Conexant/HP/Pavilion/XP

(ARG! I've just round-and-round with HP's crappy support so I thought I'd try here)

I have Sonar Home Studio 6 XL and I'm running it on a HP Pavilion dv2500t laptop which has a 2 GHz core two duo processor with 2 GB of RAM, so the machine is beefy enough, but I'm trying to use the audio card/chip that's built into the machine for audio recording and playback (a Conexant High Definition Audio card - I know it's not the greatest, but I'm just playing around with it and only have simple needs at the moment). When I run Sonar HS 6 XL, I get a message saying that there is an "Audio Driver Error" and that the audio card either doesn't support the current audio format or is in use.

I read on Cakewalk's website that an audio card needs to support either ASIO or WDM. I've gone onto Conexant's web site and they don't list any drivers, so I'm under the impression that drivers are provided by the manufacturer (in this case, HP).

I've called (and e-mailed) HP inquiring about drivers that support WDM or ASIO but unfortunately HP won't support my machine. It came with Vista installed but I wiped it and installed WinXP Pro so I keep getting the run-around from them. I'm guessing there are drivers out there that will work, but I keep getting the run-around from these third rate tech-support people who only know how to read off a troubleshooting guide and speak English as a second language (can you tell I'm frustrated?).

My current driver (which is working with other apps) is version 3.30.0.0 and is dated 11/22/2006. Driver knowledge is not one of my strengths, so I'm a bit lost as to what to do or where to look. I've seen other people in this forum mention they are using a Conexant High Definition Audio card with their HP Pavilion under XP, but it looks like in all of the other posts that the driver is working with Sonar.

I realize this isn't necessarily a Sonar issue but rather a Conexant driver issue, but I'm hoping some of the users here can suggest some web sites to go to to get drivers for my sound card.


Thanks,


Jeff

PS. I know I can always buy an external sound card but for now I want to try to just use what's built into the laptop.

Jeff,
I'm betting that the onboard sound card will not support WDM or ASIO drivers. You will probably need to run the MME drivers. HS6 will run on MME drivers, but the latency will be bad and the quality of the sound will not be the best. You will likely want to upgrade to a better sound card when you get the chance.

Start with this...

Change your driver mode to MME:
OPTIONS>AUDIO>ADVANCED>DRIVER MODE = MME
Close HS6
Restart HS6
Let the wave profiler run

After you do this check that your Playback Timing Master and your Record Timing Master have your sound card listed. You can find these options under OPTIONS>AUDIO
Deneen

Thanks everyone! I set the driver mode to MME and it works. I'd prefer it if I had a driver that supported ASIO (I'll take a look at asio4all) but this looks like it will work out.


Thanks,


Jeff

take a look at my website for some soundcard recommendations.

Jeff, depends on a few factors, the main ones being what your recording (if you need In's etc) and your budget.

no laptop maker ships with a decent dedicated asio/pro audiocard, as well it's quite a niche market.

you can discount pci cards / pci-e as they are for desktops

pcima is a nice option if you don't want extra boxes.. but they have a breakout cable so, lots of wires

usb 2 is what a lot go with , or firewire (if the laptop has that)

I use an m-audio ozone.. it's a keyboard as well as an asio based sound card. it's handy for me for travelling, but if your used to playing a fuller sized piano it might be a pain, as it's 2 octaves. that has some inputs , a basic mic pre.. and an input for an external instrument.

it is a case of you get what you pay for. esp with cards, the main thing is the AD conversion and the cost of that is reflected in the cards a lot of the time.