US-428 stutters during playback

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crosstudio

crosstudio

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When I play previously recorded tracks (Sonar) via the US-428, it stutters during playback after about 2 minutes.

however, if i switch to my internal sound card the tracks playback with no problem.

also, if i use the laptop soundcard to monitor while i'm recording via the US-428 I don't have a problem then either.

Dell Inspiron 8100 laptop
1.2ghz
512mb sdram
40gb 5400rpm hard drive
Windows XP

Because I was having this problem, I updated my laptop's bios, and the drivers for the sound card and video card. the only thing sharing IR/Q with the USB controller are the PCMCIA cards (2) which I have disabled.

Its the playback that stutters. Anyone have a similar issue?
 
microsoft has copped to it.

there is a bug in digital audio regarding USB that does not exist for analog audio [ie.. built in soundcard]. it is allegedly fixed in SP1 of WinXP.

so if you are using WinXP and are having problem with stuttering audio from USB, but no stuttering audio from your onboard soundcard, then dowload SP1.

we'll see if it works tomorrow.... i'm going to bed!
 
You are using a 5400 rpm hard drive. You most definitely need to upgrade to a 7200 rpm to get more track count playback. It also would not hurt to check and see if your ide cbles are in check as well. A lot of times o stock computers they will put a 33 or 66 ata cable in there. That will get you by but if your mobo and hard drive support ata 100/133, you most definitely need the upgrade. I just bought two 24" dual MONSTER IDE cables from miradex.com for $20 + $8 s/h. I am excited bout it. See ya peace out.
 
my desktop is a total kluge of parts that i put together myself and i feel totally comfortable tweaking it and such. it is rock solid and rarely (knock on wood) gives me trouble.

having said that... i'm afraid to even sneeze around my laptop.

i'd considered getting a second hard drive for the laptop that is 7200rpm, but I can't find one compatible with my Dell Inspiron 8100. for some reason I thought that the HD was 7200, but I was mistaken.

at any rate, the hard drive isn't the problem, because my sonar projects play back correctly through the built in ESM sound card. it's just when i playback through the US-428 that I get the stutter after no more than 2 minutes of playback.

if i record via the US-428, but monitor via the built-in sound card everything is fine. if i take the output of the sound card and put it into the line-in of the US-428 then I can listen to the direct monitor of what i'm recording and the previously recorded tracks through the same headphones.... so there is another way to skin the cat, but i would prefer for things to work correctly.
 
Hey, Cross!

I'm not sure they make internal 7200 rpm drives for laptops. I used to think I had one because my Sony is so much faster than my old Toshiba, but it turns out the Tosh had a 4200rpm drive and the Sony has a 5400. I've looked for laptop 7200's since and haven't found any.

An external firewire 7200 drive- or 10,000rpm drive if you have some cash and can wait a few months- is a MUCH better way to go. Having your audio on a different physical drive from your system increases performance and its cheaper than a laptop drive anyway. The external drive is also an easy way to transfer your mixes to a different computer if the need arrises.

At any rate, another suggestion for killing the stutter in XP. I've noticed that even though XP is much more stable than any other windows I've played with, it still gathers crap in the registry that slows it down over time. I downloaded a system cleaner (jv powertools at download.com) and stripped out the useless registry entries and my computer is running like new again. I'm away from my studio so I haven't been able to test its audio performance, but it boots and runs faster.

I'll also look into SP1. I'm using the Digi002 now more than the US-428, but I still want the darn thing to work!

Take care,
Chris
 
hey Chris good to hear from ya,

I installed XP SP1 and now everything is beautiful.
 
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