine - at times!
 
Its so close to be sorted its not funny! The crackle is now minimal but unfortunately still there - Ive ordered an express card TI chipset to see if that fixes it proper - short of that I GIVE UP!!!
 
Cooool!!! What made you think to swap firewire cards?? I used some generic who-knows-what brand when I was using the phonic. Maybe WinXP is more tolerant of firewire cards than Win7.

Glad you're running. Now go make music.
 
After perusing alot of firewire related sites/forums/threads I picked up that a lot of people had changed to texas instrument chipsets with success so I thought I'd give it a go and it worked!
Yip time to return to the whole point and record music :guitar:

Here's my soundcloud if you want to check it out: BRIDGEMODE_RECORDS's sounds on SoundCloud - Hear the world
 
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