Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble...

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KahL
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2010/12/22 19:51:32 (permalink)

Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble...

First here are the specs for each in case it helps:
Soundcard - ASUS Xonar Essence (http://www.buy.com/prod/a...oc/101/211537440.html)

Speakers - BM5A MKII (http://www.guitarcenter.c...105924013-i1532453.gc)

When I start up a project in Cakewalk, there are several issues... First, there is alot of random popping and clicking when I play the project and stop it followed by random volume changes. Second, half the time the audio doesn't work because it sounds so distorted and it'll speed up the pace of the song. Sometimes by simply going to the Audio Options tab and clicking okay without changing anything fixes the problem... Lastly, speaker volumes now can't be adjusted using the volume controller OUTSIDE of cakewalk and when Cakewalk is open, other applications simply don't have sound. I have to close cakewalk fully and probably restart my computer or wait five minutes b/c the speakers will sound extremely distorted.

Screenshots of my audio options window --->
...uh how do I upload pictures to this thread?

Sonar 8.5 (Producer Edition)
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    KahL
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/22 20:04:56 (permalink)
    Screenshots of my Audio Options Window...

    http://img35.imageshack.us/i/sdfsdfud.png/

    http://img574.imageshack.us/i/dthgsdrgfsgr.png/

    Sonar 8.5 (Producer Edition)
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    jhughs
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/22 21:12:34 (permalink)
    First, you were just one step away from posting the pictures.  Just copy the link and click on the little icon off mountains and paste the link.  Like this:


    What type of computer do you have?  You may want to increase the latency to see if the popping goes away.

    Also I was wondering why the recording & playback timing masters are different. 

    ASUS P5ND/Intel E8500, Line6 Toneport UX2/PODFarm, Sonar, Axiom 25, Blue Bluebird, Audio-Technica AT3035s, Blue Snowflake, Line6 Spider IV 150 & AMPLIFI, Crate 1

    J Hughs Soundclick
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    KahL
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/23 15:49:43 (permalink)
    Also I forgot to mention the speakers are really LOUD. I have to set the Volume AND Gain within Cakewalk down to -12... Oh and the soundcard settings for the asio panel are set at 24 Bit and 6ms for latency. How high should I bring it?

    Sonar 8.5 (Producer Edition)
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    KahL
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/23 16:34:26 (permalink)
    I brought down the sampling rate to 48k and Idk why the recording & timing masters are different. Been googling any information that can help me so far.

    I think my biggest problems are 1) The loudness of the speakers within cakewalk, resulting in me to reduce the volume and gain so low that when I export a song, it also becomes very quiet... 2) and no sound from other applications when USING cakewalk. I have to reset my computer or wait just so it'll work again. Makes me wish I knew more about computers. Any help will be much appreciated though. (On a side note: I'm finally in college so I can sign up for classes that will teach me about this stuff instead of having to resort to manuals/books and forums so often.)

    Sonar 8.5 (Producer Edition)
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    jhughs
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/23 17:25:49 (permalink)
    Ah, good move on the sampling rate, sorry I didn't notice that yesterday, you'll be fine with 48K sampling rate.  From what I've seen there are few reasons to go higher.

    When you put in the new soundcard did you take out or disable the old one?  Personally I didn't do that when using an external sound card, but I've heard it mentioned that they can interfere with each other.   Maybe save that as the last thing to check.

    As for the volume, have you opened the Xonar Audio Center GUI to see what the volume is set at?  You should be able to control the card's volume setting from there (look for the instruction manual that came with the card).

    Your monitors probably have volume knobs on the back also.  Between the two you should be able to reach a reasonable volume. 

    As for the latency setting, set it as low as you can before the popping and clicking starts.  The more tracks and effects you have running the more load you put on the computer





    ASUS P5ND/Intel E8500, Line6 Toneport UX2/PODFarm, Sonar, Axiom 25, Blue Bluebird, Audio-Technica AT3035s, Blue Snowflake, Line6 Spider IV 150 & AMPLIFI, Crate 1

    J Hughs Soundclick
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    Kalle Rantaaho
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/27 11:14:23 (permalink)
    Yep. You can't/must'nt control the loudspeaker volumes inside SONAR. That would make any mixing impossible. You need to be able to mix with loud, moderate or low volume monitoring independent of the projects actual level in SONAR.

    SONAR PE 8.5.3, Asus P5B, 2,4 Ghz Dual Core, 4 Gb RAM, GF 7300, EMU 1820, Bluetube Pre  -  Kontakt4, Ozone, Addictive Drums, PSP Mixpack2, Melda Creative Pack, Melodyne Plugin etc.
    The benefit of being a middle aged amateur is the low number of years of frustration ahead of you.
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    KahL
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/29 14:42:28 (permalink)
    There were no volume knobs on the back of the speakers, but switches instead. It only went down to -10 for volume levels which helped a little, but not much. The gain level within Cakewalk is still at -10 (volume level 0). I tried again with adjusting the playback volume within the soundcard settings, but it still has no effect on Cakewalk. I can mute it, and cakewalk would still be audible...

    Sonar 8.5 (Producer Edition)
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    jhughs
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    Re:Bought new soundcard & Speakers, having trouble... 2010/12/30 14:40:33 (permalink)
    Do you still have your old soundcard in the PC (perhaps built into the motherboard).

    Take a look at the output on the Sonar Master Bus to see if it's pointing to your new soundcard.  Hopefully not since that would explain this behavior (just change it to point to the new soundcard).

    Also, have you changed the Options>Audio settings to us the new soundcard?  That would be a good idea as well.

    ASUS P5ND/Intel E8500, Line6 Toneport UX2/PODFarm, Sonar, Axiom 25, Blue Bluebird, Audio-Technica AT3035s, Blue Snowflake, Line6 Spider IV 150 & AMPLIFI, Crate 1

    J Hughs Soundclick
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