track sync problems with MC5 and SoundBlaster Extigy

Wondering if anybody else might have had and solved this problem.

I'm running MC5 on an HP laptop, 1.6g CPU, 1g RAM, WinXP. I'm just learning my way around MC. I have intermittent but fairly bad playback problems--popping, staticy kind of stuff--with only one track recorded/playing. Attempting to add a 2nd track is hopeless because it records so far out of sync. I know it sounds like a resource problem, but CPU usage when recording is very low (5% max) and there seems to be plenty of free RAM. AV is disabled, WiFi is disabled, no other apps open. I downloaded and ran the DPC latency checker and it shows very good latency while recording, under 300usec. 

Also, other audio recording and playback software works perfectly fine. So I'm thinking I have something wrong between MC5 and the Extigy. Thanks for any help.

I used an Extigy for several years, in fact, it's sitting on the shelf behind me.
I could never get the latency below 20 ms, which is adequate, but I could sometimes notice a definite delay when recording through it. And the little input jacks meant I always had to use adapters, and with an SM 58 on an XLR cable plugged into an impedance-matching transformer and into the 1/8" jack, I always had to set up some kind of support to keep the cable/transformer from breaking off the little plug or dragging it off the desk.
In any case, check out the Troubleshooting section of the Help files, and the Improving Audio Performance section, too. There may be some info in there that will help you set it up to work better.
I wish I could remember what I did to get it working as well as it did.

Eventually, if you decide to get into recording as a hobby, or more.... you will want to invest in a nice Music Interface ......external USB such as one of the Focusrite or M-Audio interfaces. 

Beagle has a web site that may be useful in making that decision. 

The factory cards do not cut it. 

Good Point, Greg. I forgot about the differences in sampling rates.

Latency really is not a problem for either just recording or just playing back. This may explain why you never really noticed a problem in the past, except as you noted with the N-Track Studio. The latency is a problem when you are trying to playback some tracks and record other tracks at the same time, otherwise, the music can be buffered for recording or playback without dropouts. This is the main reason most folks here have invested in a soundcard designed to work with a DAW.  You should be able to get as good a latency as you had with N-Track Studio, though. It's probably just a matter of adjusting the Buffers and Latency to achieve similar results as Greg has noted.  Further, make sure your Playback and Recording Masters are selecting the Extigy. If you have a built-in soundcard on your motherboard besides the Extigy, then MC5 perhaps is selecting it as your Master.

I think if you post your audio settings as Greg requested, then the forum should be able to help you get better performance out of your Extigy.  Good luck!

Well, it sounds like you are making some progress. Kee us posted.

But I could never get my Extigy to work using ASIO4All. But I was younger and stupider way back then and I had (have) a Media Center computer. It may work well for you.

when you're ready to upgrade, check out my website for soundcard recommendations.

This is not a critical issue for me. I don't use the lappy for recording these days.....however, on this soundcard topic....

I have been trying off and on to get my Dell lappy to work using the built in sound card. I even DL'd ASIO4ALL and installed that.  Just so I can mix some of the stuff in audio in the lappy if I decided I wanted to do that. 
I have playback on some of the drivers, but not all, and a4a doesn't seem to make things better, or worse. 

And when I say playback is happening..... well I mean, yeah I can hear it, barely. I have to turn it all the way up....and I'd better not forget and then open my audio editor or it will cave my eardrums in. 

As Greg said..... this is for giggles and grins, not anything serious, since I do not use the lappy. I have never been able to use the built in soundcard in this lappy successfully. 

I think a few people use the Lexicons.  M-Audio seems to be another popular one.   I seem to recall some sort of issue that you should be aware of with the Lambda.... but I can not recall the details... maybe Beagle or Greg know. 


I would consider an interface with midi in it as well if you use or plan to use a midi keyboard in your studio at any time in the future.