bluzeyonecat
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poor sound quality with soft synths?
Hi everyone! Im new here as well as with software..I will start out out by telling you what I have to give you an idea of possibly some options to fix this issue. I have a pc with windows 7 running Sonar X2 studio. The specs on the computer are as follows : duo core processor @ 2.33GHz with 6 gigs of ram. I am currently not using a console interface( Tascam us-224 is sitting in a corner collecting dust because IT IS JUNK). I am in the process of getting something when $$$ allows it. So I am running it with my M-Audio Keystation 88es. My problem is probably an easy fix yet overwhelming with limited knowledge( I have a little experience with Sonar 5). When I select a midi channel and insert ex. Roland TTS, the sound is bad. Speakers are crackling, distorted, even sounds a bit detuned.. When I look at the polyphony in TTS it shows up as 2 notes even though Im only playing one . Anyone that can shed some insight would be very appreciated. I have always been a hardware workstation person so I know the learning curve in this realm is going to be HUGE.. I welcome the challenge. Its nice to meet all of you as well. Respectfully yours, Bill Ricci Jr.
"Feel the fear and do it anyway." - Miles Davis
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mondaydave
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 05:28:37
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☄ Helpfulby bluzeyonecat 2013/07/13 06:43:38
I am by no means an expert but when I use sonar on my laptop without an audio interface my sound becomes distorted until I increase the audio buffer size. (Preferences-audio-driver settings)
This gives latency but improves the sound quality. Also you could try the different driver modes (audio-playback and recording)
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bluzeyonecat
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 06:43:22
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Thanks Mondaydave! Will definitely give that a try. What do you usually increase the audio buffer size to? Do you think an interface would help with latency issues? As a player most of my tracks will be layed down by playing so the attack is crucial for doing a performance that I would feel good about. Thank you for your time and response in this matter.
"Feel the fear and do it anyway." - Miles Davis
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2:43AM
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 08:50:37
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bluzeyonecat
When I look at the polyphony in TTS it shows up as 2 notes even though Im only playing one.
Polyphony refers to numbers of "voices" played as opposed to number of "notes" played. One note may contain one or more voices. For example, a hardware synth with a 3-oscillator patch being played by one key will be 3 voices. Now with the same patch, play a minor chord of 3 notes and now the total voices used is 9. If you have a hardware synth capable of 20-voice polyphony, then in theory, you are only capable of playing a total of 6 keys at once with aforementioned patch, not considering other factors such as effects, release times (big polyphony-eater!), sub oscillators or note-stealing algorithms. Roland TTS-1 should be fairly straightforward, but I don't think you have any control over its playback oscillators. The reason for 1+ polyphony could be caused by sample doubling or chorusing to make a better instrument; something done by Roland-Cakewalk to put smiles on our faces. Overall, I wouldn't worry about it. Worry about your latency issues (  ) which I think is caused by the lack of an audio interface. Just to give you some numbers I use with my firewire interface, buffer is MEDIUM and 96 to give a reported latency of 6.5ms. I am in the process of perhaps improving this with a new PCIe firewire card, but still testing as I go on with more complex projects. Laptops can cause some serious latency issues right off the bat, even without a DAW running. I encourage you to find and download a program called DPC Latency Checker (dpclat.exe). If when running you seed big red bars, you need to figure out what is polling the operating system and dragging it down. I've seen laptops that are horrible in terms of just stand-alone latency issues.
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daveny5
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 10:08:33
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Why is the US-224 junk? Perhaps you didn't have it setup properly It certainly would be better than using the built-in sound chip on the motherboard.
Dave Computer: Intel i7, ASROCK H170M, 16GB/5TB+, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Sonar Platinum, TASCAM US-16x08, Cakewalk UM-3G MIDI I/F Instruments: SL-880 Keyboard controller, Korg 05R/W, Korg N1R, KORG Wavestation EX Axes: Fender Stratocaster, Line6 Variax 300, Ovation Acoustic, Takamine Nylon Acoustic, Behringer GX212 amp, Shure SM-58 mic, Rode NT1 condenser mic. Outboard: Mackie 1402-VLZ mixer, TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, Digitech Vocalist WS EX, PODXTLive, various stompboxes and stuff. Controllers: Korg nanoKONTROL, Wacom Bamboo Touchpad
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chuckebaby
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 13:11:14
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daveny5
Why is the US-224 junk? Perhaps you didn't have it setup properly It certainly would be better than using the built-in sound chip on the motherboard.
im pretty sure they stopped updating drivers @ win XP. http://tascam.com/product/us-224/downloads/so even if he did use it, with say...ASIO4ALL, he's using synths. not sure how the soundcard would benefit him ? unless he needed inputs. the control surface on the other hand may be useful to use with ACT,
Windows 8.1 X64 Sonar Platinum x64 Custom built: Asrock z97 1150 - Intel I7 4790k - 16GB corsair DDR3 1600 - PNY SSD 220GBFocusrite Saffire 18I8 - Mackie Control
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lawajava
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 13:30:08
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Bill - I didn't see a mention of an audio interface.
I know you're budgeting for what you'll need moving forward.
Under the Hardware section of this forum you'll see plenty of running threads about audio interfaces folks are considering. Getting one is important to get your sound right. Generally speaking they are affordable and easy to use.
Two internal 2TB SSDs laptop stuffed with Larry's deals and awesome tools. Studio One is the cat's meow as a DAW now that I've migrated off of Sonar. Using BandLab Cakewalk just to grab old files when migrating songs.
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daveny5
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 16:35:29
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chuckebaby
daveny5
Why is the US-224 junk? Perhaps you didn't have it setup properly It certainly would be better than using the built-in sound chip on the motherboard.
im pretty sure they stopped updating drivers @ win XP.http://tascam.com/product/us-224/downloads/
so even if he did use it, with say...ASIO4ALL, he's using synths. not sure how the soundcard would benefit him ?
unless he needed inputs.
the control surface on the other hand may be useful to use with ACT,
I see you're right. 2007 was the last driver. That is what I hate about hardware devices connected to computers. The hardware may last for 20+ years, but without drivers for the latest OS, it becomes a piece of junk. Shame on Tascam! Folks can say what they want about M-Audio, but my Delta44 that I bought at least 12 years ago and probably longer, is still working under Windows 8!
Dave Computer: Intel i7, ASROCK H170M, 16GB/5TB+, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Sonar Platinum, TASCAM US-16x08, Cakewalk UM-3G MIDI I/F Instruments: SL-880 Keyboard controller, Korg 05R/W, Korg N1R, KORG Wavestation EX Axes: Fender Stratocaster, Line6 Variax 300, Ovation Acoustic, Takamine Nylon Acoustic, Behringer GX212 amp, Shure SM-58 mic, Rode NT1 condenser mic. Outboard: Mackie 1402-VLZ mixer, TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, Digitech Vocalist WS EX, PODXTLive, various stompboxes and stuff. Controllers: Korg nanoKONTROL, Wacom Bamboo Touchpad
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SuperG
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Re: poor sound quality with soft synths?
2013/07/13 18:43:57
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daveny5
chuckebaby
daveny5
Why is the US-224 junk? Perhaps you didn't have it setup properly It certainly would be better than using the built-in sound chip on the motherboard.
im pretty sure they stopped updating drivers @ win XP.http://tascam.com/product/us-224/downloads/
so even if he did use it, with say...ASIO4ALL, he's using synths. not sure how the soundcard would benefit him ?
unless he needed inputs.
the control surface on the other hand may be useful to use with ACT,
I see you're right. 2007 was the last driver. That is what I hate about hardware devices connected to computers. The hardware may last for 20+ years, but without drivers for the latest OS, it becomes a piece of junk. Shame on Tascam! Folks can say what they want about M-Audio, but my Delta44 that I bought at least 12 years ago and probably longer, is still working under Windows 8!
It appears to be a Frontier Designs produced Tascam product. Frontier Designs has been in a stasis for some time and has not put out drivers or new products for ages.
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