Hissing

First, I want to thank you all for helping me out with my latency issue that I posted recently.  I ended up purchasing a Lexicon Alpha USB device (which shipped with CuBase LE) and installed the device with the most current Win XP drivers.  I opened Music Creator, and played back something I recorded recently, and it seemed fine.  Now the problem...
 
When I go to record a track, I get nothing but an evil "Hiss" from the speakers.  Even just to play back what was previously recorded, I need to close and reopen Music Creator.  So I searched this forum a bit, and saw some posts about ASIO drivers.  So I download and installed them, and switched the settings in MC to use ASIO drivers.  At that point, I got all sorts of errors concering playback devices, and I got no sound whatsoever.  Those drivers also seemed to mess up all other audio on my PC....Windows Media Player and Winamp gave me all sorts of driver errors.
 
I ended up installing CuBase, which I'm not thrilled with, but it works.  Even with that software, I get an ocassional "hiss", but it only last a second or 2 then goes away.  I don't want to put in the time to learn a new piece of software when I am perfectly happy with MC.
 
Any ideas??
 
Thanks!

Thanks for the reply!  I will check to see if MC and Lexicon are set to the same sample rate and bit depth, I just don't know how to get those settings from the Lexicon!  I will look further into if MC is using the inegrated sound chip, but I don't think so as it was playing back previously recorded music through the Lexicon until I armed a track for recording. That's when the evil hiss started.  MC works fine up until I arm a track for recording, then all bets are off.  It's when I switched MC to use ASIO that it couldn't play back anything.   I ended up unistalling the ASIO drivers from the PC entirely as it seemed to cause issues with Media Player and Winamp.
 
 

editted
 

Robomusic


ASIO should have no effect on WinAmp Or WMP, they should run on WDM.
 
To make MC wirk proerly install the ASIO driver and open MC, go to options Audio and set the playback and record timer to Lexicon ASIO. Set to to 16 bit 44,1000 sample rate to start with. Next go to the system tray (far right corner of scree, and open the lexicon applet. Make sure it is set to 16 bit 44,100 sample rate and around 512 buffering rate Go into MC and import a MP3 file or wave file from what ever folder you keep such creatures in and once it loads hit play. You should hear the file or song play through the speakers if they are attached to the lexicon.

Now go to the internet and download a free midi file http://www.findmidis.com/  right click a file and save target to the desktop. Go back to MC and open a new file. go to file and hit open and direct it to the midi file.

Once it is open go to the synth rack at the tool bar of MC, and open it and add TTS .

Now close the synth rack, and go to each track of the midi file and set the output to TTS, and hit play. Should hear midi.

All should work well for you.

Later when comfortable experiment with 24 bit recording, and try using 256 buffering it will get your latency down some.

Thanks you for the reply....
 
So this is where I'm at.  I downloaded the asio driver from asio4all and installed it.  When I open MC, the only option is Lexicon in/out and "none" for the driver.  There's no option for Lexicon ASIO or ASIO4all. 
 
If I open Cubase, I have all options (lexicon in/out, Lexicon ASIO, and ASIO4all) and if I select ASIO4all driver, it pops up the systray control panel.  Problem is, I get no sound unless I use the Lexicon In/Out driver.
 
Just for the record, I titled this thread "Hissing", but it's more of a static sound.  It's terrible!
 
Anymore suggestions would be appreciated.  As of this second, the only thing that works at all is Cubase with the Lexicon unit, and even that gives me the "evil" static sound randomly for a few seconds while recording.  SO frunstrating!

57Gregy


You can't use ASIO when you have ASIO4All installed.
Delete ASIO4All from your computer, then try the Lexicon ASIO driver.

Even without ASIO4ALL, MC only gives me the option for Lexicon in/out, not Lexicon ASIO.
Are you saying I should try uninstalling ASIO4ALL, and selectin ASIO instead on MME32 (I think that's what it's called, not in front of my MC computer at the moment)?
 
Cubase (which shipped with the lexicon unit) does give me Lexicon ASIO as an option.

Robomusic


Here is the Deal. ASIO4All is not a true ASIO driver, it is a wrapper that makes the windows WDM driver think it is ASIO.

Interfaces like the Lexicon come with driver install disks that contain true native ASIO drivers. You should find the driver here  http://lexiconpro.com/downloads.php 

The reason Cubase sees a driver might because Cubase is a Stienberg product, and yes you guessed it they created ASIO drivers.

The big question is did you install the Lexicon driver disk, or just the cubase install disk?

If you want MC5 to work on ASIO drivers, you need to make sure they are installed properly.

Not only did I install the Lexicon driver, I used the most current driver via the web - not the disk it came with.  There is no specific "ASIO" driver for the Lexicon that I can find.  I installed it from alphadriverinstaller.exe and it's a very basic installation with no options.  I've google searched Lexicon ASIO driver, searched the Lexicon site to no avail.  I'm guessing it should be part of the basic driver installation, but it's not. 
 
In the audio set up, on the second tab where MME32 is selected by default, I choose ASIO.  After closing and re-opening, MC tells me there's no playback device, and gives me no options to choose from.  I change it back from ASIO to MME32 and I get Lexicon IN/Out as the only option for the playback device, but no option for Lexicon ASIO.
 
Oh, and I use MC4, not 5.  Not sure if that makes a difference.  Does 4 not support ASIO?
 

The Lexicon is only available as a playback and recording timing master if mme32 is selected.  It's when I switch that mode to ASIO, that I get no options at all for playback and timing master.  If the default Lexicon driver is ASIO, then there's no reference to it in MC.  It only lists it as Lexicon in/out.  In Cubase, 2 diffrent drivers show up.  Lexicon in/out and Lexicon ASIO. 
 
If I select Lexion in/out as the driver, it's back to the original problem.  I can hear what I've recorded previously in MC, but as soon as I arm a track for recording....I get nothing but static.  Can I use the lexicon as the timing master and the built in sound card for playback?  I'm at work and not on that computer, so I can't test until later today.
 
Sorry to be a pain with this, but it's very frustrating!

Guitarhacker


If you try to load ASIO and then it doesn't show any devices, my guess is that the Lexicon doesn't support the ASIO drivers.

I went looking on the site and could not find that specific bit of info. Using the incorrect drivers will cause issues.

Thanks again....the only part that has me scratching my head is that Cubase shows a specific driver called Lexicon ASIO.  It also has Lexicon in/out.  What's weird is even in Cubase if I select Lexicon ASIO, I get no playback.  Only Lexicon in/out works, but with that I get random blasts of static while recording tracks.

Guitarhacker


Some interfaces are built better than others. Perhaps the Lexicon is one of the "not so well" designed and engineered interfaces.

I know the Focusrite and MAudio interfaces work well because many here use them. Is there any way you could trade the lexicon in for an MAudio to try it and see?

Just thinking out loud here. I do know that certain brands do not work well....

Funny you mention that, I was actually planning on returning it and picking up an Maudio.  More often than not you get what you pay for, and the Lexicon was cheap.  I'm going to install the Lexicon on a different computer tonight and see if I have better luck. If not, it's the Maudio.
Thanks to everyone for all the help.  I really appreciate it!
 

Did you delete ASIO4All from your computer? That is an essential step to getting ASIO drivers to work. The ASIO4All driver has been described as 'agressive' by some folks, meaning it wiil try to take over the audio if it is present. If you have ASIO4All on your computer and select ASIO as your driver, more than likely you're getting ASIO4All and not ASIO.

What's your operating system? Is it 64-bit?
Did you try running the Wave Profiler again? You'll have to be in WDM or MME driver mode to run it, but I don't get why the computer can't 'see' the Alpha's outputs.
The Lexicon should be vastly superior to the on board sound card for playback (if you can get it to work ).
 

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