Settings on sonar

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morten1970

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I have an old PIII 500 Mhz with XP and Sonar xl 2.2 and soundcard is M-audiophile 2496.

I use softsynths (dxi plugins in sonar) and wonder if anyone has experience with the settings in the mixing latency, buffer size and number of buffers etc., compared to a machine like mine.( I know the pc it's not that good but it has worked reasonable well) The settings should be as low as possible but then it will of course be trouble with the playback with cracks in the sound and droupouts. Are these things recorded or is it just in the playback? Will I hear it if the track is bounced from midi to audio, or to mixdown?
 
I'm sorry, but with a machine like that I don't think the CPU is able to process the signal fast enough to have usable low latency. (You know, your machine is just the minimum system requirements).

With the Audiophile, you should be able to set "the latency slider" (Options -> Audio) to a low figure, but it's most likely you'll have dropouts all over the place...

And there should be no difference between Bounce and Mixdown, but apparently there is if you're using a SB Live (so that shouldn't be a problem for you :))
 
What is the minimum requirements for a pc to run on a latency below 10 ms?
 
Depends on alot of thing: CPU, harrddrive speed, amount of RAM, other installed components... Basically the faster the better.

I really know how the Delta Control Panel works. You should be able to set the latency to a low value, but perhaps it's dependable on the computer.

I use a Inca88, and I can set the latency to whatever I want (even if the computer didn't handle it).
 
Morton1970,

How much RAM is currently installed and what is the maximum you mother board can hold?

I ask this because typically, the throughput bottle-neck is the quantity and speed of RAM. This may be your most cost effective improvement route since you have an older system and older memory is cheap.

Radovic
 
I consider CPU to be the most important part. Latency is the time it takes the CPU to handle the signal and spit it out again... RAM would affect this, but it's not the main factor... :)

Isn't it right?
 
Moskus,

You are correct of what the CPU does however, if you do not have sufficient RAM ... and the system is busy paging / swapping memory maps this typically causes problems with system performance hence, latency and other issues.

Discussing this with several of my engineering colleagues we all agree with the above conclusion with regard to investigate upgrading the memory first - it's cost efficient. A CPU upgrade would probably necessitate a motherboard upgrade as well. Memory upgrade would be cheaper and cause more 'bang for the buck' and theoretically solve his/her problem. But let's not discount Moskus' other suggestions about HD, CPU and other installed components. You need to look at your DAW system as a whole.

Q1: Do you have your OS streamlined for DAW execution? (turnoff: internal speaker, system sounds, mail services etc ...)
Q2: What type motherboard and memory is currently being used. Please be specific so other thorough alternative solutions can be provided.

Last, I also suggest that Morten1970 discuss this with others as well before spending any money. (Spending money is easy - buying the right solution is tough)

Radovic
 
Radovic said:
Discussing this with several of my engineering colleagues we all agree with the above conclusion with regard to investigate upgrading the memory first - it's cost efficient.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I agree with that.

Always get more RAM. :D


Morten (are you scandinavian?), have you visited www.musicxp.net and tweaked your computer?
 
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moskus said:
I consider CPU to be the most important part. Latency is the time it takes the CPU to handle the signal and spit it out again
Click to expand...
Now that's what I thought too, but with a 2.4 GHz P4 and 256 M RAM, the lowest latency I can get is 10 msec. What role does the soundcard (I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz :o) play in latency?
 
Well, okay. Besides the soundcard and drivers, CPU is the most important part.

The soundcard needs quality WDM or ASIO-drivers, and it needs to be set up correctly (tweaked for low latency, check the cards control panel). :)
 
The one question that needs to be answered is ... How much do you want to spend to improve your system?

For under $100 USD you could upgrade to a P3 1 GHz and add a few dollars to upgrade the type of memory your motherboard requires. Then the motherboard could require a BIOS upgrade also ... how much time and skill does Morten have?

Here in America, we currently can:

* Upgrade to a P4 2.0 GHz & motherboard combo kit for $190 USD, add $36 USD each for (2) 512 MB PC133

*Replace your old system with a P4 2.4 GHz, 512 RAM, 40 Gig HD, CDRW system with XP for approxamtely $700 USD

* Bare Bones system for ~$300 USD
which would include a P4 2.4 GHz, 512 RAM, case and some other COM goodies

It's a matter of choice,

Radovic
 
Damn, that's cheap! That's one bad thing about Norway: The prices!

:)
 
I have an Audiophile 24/96 from which I am getting 2ms latency on a P4 2.24. Just to let you know what it takes to get below 10.
 
And it should be possible to get under 10 ms with a P3 1 GHz. I know, I did it. ;)
 
guttadaj said:
Now that's what I thought too, but with a 2.4 GHz P4 and 256 M RAM, the lowest latency I can get is 10 msec. What role does the soundcard (I have a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz :o) play in latency?
Click to expand...


Latency includes EVERYTHING from the input of the soundcard to the output of the soundcard. It all adds up. Every part has a "rate of throughput". Add all the microS, mS etc. and you have the total latency. Hard drives are the biggest offenders for many reasons. A fast CPU does not speed anything up. What will is fast memory, fast Hard drive, the fastest bus speed you can get and a low latency soundcard. These cost some big bucks. My advice is to start with a faster bus speed, You are probably running either 66.6 MZ or 133Mhz. Get a motherboard and faster processor (not just for the speed of the CPU, but you are looking for the 333MHZ or above BUS speed).
 
Thank you for all the advices

If I spend $700 I will probably get a machine that's good enough, but you sure get tired of keeping the system up to date all the time.
All I wanna do is to record music, but all the hardware/software configurations takes up a lot of time.

Well that's the price to pay to be able to make record music as cheap and good as today. 15 years ago I spend a lot of time with my 4-track cassette recorder that almost cost the same as the equipment today.
 
It's not that you can't record with your machine (and do it well), but you won't get as low latency as you want... ;)
 
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