Tremolo/knocking sound with DXi or wavs

I have:

Home Studio 4.0.1 Deluxe
Sony computer, 3 GHz, 1GB RAM
Realtek integrated audio or SoundBlaster Audigy USB NX

My problem:
Midi played in Home Studio ( HS ) through either sound card sounds fine.

Midi played in HS through the Edirol or Dreamstation DXi's ( I haven't tried the others ) produces a tremolo or knocking sound ( TKS ),
especially noticeable with a flute or violin type voice.
When this midi is converted to audio through the DXi, the TKS is in the audio.
This audio when exported to a wav and played with Windows Media Player etc., still has the TKS.

Audio made from midi using either sound card, not a DXi, plays within HS with the TKS.
When this same audio is exported to a wav and played with Windows Media Player, etc., the TKS is gone (unlike what happens with the DXi's).

A wave which sounds normal outside HS, plays with the TKS inside HS.

In other words:
I get the TKS with midi played through DXi's, or with any audio played in HS.
Wav's produced by DXi conversion from midi keep the TKS, when played outside HS.
Wav's produced by sound card conversion from midi don't.

I can't get rid of the TKS by turning the input echo on or off.
I can vary the freqency of the TKS by adjusting the Mixing Latency Buffer, but I can't make it disappear.

I don't have this problem with Voyetra Record Producer, so it doesn't appear to be the computer system or cards.

Disable the Realteck from Wondows Device Manager and set the driver mode to WDM/KS under Options - Audio - Advanced. Set the driver mode to WDM closing the program and then re-run the wave profiler for the Audigy. Adjust latecny settings as needed.

Do you get any errors when SHS profiles your sound card? Try deleting the Audio.ini file from the Sonar Home Studio 4 directory. Then restart SHS and let it re-profile your sound card. Check for any errors. You could also try using the ASIO drivers in SHS.

Also you should disable the Realtec in the BIOS.

Bill

Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't have a modulation wheel on the key board. I don't know where to look for the log.


I removed the Aud.ini and restarted the app. It ran the profiler. No errors. I never got any errors before anyway.

I changed to the ASIO driver setting. Apparently I don't have any ASIO drivers. Options>Audio shows things grayed-out and no drivers are listed. Can't select anything for timing master, mixing latency disabled. Clicking the "ASIO Panel..." button has no effect.

I changed to MME drivers. Mixing latency went to 92.9 only. Wave Profiler works very slow and shows message "The following drivers either do not support the current audio format or are in use by another application." Modem #2 line Playback, Modem #2 line Record.

I chose "use them anyway". Wave profiler says SoundBlaster "OK" for everything, Modem Line 2 "not available" for everything.

With the MME drivers, flute sounds OK through the DXi, but sound card only had the tremolo ( reversal of with WDM/KS ). With Choir Oohs and Aahs I still have the artefactual tremolo, and in addition a short knock at the start of the sound. Some notes didn't play at all. I increased the playback buffer to 1000 msec from 500 with the Options>Audio>Global options and the notes were no longer dropped ( I found this on the FAQ page ) but no effect on the tremolo.

In other words, "I'm a choppin' and no chips are flyin'"

I think that Sonar Home Studio must react with my system with a small delay somewhere, causing the sound to get out of phase.The effect sounds similar to tuning one guitar string against another, with a "tremolo" of varying frequency depending on how closely tuned you get. The knocking is probably similar. The knock at the start of Choir ooh's and aah's with MME drivers is difficult to explain. It reminds me of something I read in either the Magix Music Maker or Voyetra Record Producer manual about a DC offset causing a click at the start. ( I don't know what a DC offset is. ) Neither the Voyetra or Magix products have the problem, so they seem to like my system OK. I think that probably means there isn't a modulation problem with my keyboard or computer system.

Seems like you're giving up too easily. Home Studio is a SOLID program that works on almost any equipment. You just haven't got it set up right yet.

Did you try everything in the Help Section called "Dropouts and Other Audio Problems"? Did you turn down your video acceleration because that can chew up processor cycles if you don't have a separate video card (highly recommended)?

I would suggest you NOT deactivate the onboard sound. That could be causing a problem. You should be able to leave it activated while you're using the Audigy USB.

I suspect your problem is the Audigy USB soundcard. Does your computer have USB 1.1 or USB 2 ports? If your computer has only USB 1.1, then that would explain the poor performance.

I would disconnect the Audigy and see if you can get HS working with the onboard soundcard (the Realtek). If that works, then you might want to return the Audigy USB and get a better soundcard, like an M-Audio product. Once you get past the initial configuration, you should be ready to rock or jam or whatever you do.

I have been working with the program since I got it about a month ago, looking in the Help and for FAQ's, doing and undoing things. I wanted it primarily to use the DXi's. So far I haven't asked it to do anything computationally intensive, just play the tutorials and play a flute through one or the other sound card or one of the DXi's.

I have a Sony VCG-RB38G with 3.4 GHz processor, Windows XP Media Center 2005 which is based on XP professional, 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon X300 128 MB video, all USB 2.0 ( I don't use a hub ).

I got the USB Audigy about a week ago. Before that I was using the integrated RealTek. I had the problem using RealTek before I tried the USB Audigy, so it's not the Audigy per se. It may be that both RealTek and USB Audigy are equal as far as Sonar Home Studio is concerned.

I don't think the IRQ should have a problem with the RealTek integrated, which is all that I had for a while, though it may with the USB I suppose.

Someone with experience could probably get this thing working properly. It might be fine with a better sound card. But I don't think I should have to buy one just to suit Sonar Home Studio, especially since I don't know if it would solve the problem. If Sonar Home Studio is not happy with a computer with the speed and memory mine has, it is just too picky. Voyetra Record Producer and Magix Music Maker work fine and I am actually having fun with them. I think Cakewalk made this product for people with all top quality hardware. I'm very surprised though that it can't play a flute through a DXi right out of the box with RealTek integrated on the kind of computer I have. That doesn't seem like too much

I will probably get back in the mood to investigate further in a month or 2, but for now I am sort of out of the mood.

Thanks for your suggestions, though.